Unfathomable wisdom of God!

I came across an interesting verse during our family's Bible reading after dinner.  It's a verse that has struck me before, but I couldn't escape it even as I went to bed.  Let me give a little background:  Jeroboam was king of Israel and had led the people into idolatry.  He had a child named Abijah (meaning father, i.e. worshiper of God) who became sick.  Jeroboam asked his wife to disguise herself and visit the prophet of God named Ahijah (meaning brother, i.e. worshiper of God).  God spoke to Ahijah who was blind and told him that the wife of Jeroboam would come in disguise.  Interesting, isn't it, that the one who was blind would be so spiritually perceptive?

Ahijah pronounced a stern judgment against Jeroboam and all his descendants since he had done more evil than all the kings before him through his idolatry and casting God behind his back.  Concerning the child Abijah, the prophet said these words to Jereboam's wife:  "Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. [13] And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam." (1 Kings 14:12-13)  The Hebrew word "child" used here is used for the range of age from infancy to adolescence.  This is a stunning passage for those who think they have the ways of God figured out.  Here was a lad in whom was something good towards the Lord God from the house of Jeroboam, but God would permit his death.

Some might trip up over this passage, saying that it would be unfair for God to allow the child to die seeing as there was some good towards God in Him.  Jeroboam had placed his family under a curse for his gross sin, and the most righteous of his family would perish as a result.  All Israel would mourn the lad, for his heart had a loyalty towards God.  He did not perish for his father's sin, but as the result of sin entering into the world through Adam.  Sin separated man from God, and the wages of sin is death.  Because of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, sin has passed to all men (Romans 5:12).  As a consequence of Jeroboam's wickedness, his house was cursed like many after Adam:  the house of Eli (1 Samuel 3:12-14), Joab (2 Samuel 3:29), Ahab (1 Kings 21:21-24), and Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27).  Adam doomed not just his household to a curse, but all humanity after him.  The first thing this teaches me is a single action can have extreme consequences not just for me, but for my children as well.

The second thing this passage teaches me is God's wisdom is better than man's wisdom.  We would spare the righteous son out of pity.  Yet God in His mercy, allowed His own Son Jesus Christ become a sacrifice for all people that we might be saved from the curse of sin and death brought into the world through Adam's sin.  Can you fathom what it cost God to allow His only begotten Son to perish at the hand of sinful flesh for sinful flesh?  What pain and suffering God endured as Jesus Christ was torn apart by the whip, battered with fists, and pierced being the perfect Lamb of God, without blemish or spot?  It is a horrible thing to lose a son who has faults:  how unthinkable to lay down the life of the One whose heart was only good towards God, being God incarnate?  God does not deliver man from sin because of pity, but out of his mercy, love, and justice:  1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ satisfied God's justice while His love was gratified as John 3:16 teaches us:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  God is willing to sacrifice the good so the wicked might repent and live.  God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  Jesus did not remain in the grave, but rose again on the third day and remain alive to this day!  Abijah perished because sin had entered the world, even though there was good in him towards God.  All men who walk the earth physically perish, some earlier than others.  But God has made a way for us to obtain eternal life through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, so we might glorify God on earth and live with Him forever.  Jesus says in John 11:25-26, "...I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. [26] And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Now there is a question!  It is not how you answer with your mouth that determines your eternal destiny.  Anyone can mouth the words, "I believe."  When God looks inside your heart, does He see something good in you toward Him?  Paul says in Romans 7:18:  "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find."  My friends, there is nothing good in any of us. Philip. 2:13 says, "...for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." The only way that God can find good in a human being is if His Holy Spirit has regenerated our hearts through faith in Jesus Christ!  No amount of positive thinking or good deeds can cleanse us from sin.  There is none good but God, and He is able to transform us from sinners to saints through His grace and mercy.  Let us stop looking to ourselves, but look unto Jesus and be saved!