Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns, He will sweep them away with the whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. And men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely there is a God Who judges on earth!" (Vs. 9-11)
This is one of those times when people want to accuse God of being mean. Sitting up on His throne just waiting to bloody up those who don't believe in Him. "Look! God isn't a God of love at all but a God of vengeance!" they cry. Okay. I will take that on this morning. Because I believe His vengeance shows His love. Especially in light of what was done to His Only Son when He came in the flesh to show us what God is like.
In all the great movies, there is exaltation when evil is conquered and good prevails. When the bad guy is caught and punished....or killed. Why? Because the innocent have been oppressed and we get enough of it just watching it on the big screen. What is it that our God watches on a minute-by-minute basis on this earth? War. Abuse. Infanticide. Genocide. Millions streaming from their homes because of starvation and oppression. This doesn't even cover the more covert things we do that are as deadly. Gossip. Abandonment. Hatred. Lying. It's pretty gruesome. The world needs a good bath! Cleansing from the inside out. If we were to play the reel-to-reel on the big screen that God has to watch every second of every day, we would be purging our dinners in the aisles. We live in a disgusting, selfish, carnal world that, in its hedonism, gorges on evil and suppresses the voices of those who would stand up for the truth that God is sovereign. And God isn't smiling. Why would He? This isn't Eden anymore.
When it comes to His people, God will not be silent forever. The nation of Israel and His children adopted into His family by the death and resurrection of Christ are precious to Him. I am precious to Him. His creation is dear to Him. Designed and patterned after heaven, this world was created for better. Our wrongs should've driven God to take us out long ago, but He wanted to redeem mankind, not destroy it. The system of sacrifices was set up just so a scapegoat could die in our place because sin is so bad, someone has to pay the death penalty we deserve. God provided it. In Christ. His Son. With His blood. Unfair? Still mad at an angry, rumbling, wrathful God?
The "Piss Christ" is up again in New York City this time at the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery on 57th Street. It is a photograph Andres Serrano made of a crucifix submerged in the artist's urine. The state funded this artist and his work. Christians haven't taken up and arms and gone to the streets in belicose and deadly offense, but, trust me, God is offended. Wouldn't you be? If your child had died for the neighbor next door, saving them from certain doom, and the next thing you see is that same neighbor dipping your favorite picture of your child in his own piss and laughing at the sight - calling it art, for goodness sake! The neighbor has no idea what it cost you for him to be able to desecrate the memory of your child. He is naive at best, cruel and uncaring at worst. Unfair? Still mad at that old God who sits with a hammer in His hand?
Osama Bin Laden was shot through. SEALs beseiged his compound and killed him. There was rejoicing. Why? They got the bad guy. The one who orchestrated the deaths of over three thousand innocent American victims and devastated New York City and our nation. Bin Laden attacked us. And we felt right about the justice he was served. We have inherently a sense of justice. Of hunting down the evil to avenge its carnage. So how can God then be blamed for doing the same?
There will come a day, on a small scale and on the eternal plane, when God says: "Enough!" In the day to day struggles we have personally with the plans of the evil one to destroy us and on the future of this planet and its inhabitants. God wins! Read the last chapter. But in doing so, remember how long He has put up with us. How patiently He waits for our redemption. What it cost Him personally to provide all we need to avoid His coming wrath. When that day comes it will catch many off-guard. Their pots will be on the potter's wheel or drying on a shelf waiting for the thorns in the kiln to heat up. Unfinished business. Suddenly avenged. Like Osama sitting surrounded by his porn, his wives and his half-eaten food. Taken out. And those who belong to God? They will dip their feet in the blood of the oppressors. The Hebrew word for washing to show innocence. The oppressed will be innocent of the blood of the oppressor. He will have brought his demise upon himself.
And the children of God? What will they say? They will sing a song to the Lamb of God:
Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord, God, the Almighty.
Righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations.
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For Thou alone art holy.
For all the nations will come and worship before Thee,
For Thy righteous acts have been revealed.
