So far, we've looked at a number of areas that are directly affected by the doctrine of limited atonement (1, 2, 3)
With all this being said, the question still remains... how can we find comfort in such a doctrine as limited atonement?
The answer, simply put, is this - if we love God, then we will find comfort in the doctrine because the doctrine is a reflection of who God is.
And to desire something different is to desire a god in ones own image. A god that is not the true and living God. A god that behaves how we want it to behave.
That is not the God testified about in the scriptures.
God has the freedom to do with His creation what He wants to do with it.
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Romans 9:21 (ESV) Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
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God has no obligation to treat everyone the same, and not doing so doesn't make God unjust.
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Romans 9:14-15 (ESV) What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
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The limiting of the scope of the atonement was necessary to keep God's righteous justice in tact - so that He's not guilty of any wrong doing.
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Romans 3:21-26 (ESV) But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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The focus of the limiting atonement should not be upon those who are not elected to salvation.
In their case, God hasn't broken a promise to them, or acted unjust towards them.
Instead, we should look at those who have been elected.
They have been loved with a great love.
God has looked upon them with a kindness that they didnt deserve at all.
God has arranged it that they will enjoy Him forever, as children in His own household.
God has even promised that He will never leave or forsake them, but mold them into the image of Christ.
Our comfort is found in the fact that God freely chose us when He didn't have to.
1 John 4:10 (ESV) In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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It's this knowledge about what God has done for and to us, and who God is, that should cause us to not only be comforted by the doctrine of Limited Atonement, but it should cause us to look at God as a merciful, gracious, and loving God.
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I hope that the Lord God has blessed you through this "brief" look at limited atonement.
Amen
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