Tag Judgment

The Jesus of Love and Wrath

Todd R 1 Comment

Some people talk about their willingness to accept the God of the New Testament, but not the God of the Old Testament, believing that the NT God, in the person of Jesus, is a God of love, but that the OT God is a God of wrath and judgement.  However, there is plenty of God’s love in the Old Testament, and plenty of God’s wrath in the New, and all of these aspects are part of the character of Jesus Christ, who shows us a perfect image of God the Father.  There aren’t two Gods, but all of His characteristics aren’t obvious at all times.

A good illustration comes from Luke 4:18-19, when Jesus announced His public ministry by quoting Isaiah 61:1-2a aloud in the synagogue on the Sabbath:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
            because he has anointed me
            to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
            and recovering of sight to the blind,
            to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

After reading this, Jesus stopped and rolled up the scroll, and said to those assembled: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  (Luke 4:21)

Jesus announced here that He would be the one to overcome every form of poverty, captivity, blindness, and oppression.  He would be a God of love.  But some of those listening, especially the religious leaders, would have been familiar with the further context of what Jesus was quoting.  Isaiah 61:2 reads, in full:

“to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor,
            and the day of vengeance of our God;
            to comfort all who mourn”

Jesus didn’t accidentally stop reading in the middle of the verse; He intentionally stopped reading right before a phrase on vengeance.

Isaiah was saying the Messiah would come to proclaim both God’s “favor” and “vengeance,” but why didn’t Jesus read the next part?  The full verse shows Jesus as both a God of love, and of vengeance, but I think He left it out because the vengeance part was not being fulfilled “Today,” but later, which might have been a surprise to people based on their expectations of the Messiah.

Many expected a conquering Messiah that would overthrow Israel’s oppressors, which was Rome at the time.  In contrast, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem shortly before his death was described in John 12:15:

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
             behold, your king is coming,
            sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

The people were glad to celebrate Jesus’ arrival, but Jesus came to Jerusalem humbly with no intention of defeating Rome, much less conquering the entire world.  Many Jews were disappointed in this peaceful Messiah, and this was part of the reason He was crucified.  This image of love and humility was the Jesus of His first coming, proclaiming “the LORD’s favor” and offering peace to anyone who will have it.  2,000 years ago, Jesus was focused on winning the spiritual battle for souls.

But Jesus will not always arrive in peace.  Later, in Revelation 19:11-16, Jesus is shown as the conqueror coming in vengeance:

“I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.  He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.  And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

This time Jesus isn’t riding into the city on a donkey, but the image is similar with the expectation many had that the Messiah would be a conquering king.  This is the Jesus of His second coming, but really the same Jesus just in different circumstances.  Having won the spiritual battle on the cross, in the end He will be victorious in every way.

So, Jesus is a God of love, but He is also a God of wrath and vengeance.  He spoke much of forgiveness during His time here 2,000 years ago, but he also spoke much about how God’s patience will eventually run out and He would come again in a much different way.  He also tells us that if we know Him, we also know the Father, so the Father has the same aspects to His character as well.

What could this separation of Jesus’ mission into two parts mean for us today?

I think it means that the primary purpose of our witness before He comes again is “to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor” in love.  The church shouldn’t hide any parts of the character of Jesus, including His role as judge, but the mission of His church excludes taking vengeance, because He will take care of that Himself later.  Love is the way we win the spiritual battle, the fight for men’s souls, and mirrors what Jesus emphasized during His first advent here.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12 that the spiritual battle should be our focus: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

We don’t win this battle in wrath, pursuing vengeance on this world’s sinners (which is all of us).  We win it by following the path He has laid out for us.  In the end, He will be the judge of all.

Barbs in Our Eyes

Todd R 1 Comment

As Israel was preparing to enter the Promised Land of Canaan after wandering in the wilderness, God gave them many instructions through Moses about how they were to live when they got there.  One of the instructions was to eliminate all of Canaan’s inhabitants.  Part of the warning not to ignore this comes in Numbers 33:55, which says:

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.”

What this is communicating is the urgency of getting rid of anything that could influence us to sin, and this applies as much to us as to ancient Israel.  In Israel’s case, the nations they were to remove from Canaan were under God’s judgement for centuries of worship of false gods, which included practices like ritual prostitution and child sacrifice.  God knew that His people would be tempted by these foreign gods and practices unless all trace of them was eliminated.

For us, God also wants to protect us from false gods and harmful practices and habits, and the phrase “barbs in your eyes” is a picture of the urgency for us to get rid of anything that would tempt us.  Think about it: If I had a thorn in my eye, I would drop everything and not be able to do anything else until I got it out.  Until the thorn was gone, it would be my one and only priority.  In modern times, God doesn’t tell His people to attack other nations in judgement, but He does want His people to attack sin with the same zeal.

So when I read “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell” it leads me to ask the question:

Do we remove sources of sin from our lives as urgently as we would a barb in our eye?

The Last Enemy is Death

Todd R 1 Comment

In life there are many difficult questions, and two of the hardest are also common objections to Christianity: 1) Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in this world? and 2) Why do bad things happen to good people?

However, the Bible does not leave Christians without hope in the face of these questions.

First, part of what God is doing about the evil in this world is the fact that everyone dies.  The Bible teaches that every bad thing in this world is a result of sin – people deviating from God’s purposes – and that because of that sin the world is cursed[1].  Not only do people hurt each other, but the creation itself, including human nature, is not in its ideal state.

Death was not originally part of this world, but came in to the world as a result of sin and is a constant reminder of it.  In Genesis chapter 5, there is a genealogy from Adam to Noah.  The phrase “and he died” is repeated over and over again and is a reminder that this world is not perfect.  God created a consequence for the sin of mankind: death.  While the Bible doesn’t explain why there was a snake in the garden or why Adam and Eve sinned, it does describe what God is doing about it.  When we ask why bad things happen, we acknowledge that bad things exist, that they shouldn’t exist, and that they can happen to anyone.  God isn’t doing nothing about the evil in the world – we all die and that is part of the judgment.

So, the two objections to Christianity (Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in this world? and why do bad things happen to good people?) end up being contradictory because part of what God does about the evil in this world is that bad things (death) happen to everyone.

However, the Bible teaches that there are two deaths: a physical death and a spiritual death.  In the first, our soul is separated from our body and our body dies.  In the second, our soul is separated from God eternally and our soul dies but exists forever away from God’s presence and blessings.  A second thing that God is doing about the evil in this world is that the first death is universal, but the second death is not.

Fortunately, judgement and death aren’t the only things God is doing about sin.  What does this mean?  Note the second half of God’s curse on the serpent from Genesis 3:15 –

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
            and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
            and you shall bruise his heel.”

Who is being bruised here?  In the last phrase, Satan is injuring Christ through the crucifixion, but it’s described as a wound to the heel because it is not fatal.  Jesus was raised to life eternal.  On the other hand, Christ shall bruise the head of Satan – a fatal blow that he will never recover from.  This was determined from the beginning.

While judgement comes to all in physical death as a result of sin, through Christ there is a way out from spiritual, eternal death.  Jesus has paid the price for our sin and has conquered eternal, spiritual death as a result.

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” – 1 Corinthians 15:26

Praise God!

[1] See Genesis 3:19 and 3:22