And the "Piss Christ" will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.
The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. And men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely there is a God Who judges on earth!" (Vs. 9-11)
This is one of those times when people want to accuse God of being mean. Sitting up on His throne just waiting to bloody up those who don't believe in Him. "Look! God isn't a God of love at all but a God of vengeance!" they cry. Okay. I will take that on this morning. Because I believe His vengeance shows His love. Especially in light of what was done to His Only Son when He came in the flesh to show us what God is like.
In all the great movies, there is exaltation when evil is conquered and good prevails. When the bad guy is caught and punished....or killed. Why? Because the innocent have been oppressed and we get enough of it just watching it on the big screen. What is it that our God watches on a minute-by-minute basis on this earth? War. Abuse. Infanticide. Genocide. Millions streaming from their homes because of starvation and oppression. This doesn't even cover the more covert things we do that are as deadly. Gossip. Abandonment. Hatred. Lying. It's pretty gruesome. The world needs a good bath! Cleansing from the inside out. If we were to play the reel-to-reel on the big screen that God has to watch every second of every day, we would be purging our dinners in the aisles. We live in a disgusting, selfish, carnal world that, in its hedonism, gorges on evil and suppresses the voices of those who would stand up for the truth that God is sovereign. And God isn't smiling. Why would He? This isn't Eden anymore.
When it comes to His people, God will not be silent forever. The nation of Israel and His children adopted into His family by the death and resurrection of Christ are precious to Him. I am precious to Him. His creation is dear to Him. Designed and patterned after heaven, this world was created for better. Our wrongs should've driven God to take us out long ago, but He wanted to redeem mankind, not destroy it. The system of sacrifices was set up just so a scapegoat could die in our place because sin is so bad, someone has to pay the death penalty we deserve. God provided it. In Christ. His Son. With His blood. Unfair? Still mad at an angry, rumbling, wrathful God?
The "Piss Christ" is up again in New York City this time at the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery on 57th Street. It is a photograph Andres Serrano made of a crucifix submerged in the artist's urine. The state funded this artist and his work. Christians haven't taken up and arms and gone to the streets in belicose and deadly offense, but, trust me, God is offended. Wouldn't you be? If your child had died for the neighbor next door, saving them from certain doom, and the next thing you see is that same neighbor dipping your favorite picture of your child in his own piss and laughing at the sight - calling it art, for goodness sake! The neighbor has no idea what it cost you for him to be able to desecrate the memory of your child. He is naive at best, cruel and uncaring at worst. Unfair? Still mad at that old God who sits with a hammer in His hand?
Osama Bin Laden was shot through. SEALs beseiged his compound and killed him. There was rejoicing. Why? They got the bad guy. The one who orchestrated the deaths of over three thousand innocent American victims and devastated New York City and our nation. Bin Laden attacked us. And we felt right about the justice he was served. We have inherently a sense of justice. Of hunting down the evil to avenge its carnage. So how can God then be blamed for doing the same?
There will come a day, on a small scale and on the eternal plane, when God says: "Enough!" In the day to day struggles we have personally with the plans of the evil one to destroy us and on the future of this planet and its inhabitants. God wins! Read the last chapter. But in doing so, remember how long He has put up with us. How patiently He waits for our redemption. What it cost Him personally to provide all we need to avoid His coming wrath. When that day comes it will catch many off-guard. Their pots will be on the potter's wheel or drying on a shelf waiting for the thorns in the kiln to heat up. Unfinished business. Suddenly avenged. Like Osama sitting surrounded by his porn, his wives and his half-eaten food. Taken out. And those who belong to God? They will dip their feet in the blood of the oppressors. The Hebrew word for washing to show innocence. The oppressed will be innocent of the blood of the oppressor. He will have brought his demise upon himself.
And the children of God? What will they say? They will sing a song to the Lamb of God:
Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord, God, the Almighty.
Righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations.
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For Thou alone art holy.
For all the nations will come and worship before Thee,
For Thy righteous acts have been revealed.
And the "Piss Christ" will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.
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