God's Awesome Judgments

God is the Judge of all the earth who only does right, and He holds to account every person according to His word and the testimony of our conscience.  Even people who deny God's existence will be weighed in the balances and found wanting like King Belshazzar.  Though a Babylonian ruler who had not been given the Law of Moses, God judged him for his arrogance to live contrary to knowledge of God who humbles the proud, as Nebuchadnezzar his father experienced personally.  The prophet said to him in Daniel 5:22-23:  "But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. ²³ And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified."  Though Belshazzar had never willingly entered into a covenant with God, he and all people created in His image will be judged by Him according to our works.

God does not turn a blind eye to the transgressions or pride of His own people who willingly enter into a covenant with Him, for Scripture makes it plain judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).  Judgment will not end there (as some would prefer), for the ungodly, proud and disobedient God will surely hold to account as well.  Any smugness found in us that is pleased to see others others judged and condemned ought to be repented of and tempered with humility, knowing we will be required to give an account of our lives before the LORD of hosts.  God is gracious and merciful to bring incremental judgments in our lives along with trials and pains, to the end we will be further refined and purified.  One reason God allowed the Hebrews to face enemies and attacks within Canaan was to see if they would obey Him or not, to provide every opportunity for them to learn of His goodness, provision and salvation.

I have observed people who have been brought up in a version of Christianity that is preoccupied with setting up boundaries to prevent sin and then judging others who have a different standard as people "holier than thou."  Isaiah 65:5 says before God this hypocrisy is like billowing smoke that burns His nostrils all day.  Activities people viewed as sinful in themselves years ago (like playing cards, dancing or going to the movies) has changed for some people, but the proud and hypocritical spirit observed in the Pharisees according to the Gospels has endured.  What is important to comprehend is God will hold us accountable to our exercise of liberty according to our knowledge, our conscience, His word, and how we walked in love for Him and others.  We will not be judged on the basis of convictions other people maintain, but we will be judged if we willfully sin under the guise of liberty or place others under a legalistic yoke of bondage Jesus did not prescribe--for He does nothing of the sort.

I am often impressed and awestruck with the wisdom of God in His judgments, for those who violate His word and will are taken in their own net.  God made a covenant with His people those who sold themselves as servants to pay off debts were to be released after 6 years, and in Jeremiah's day they released servants only to force them back into bondage.  The LORD through the prophet declared in Jeremiah 34:17:  "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbour. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,' says the LORD--'to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth."  Those who imagine themselves free to do as they pleased were then given liberty by God to sword, pestilence and famine.  Better to bind ourselves to please God with gladness and hearken unto His words than to bind ourselves or others with legalistic burdens or fall into the snare of sin disguised as liberty.  Consider how the God's ways and wisdom are past finding out, yet He is gracious to show us His awesome works.

Appointment to Wrath

A myth Christians do well to dispel is that God's people will never experience the wrath of God.  While it is true Christians will not experience the wrath of God for eternity, the Bible is filled with instances of God's wrath coming upon His own people to correct, refine and draw them to Himself.  We see this in God's dealings with Judah under the rule of wicked King Ahaz in 2 Chronicles 28, and God nor His ways have changed.  As Psalm 7:11 says, "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day."  God's judgment and wrath is not devoid of love, grace and mercy, for He suffers long and is kind; God warns and shows restraint in His administration of justice as when a father disciplines his beloved child for good.

People might wonder, "But I thought the Bible says Christians are not appointed to wrath."  That is true, but Paul wrote that in the context of eternal salvation in contrast to everlasting damnation.  Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-11:  "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸ But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. ¹¹ Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing."  It is a comfort to know God's chastening of us and correction for our sin is not for our destruction but for edification, purification and sanctification.  This passage does not teach we can do no wrong as God's children when we sin.  A loving parent can be moved to anger by foolish and sinful choices of a rebellious son, and because God loves us He will take appropriate action to warn, teach and judge us righteously.

A passage in the Old Testament illustrates both God's wrath against sin in His people as well as our need to do as Jesus taught--to judge ourselves lest we be judged.  Ahaz reigned in Judah and his wicked, idolatrous ways were likened to the kings of Israel.  Due to the sins of Ahaz and his people, God delivered Judah in to the hands of the Syrians and the northern kingdom of Israel who slaughtered valiant men of Judah and Benjamin.  Great spoil and captives of Judah were taken to Samaria with the aim to enslave them.  2 Chronicles 28:9-11 reads, "But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: "Look, because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand; but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the LORD your God? ¹¹ Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you."

Because of the sins of Judah God delivered them into the hands of Israel, and in executing God's judgment the malice and rage of the Israelites reached up to heaven.  The prophet Oded confronted Israel for their own faults, for they were not innocent themselves.  God's fierce wrath was upon them for adding to their sin God had punished Judah for!  By God's grace there were wise men among them who agreed with the word of the LORD through the prophet and responded in 2 Chronicles 28:13:  "...You shall not bring the captives here, for we already have offended the LORD. You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel."  In humbling themselves before God in repentance, the great wrath of God was turned away for a season.  They judged God to be righteous and themselves to be guilty of great sin, and the people responded by obedience to God and showed kindness to their brethren by providing for their needs and sending them home.

