Sometimes I wonder if God is not just a bit double minded. In some verses of the bible he is destroying, ripping up, invading, punishing and in other verses he is patient, kind, gentle, forgiving.
I have wrestled for years with my understanding of Gods anger at sin and yet his forgiveness of sin. I have had many a great debate over the concept of a God that says, “come to me, I love you” in one breathe and then says,” If you don’t come to me and let me love you I will destroy you” in another breath.
In John 3:16-18 we read,
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son”
Notice in verse 17 where he writes about God not condemning us, but desiring to save us.
Notice in verse 18 that the ones who are condemned are the ones who have not experienced the transformative power that the name or the authority of Jesus gives to them.
In my mind this is how the justice and mercy of God fit together. God is perfect, complete, and holy. Because he is complete, perfect, and holy nothing can exist outside of God, with out his permission that is not complete perfect and holy. His perfection, completeness and holiness must consumes and destroy all that is not like him.
We as humans with all the incompleteness that our disobedience has produced in us, should not be able survive one nano-second before a Holy God. We should be consumed. We are already condemned by our imperfection. But God because of his mercy and love has intervened in our lives and offers us a way of escape from the consuming tsunami of His perfection. God accepts Jesus Christ’s death on the cross as if it was our own death. God then covers our incompleteness with Jesus and when God looks at us he does not see what we are, but who we are in Jesus. God makes us perfect and complete in Jesus Christ…and we are not consumed.
Here is the difficult fact to get our minds wrapped around. God will eventually consume, destroy and eradicate everything that is not complete, perfect and holy. He is compelled to do this. The very characteristics of completeness, perfection and holiness can not exist in a universe that does not match those characteristics.
God has some how placed himself under restraint for a certain duration of time in order to display his love to us and give us the opportunity to respond to that mercy. One day that restraint will cease. God will then consume all that has not been made perfect by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This event in history will be known as the unleashing of the wrath, or anger of God. Love demands destruction of all that is not love. God is love and he will not exist in an environment other than love.
This world and all that is in it is condemned before God, ready for demolition. God offers you a way out through the blood of Jesus Christ that purifies you from all condemnation.
1 comment:
I guess I would have to join you in your questioning the various aspects of God that seem to be conflicting.
I read this today:
The Madman
The Good God and the Evil God met on the mountain top.
The Good God said, "Good day to you, brother."
The Evil God made no answer.
And the Good God said, "You are in a bad humour today."
"Yes," said the Evil God, "for of late I have been often mistaken for you, called by your name, and treated as if I were you, and it ill-pleases me."
And the Good God said, "But I too have been mistaken for you and called by your name."
The Evil God walked away cursing the stupidity of man.
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