A Time to Kill

I'm not one to theorize very often, but as I read my morning passage today light dawned upon my heart.  In centuries past, many preachers tended to camp on the power, strength, and judgment of God.  Dire warnings against impenitent sinners were as common as people attending church in America even a few generations ago.  Now the primary emphasis camps upon the love, grace, and mercy of God.  Generations ago people saw God as a homicidal tyrant, justly raging against the immoral.  Today He is pictured as a kind grandpa who wouldn't ever judge a person because He has softened with mushy affections.  He cares more about our feelings than righteousness.  These views are not scriptural, and are therefore incorrect.

No person in the Body of Christ today will deny that apathy is a serious issue faced by the church today.  There is a sense on entitlement which has crept into the Body, a selfishness that has bred under the surface like a cancer for decades unnoticed.  It is the concept that God is my Savior, Jesus is my friend, and like my other friends it is my prerogative to decide when we will meet, how often I will call, and I get to choose the activity.  If Jesus should challenge me in any way to go outside of my comfort zone, I am allowed to say no.  I will do what is comfortable, what I feel like doing, and as long as it is not too costly I will serve God.  While pure and undefiled religion before the Father is visiting the widow and orphan in their affliction and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, we have somehow become the central figure.  It is clear many have lost the fear of God, but it is more likely they have never had it.  We must be convinced God is able to destroy us before we will believe He can save us.

Case in point:  when we introduce people to God, we are likely to tend to point out qualities which are more appealing to the flesh.  God's grace, mercy, kindness, faithfulness, love, gentleness, and He desires that none should perish are qualities often held forth.  Few focus on judgment, wrath, justice, strength, and power.  The way some people talk about God, we wouldn't even think Psalm 7:11 could be in the Bible:  "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day."  Verses like Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 are read at funerals like poetry and no one seems to notice what is being said.  "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: [2] a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; [3] a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up..."  People are comfortable with planting and harvesting, but a time to kill?  Yes, for Genesis 38:7 affirms, "But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him."

Even theology has drifted from the mark.  How many times have you heard it preached in Sunday Schools or the pulpit that the "angel of death" went throughout the land of Egypt during the 10th plague and killed the firstborn of man and beast?  I was taught that.  I can only assume some people were very uncomfortable with the idea of our modern "nice" God slaying a first-born child in his crib and placed this task upon this fictitious "angel of death."  Not even a careful examination of scripture shows God Himself takes this upon Himself!  Exodus 12:12-13 says, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."  He says again in Exodus 12:23:  "For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you."  People will grasp at the word "destroyer" and say that God might have used an angel to perform His "dirty work," but I disagree.  God doesn't do dirty work.  God commanded it, takes credit for it, and whether or not an angel was used matters.  God was judging the idolatry of the Egyptian people, and Pharaoh hardened his heart against God.  God raised up Pharaoh for this opportunity to reveal His power, strength, and judgment to the Egyptians and His own people, as well as all the surrounding nations.  We do not need to apologize for our God.  Interesting when the Bible conflicts with our perceived view of God, isn't it?

The 10 plagues in Egypt was how God introduced Himself to Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the Hebrews alike.  After over 400 years in Egypt, many Israelites began to serve the idols of Egypt.  This is proven by Joshua's words after the exodus from Egypt, after the entry of the Promised Land, even after God drove out their enemies so they could inhabit Canaan!  Just before his death Joshua says in Joshua 24:14, "Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!"  Even after the Egyptians were plagued, their army drowned in the Red Sea, after wandering in the wilderness forty years, after the fall of Jericho, and the destruction of their enemies on all sides, idols from Egypt were STILL among them.  It stands to reason therefore a large group of the Hebrews while enslaved in Egypt did not fear the One True God.

Place yourself in the shoes of the Israelites.  You have witnessed waters turned to blood, the land corrupted by frogs, flies, dust turned to lice, all the cattle of the Egyptians die, ashes turn to boils on man and beast, hail fall mingled with fire that killed every man or animal in the field, innumerable locusts consume every green thing, darkness for three days which could be felt, and the death of every firstborn child or animal of the Egyptians.  Also, these plagues only occurred outside of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt.  You would be overwhelmed with the incredible power of God, wouldn't you?  You would be amazed how the blood from the slain lamb applied to the doorposts and lintel caused the Spirit of God to pass over and spare your firstborn.  Fast-forward to the parting of the Red Sea, when the Israelites walked through the sea on dry land with walls of water on the right and left.  Then the children of Israel traveled to Mt. Sinai where God would descend with smoke, thunderings, lightnings, fire, and intense trumpet blasts.  The people had been commanded to be sanctified three days, wash with water, put on clean clothes, and refrain from sexual activity.  What would have been your view of God at that moment, when the sky grew dark with clouds and the Spirit of God descended upon Mt. Sinai?  Probably a lot like the Hebrews, who trembled before God in reverential fear.  God then imparted His laws unto them so they might know of His righteousness.

Here is the crux of my theory:  because the Israelites were exposed to God's justice, power, and might, they reverenced God with fear.  He chose the Jews out of all the nations by His grace and love for them.  God was as gracious and loving then as He is now, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.  But the way Jesus will return is strikingly similar to the justice meted out upon the idols of the Egyptians, as the conquering King of kings.  He is both Lamb of God and Lion of Judah.  When we consciously avoid the justice, judgment, and wrath of God upon sin, we begin to take grace, love, and forgiveness for granted.  We forget the fact that we deserve punishment.  We forget God is concerned about not only our conduct but the attitudes of our hearts.  We cheapen grace by neglecting the law.  We treat forgiveness and mercy with contempt when we neglect our need for repentance.  These Israelites were not apathetic:  far from it!  They stoned a man for gathering sticks on the Sabbath day because he broke God's Law!  They policed themselves and went to Moses and his appointed elders for judgment because they did not want the wrath of God to break out among them.  It seems like today we doubt this could even happen.  For too long many have used the liberty ushered in by God's grace as a cloak for sins of themselves and others.  My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be!

I urge you friends, learn about the character of the God of the Bible.  But the end is not knowledge, for it puffs up.  Through the grace and love of God allow knowledge to take root in biblical truth.  Don't settle for a second-hand relationship with God, living vicariously through the wisdom of others who have met with God.  You need not settle for stories when you can have a living relationship with God in heaven.  Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Justice demanded the blood of a spotless Lamb, and Jesus paid that price.  We see as in a mirror dimly, but soon we will see Him face to face.  Let us do Him the honor of portraying God as He is:  the Lion and the Lamb.