Can God get really mad? Is that okay with you? I know some read the Bible and have great difficulty with the wrath of God. They see Him as this angry old curmudgeon waving a hammer just waiting for the first mistake of the day so He can bludgeon someone into subservience. This, from people who do not know His heart, however. Think about what God sees! I wonder how He lets us go on at all. From His perspective, seeing everything all at once and perceiving the flow of all history at a glance, how does He stomach us? Lying, murder, rape, abuse, indifference, pride, stealing and the blatant worship of anything that is not the God of all. Genocide, infanticide, wars and tyranny. Why has He held back?
When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before You. For you have maintained my cause. You have sat on the throne judging righteously. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins. (vs. 3-6) How it must thrill the heart of God to see even one of us who really wants to know Him. We do not have to be perfect. The old law demanded it. The new covenant, sealed in the blood of Jesus, demands our hearts. If we understand that God became flesh and lived among us, dying in our place (John 1) then we can forever give up the beef that He is a mean old God who wants to make us miserable. That would be ridiculous at best, blasphemy at its worst. God loved us so much He became one of us. Stop a minute, because we get used to this and forget the magnitude of it. Would you die for you?
Here is what God says about His vengeance in the song of Moses, read by the prophet as he handed the reins of power to Joshua. Vengeance is Mine, and retribution....for the Lord will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants when He sees their strength is gone....See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me. It is I Who put to death and give life...and there is no one who can deliver from My hand. (Deuteronomy 32) This is Someone I want on my side.
You want to know how it all ends? The Judge, you know, will one day hold court. And it will be fair. Whether you like it or not, He has the right to decide our eternal fate. He has made every possible provision for us to be eternally with Him. So how can we judge Him for what is the ultimate fate of man, thinking Him to be narrow and unfair? Here it is from Revelation 20 and 21:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him Who sat upon it, from Whose presence earth and heaven fled away...I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up their dead which were in them. They were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire...and if anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any crying or mourning or pain.....he who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his/her God and they will be my sons and daughters. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone."
God wants to go back to His plan in the garden. To walk among us. He made provision for that. The Book of Life. It is the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, who is worthy to open it (Revelation 5) because it is He who bought our right to have our names written in it. That is all He really wants. Yahweh does not enjoy our punishment. He enjoys our fellowship. If we refuse His way of salvation from our rebellion, doesn't He have the right to judge us unworthy of His company?
When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before You. For you have maintained my cause. You have sat on the throne judging righteously. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins. (vs. 3-6) How it must thrill the heart of God to see even one of us who really wants to know Him. We do not have to be perfect. The old law demanded it. The new covenant, sealed in the blood of Jesus, demands our hearts. If we understand that God became flesh and lived among us, dying in our place (John 1) then we can forever give up the beef that He is a mean old God who wants to make us miserable. That would be ridiculous at best, blasphemy at its worst. God loved us so much He became one of us. Stop a minute, because we get used to this and forget the magnitude of it. Would you die for you?
Here is what God says about His vengeance in the song of Moses, read by the prophet as he handed the reins of power to Joshua. Vengeance is Mine, and retribution....for the Lord will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants when He sees their strength is gone....See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me. It is I Who put to death and give life...and there is no one who can deliver from My hand. (Deuteronomy 32) This is Someone I want on my side.
You want to know how it all ends? The Judge, you know, will one day hold court. And it will be fair. Whether you like it or not, He has the right to decide our eternal fate. He has made every possible provision for us to be eternally with Him. So how can we judge Him for what is the ultimate fate of man, thinking Him to be narrow and unfair? Here it is from Revelation 20 and 21:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him Who sat upon it, from Whose presence earth and heaven fled away...I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up their dead which were in them. They were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire...and if anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any crying or mourning or pain.....he who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his/her God and they will be my sons and daughters. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone."
God wants to go back to His plan in the garden. To walk among us. He made provision for that. The Book of Life. It is the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, who is worthy to open it (Revelation 5) because it is He who bought our right to have our names written in it. That is all He really wants. Yahweh does not enjoy our punishment. He enjoys our fellowship. If we refuse His way of salvation from our rebellion, doesn't He have the right to judge us unworthy of His company?
No comments:
Post a Comment