Romans 8:31-32 “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

God isn’t a Republican or a Democrat, as much as enthusiastic partisans may want to claim him for their side. God isn’t even an American, or an Israeli. Israel may have played a special part in his plan to save the world at one time. But even in the Old Testament there was a time when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua before the battle with Jericho. Joshua was near Jericho, and when he looked up he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” And the reply was not, “Israel, of course. They are God’s chosen people.” No, he said, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come” (Joshua 5:14).

Before we get the idea that God is always neutral, and heaven is the spiritual equivalent of Switzerland, Paul’s words to the Romans help us understand that there is a side God takes. It’s the human side. Like John 3:16 teaches, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”

Think of it: he gave his one and only Son. Or as Paul puts it in these words to the Romans, he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. There are few things for which men and women will sacrifice more, for which they will work harder, than to spare their own sons or daughters.

During my seminary years I attended an inner city church and did inner-city mission work. There I met parents living at the edge of poverty who scraped together thousands of dollars to send their children to a Christian school. They did it to spare them exposure to gangs and a substandard education in underperforming schools. Men and women will work for decades at jobs they hate to spare their children having to do without something. They will go night after night without sleep to keep vigil at the side of a sick child’s bed and spare them just a little of the discomfort of their illness.

The God of all power did not spare his own Son. He did not spare him from the mockers and the bullies. They said he had a demon, called him a drunkard, accused him of encouraging people to sin, made fun of his hometown, tried to trap him with trick questions, and mocked the idea that he was some sort of king. His Father did not spare him.

They arrested him on false charges, fixed the trial against him, used lies and threats and incited a riot to make sure he was found guilty and condemned to death. His Father did not spare him.

They spit on him, pulled out his beard, slapped him, beat him, whipped him until he bled, and nailed him to a cross to die. His Father did not spare him.

It’s not just that God “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up…” No, he gave him up “for us all.” He did it for you. He did it for me. He did it to spare us from having to stand trial for our own sins. He did it to spare us from a guilty verdict and a sentence worse than death and infinitely longer than life.

God is on our side. The gift of his Son leaves us no doubt.