The devastation of the human race, the destruction or humankind by sin, is our business; we, too, are ruined.

And yet, such is God’s mercy that his purpose is not obliterated by the rebellion of his creatures. For how according to the gospel does God deal with our mutiny against himself? Not by putting an end to us; not by banishing us from his presence; not by sweeping us from the face of the earth. No, God deals with our wholesale rejection of him by reconciling us to himself. God comes to our rescue. God looks upon us sinful creatures in all our degradation and defiance, and takes pity on our need, our sheer hopelessness. God matches our hostility by his great work of reconciliation. The fellowship that we have sought to destroy, God maintains. To the covenant that we have renounced, God is unswervingly faithful. Though we may say to God that we will not be his people, he is unshakable in his determination that he will be our God, that he will not allow us to destroy ourselves or to wrest ourselves from his hands. And how does God do this? He does it in the great work of salvation.