God's Hatred of Sin

God himself put Christ into the sinner's place through wondrous love to us, and as Christ stood in the sinner’s place, though a sinner He could never be, God treated Him as if He were actually the sinner. See how the Father's wrath burns against human sin; He could not be angry with His well-beloved Son; but, inasmuch as Christ stood in the sinner's place, God poured out the vials of His wrath upon Him just as if He had been guilty. Behold how the Father smites Him; these are His words, "Awake, O sword." Will not the rod suffice, great God? No. "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd." But will not some common smiting be sufficient? No; to the very heart He must be smitten, and Jesus must die the death of the cross that we may live forever. "How God must hate sin, then, and what wrath must fall upon me!" That is the convicted sinner’s thought. "My sin is personal and actual, and not, like Christ’s, imputed; and since it is my own, how can God continue to bear with me?"