Heidelbergian Children's Catechism (age 8- 10 years)
Lord's Day 5
Your Dad bought a car. Cars are expensive. Did your Dad take his wallet and count out a stack of twenty dollar bills1 I am sure he did not. His wallet would not even hold so many bilis! He said to the car dealer:”How much do I have to pay for this car]” Then he wrote out a check.The salesman will take that check to the bank. And the bank will put the money on his account. Your father had to pay.This Lord’s Day also speaks about having to pay. When someone buys a car; he has a debt. And a debt must be paid. When the bank transfers the money to the car dealer, his debt is paid off. Then he no longer is in debt. But what about the debt we have with God1This debt becomes bigger every day. You, too, are in debt with God because of your sins. Our heavenly Father is very upset at us for the bad things we do every day. He gets angry when we sin. That is divine anger. He is the holy God, the creator of heaven and earth. What can we do about that1 Your father could say to the car dealer: go to the bank and you get your money. But we cannot give money to God to pay for our sins. We have nothing in a heavenly bank account to pay off our debt. And do you know how great our debt is1 Not $5000. It is impossible to pay this debt with money. Therefore you cannot escape punishment. If no one comes to help you, you wil I come to the end of your life in hopeless debt. The result will be that when you would die you will go to Satan.And God’s love cannot be found there. There, it is always dark and you are always lonely. When you think about that, you shiver. For that is really the punishment we deserve. Who can pay this debt1 The bank cannot pay for it, for God does not want money. He wants people to make up for this. Can your father or mother, your uncle or aunt do that1 No, they cannot, for they themselves have great debts with God. Yet there is a solution.What arelief! Salvation can come from a man. But this person must be without sin.And he must be very strong. Strong enough to . undergo the punishment God gives for sinning. This person can only take the full punishment if he is also God.And you know his name: the Lord Jesus. More about him next time.