Suppose that He blessed all the descendants of Abraham, expanded them into a whole nation, and said, “Through this nation I’m going to bless the whole world”—but this nation repeatedly turned against Him. Suppose God sent prophets to these people to tell them to come back to Him, just as an unfaithful spouse returns to his or her partner—but the people killed the prophets.

Suppose there actually is a God in heaven, and suppose this God created the world and everything in it. Suppose that, in the process of making myriad species of birds, fish, and animals, He formed human beings in His image and gave them the most exalted position in all of creation.

Suppose He said, “You will be holy, even as I am holy,” and gave them only one command to obey—but fifteen minutes after He made them, these human beings revolted against Him by doing the very thing he had commanded them not to do.

Suppose God then said, “I’m going to provide a way for you to escape My judgment,” and He then called Abraham out of paganism, brought him to Himself, and said, “I’m going to make you the father of a great nation.” Suppose that He blessed all the descendants of Abraham, expanded them into a whole nation, and said, “Through this nation I’m going to bless the whole world”—but this nation repeatedly turned against Him.

Suppose God sent prophets to these people to tell them to come back to Him, just as an unfaithful spouse returns to his or her partner—but the people killed the prophets.

Suppose God finally said, “I love you so much, even though you are a stiff-necked people, that I’m going to send My eternal, only begotten Son to you”—but the people rose up against His Son and crucified Him.

Suppose that God loved the people enough in all of this that while they were in the very act of killing His Son, He transferred the sins of His people to His Son and said: “If you’ll put your trust in Him, if you’ll confess your sins and believe in Him, if you’ll turn your gaze upon Jesus, you will not experience death. I’m going to give you eternal life with no pain, no tears, no evil, and no darkness.”

If God were to do all that, would you have the insolence to say to Him, “God, You haven’t done enough for this world that hates You”?

This article previously appeared on ligonier.org, and is used with permission.