What does it mean for God to love rebellious man?  This is a question that recently came to my mind when I was reading the book of Deuteronomy 21 this week, and it struck me quite strongly.  At the end of this chapter, there are some laws concerning punishments in the community of Israel for children who were wild and disobedient: simply put, they were to be stoned to death (v. 21).  However, immediately after these laws there was another one which said that anyone who dies hanging on a tree for having committed sins deserving of death was cursed (vv. 22-23).  These things, when they were written by Moses, seemed disconnected from one another but in some very surprising ways they had much to do with one another.

In the Old Testament there is one very striking example of this in 2 Samuel 18, when King David’s rebellious son Absalom (whose name, ironically, means Father of Peace) attempts to overthrow his father in order to become king.  This rebellious son dies when his neck gets caught in the fork of a tree while riding on a donkey (18:9), which was a fitting end to the life of a man who was rebelling against father and God.

However, the most glaring example of the connection between these two laws is in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  He was guilty of no sin at all, least of all one deserving of death … but He died nonetheless on a Roman cross to pay for the sins of human rebels who reject God’s will for them.  Over 2,000 years ago He died hanging on an object of slow torture that was made from tree wood, something that the apostle Paul noted in Galatians 3:13.  Moses would have had no idea that Roman crucifixion was how God’s Messiah would die for rebellious sons and daughters made in God’s image, but it’s amazing how God’s plan was to bring those two things together to redeem mankind from sin.

It struck me then how much God cares for me and loves me (and all people) even though I often don’t feel it or see it very well.  As someone who struggles with complaining, it’s easy to grumble about things not turning out the way I would like them, but knowing that God loves me and sent His own Son to die undeservedly for things that I have done is just amazing.  It makes me thankful and humble knowing that there really is no greater love than this.