Paul wrote to believers in Ephesians 5:5-7:  "For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them."  Knowing Jesus died to cleanse us from sin and reconcile us to God, Christians ought not to be partakers of sin like the people of Judah and Israel were.  The end result of God's wrath is different for the believer and unbeliever, for one is refined as precious gold while the other is consumed as chaff.  Christians are not permanently appointed to wrath as those who rebel against God, yet should we rebel against God a brief appointment with God's wrath can be booked in because He loves us and desires to further sanctify us according to His wisdom.

Verses like Romans 5:9 ought to be balanced and put in perspective by others like Romans 1:18.  Romans 5:9 says concerning born-again Christians, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."  Romans 1:18 also says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness..."  God has revealed Himself to us, the almighty God whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are higher than our ways.  We cannot fathom all God does, plans and accomplishes through the administration of His righteous wrath and judgments, but we can know God and His ways are good.  What we can do by God's grace is to respond in humility to His correction, confess our sin and repent, and praise God we are not appointed to wrath forever.  Even should His wrath burn against us for a season, it will never be malicious or murderous.  Rather than only being content to escape God's wrath forever, shouldn't we live in a godly way in which He is well-pleased today?

Pillar or Pendulum?

King Uzziah, the father of Jotham, transgressed by burning incense to God in the temple at Jerusalem--something only sanctified priests were permitted to do by the Law of Moses.  Lifted up with pride, Jotham went beyond his station as king and brought judgment upon himself from God who struck him with leprosy.  His condition prevented him from continuing to rule as he did previously, and being a leper became more a defining feature of his reign than his feats of engineering, warfare and husbandry.  He did what was right in the eyes of God generally speaking, but his sin led to a great fall.  Jotham noticed this and took note.

2 Chronicles 27:2 provides an interesting detail concerning the reign of Jotham:  "And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done (although he did not enter the temple of the LORD). But still the people acted corruptly."  Jotham prepared his heart to walk in God's ways and took care to avoid the sin committed by his father who went into the holy place and burned incense on the altar.  Some people have blamed God for judgments He has administered or troubles He allowed, but Jotham did not do so.  The people continued to live corruptly, but he was not swayed by them either.  He did not walk in the sins of his father or the people, and it is most commendable how Jotham remained faithful to God.

If you ever observed a pendulum swinging in a clock or the Foucault Pendulum at the Griffith Observatory, the pendulum goes from one side to the other.  The place it pauses, ever so slightly, is at the most extreme range of its movement.  I have observed this movement to align with typical responses in people, to swing to the opposite extreme than to remain in a central and stable position.  Some who are raised by overbearing parents can rebel against them, and others who had few boundaries are pleased to enforce many.  I imagine there are people, who if their father had been stricken by leprosy from God, would have bailed on God entirely as if God was to blame.  Maybe they would have stayed as far away from the temple precinct, worried they too might be struck with leprosy if they sinned in some obscure manner.  As the passage is rendered in the NKJV, it seems Jotham still worshipped God publicly in the temple courts but did not enter the holy place in the temple as his father did.

2 Chronicles 27:6 says, "So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God."  We do well to follow Jotham's example of faith and obedience to God, who prepared his heart and ways before the LORD his God.  He was not influenced to do evil by his father's proud example, nor did he reject God in anger as a untrustworthy tyrant for putting his father in his place.  Jotham was also not swayed by numbers of corrupt people and remained steadfast in faith.  How many people, I wonder, would have been like a pendulum in Jotham's situation rather than an immoveable pillar given the sinful, swirling influences all around.  In an effort to oppose or push back on what is wrong we can go too far, swinging like a pendulum away from balance in the middle by faith in Christ where righteousness, truth, grace, love and mercy meet.

An Enriched Life

At a recent Bible study, we had a group discussion concerning specific ways God has enriched our lives.  Because we tend to associate riches with money or financial gain, it was good to consider changes God has ushered into our lives money cannot buy.  Of course God is able to provide for His people financially and He faithfully does, but money aside:  how would you answer the question?  Having been born again by faith in Jesus we can resemble children born into a family where we take much for granted and feel entitled to having what we want.

As I reflected upon many answers I could give, one answer to how God has enriched my life is a capacity to love and care for others as Christians are exhorted to do in Romans 12:15:  "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."  Being content with God's grace extended to us, we can rejoice with those who rejoice without envy.  We can be legitimately happy when others are glad rather than feeling bad we haven't experienced the success others have.  Their achievements they celebrate need not ruffle or annoy us, and we do not need to downplay their reason for happiness or be compelled to compete with them by informing them others have done better.  Even when we are dealing with the worst news possible, we can still rejoice with those who rejoice because this is God's will for us.

At the same time, Christians are given the capacity to weep with those who weep--to care deeply and sympathise with people who are doing it tough.  We can be disturbed by those who weep and we do not understand why; we wonder what could possibly justify such an emotional response.  In my hard-hearted youth I looked at tears with disdain when God was aware of every tear and why it fell.  At times in my life there were people I could not have cared less about, yet God has brought a change where I have shed tears for people I did not even know personally.  If I was someone who was easily moved emotionally, I never would have understood the profound change Jesus has brought into my life by His love.

Rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep are not my natural inclination, but by God's grace our lives can be enriched by the transformation Jesus brings.  Romans 12:14 is another change among many God intends to bring into our lives:  "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."  How profound it is that God does not merely forgive our sins, save us from hell and promise us eternal life, but He changes the way we think, feel and think--to bless us by making us a source of blessing to others.  How has receiving Jesus enriched your life?