Taylor,
My family and I are doing very
well, blessed beyond measure in fact, and judging from the pictures, so are you
and yours – Lane is as cute as he can be and looks like a handful! Thanks for
sending me these verses, although I already had an idea about the content, if
not the exact location. I did not plan to send an extensive answer, but since
God kept me up pouring over this, I thought, perhaps, I had better. This topic
is a struggle for many and there really are some questions that I believe we
won’t find answers to or won’t be able to comprehend until we receive our
glorified bodies and are able to look back over history and see things in a
manner much closer to the way God sees them. I do believe, however, that we are
called to “study to shew [ourselves] approved unto God, …[workmen] that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15)” and that we
should “be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the
hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your
conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian
life will be put to shame (1 Peter 3:15-16).” My answer to this topic is going
to be a bit long winded, so if you are still interested in hearing it, you may
want to wait for those brief moments when both Lane and Lexi are napping. So,
here goes:
First, I want you to understand,
just as I did at a teen camp so many years ago, that we are in a world at war.
Since creation fell, we have been moving toward a time where Christ will return
and make thing right again. This means that, the closer that we get to those
times, the more we will have to stand ready to fight for our faith. In 2 Peter
3:3 the apostle tell us “that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery,
walking after their own lusts.” As we draw closer and closer to the last days,
we will face more and more ridicule and hate. People will make fun of us for
our faith, and scientists who are determined to do so will attempt to develop more and more theories proving that we are
wrong to believe in God and his Son. Because of this, I stand by my first piece
of advice. Study. Keep studying, keep leaning on Christ, and don’t be afraid to
ask God the hard questions. Tell Him you don’t understand and ask him to lead
you into the truth. Read. There have been a lot of godly men and women who have
asked the same questions that we are asking and have come up with some
scripturally-sound answers, but be careful; “do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits to determine if they are from God (1 John 4:1).” And above
all, pray. “Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).” When we study and pray, we
are making deposits into a spiritual bank account from which we can pull when
we are hit with tests and trials that seem too big for us.
Second, the question that you are
dealing with is how to reconcile the seemingly harsh God of the Old Testament
with the loving and caring God that was shown to us in the person of Christ and
whom we have met and love because he first loved us. The first thing that you
must remember (and it is not going to sound, at first, like an answer to the
question at hand) is that God never changes. Malachi 3:6 tells us, “For I am
the LORD, I change not.” The God whose love we can feel is the same God that we
see waging war in the Old Testament. This seems to be a contradiction until we
understand that time and time again, God told the peoples mentioned in the Old
Testament, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" This is
the declaration of the Lord GOD. "Instead, don't I take pleasure when he
turns from his ways and lives? (Ezekiel 18:23)” Repentance and reconciliation
have always been and will always be at the heart of God, but we cannot overlook
the fact that God is 100% holy. This, often times, makes judgment a necessity.
Keep in mind that, even though we now have a Mediator with God in Christ,
judgment is still coming, and there will come a time of separation and God
will, with a broken heart, pronounce that judgment on all those who don’t have
a personal, passionate relationship with him through his Son, Jesus Christ. The
fact that judgment was often more immediate in the Old Testament does not
change the fact that it was necessary, and due to the infallible person of God,
we can be certain that the judgment that was delivered was the proper course of
action.
We must also keep in mind the
history and cultural practices of those people upon whom God passed judgment in
the Old Testament. This area of study is difficult in that it requires tracing
the names of certain people back through the Bible, and many times studying
cultural practices of those people that are mentioned only briefly in the text.
For instance, the Ammonites worshipped a god they called Molech. In worship of
this god, they would heat a statue of brass until it was blazing and, when it
was hot enough, lay their sons or daughters in the arms or in the hollow belly
of the statue and watch as they burned. Also, some scholars’ believe(and have
been supported in part by archaeological finds) that at least part of the
reason for the destruction of Jericho is due to similar sacrifice but, in
addition, the people of that city used the remains of their sacrifices in the
foundations of the walls, which is why the walls had to come down. Whether it
was because of abominable practices or due to the fact that a people had set
themselves against God and Israel, God’s judgment has always and will always
stem from the fact that he is a holy God with a holy people operating in an
unholy world; however, this ungodliness does not always lead to judgment and
punishment.
Many times, unbelievers want to
focus on the harshness of God’s justice without also looking at the mercy that
was (and is) so often extended to those who repent from their hearts and turn
toward him. In the city of Jericho, God spared Rahab due to her actions because
those actions showed mercy, belief, and a repentant heart (Joshua 2). As Jonah
travelled to Ninevah, God’s purpose was to destroy the city and its
inhabitants, but the city listened to Jonah, repented, and God spared them
(Jonah 3). Time and time again throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see
instances of God’s justice, but there, side-by-side with those things that are
difficult to reconcile with the God we know, are instances of mercy and grace
often given, even to those who did not deserve it. “Know therefore that the
Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy
with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be
slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face” (Deut. 7:9-10).
While I can’t begin to explain the
severity of the justice often meted out by God to those who set themselves
firmly against him, I can, through faith and a personal knowledge of a God who
loves me, trust that God, in his infinite wisdom, can see the end of all
possible paths and the He, and He alone, knows the best course in any given
situation. Too often we attempt to place God in a person-sized box and expect
that everything that he does or has done to fit into our concept of “good” and
“right” and “just.” But we serve an infinite God who knows the end from the
beginning, and whose ways are higher than our ways and whose thought are higher
than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9). Ultimately, many of the questions that can and
will be posed must be answered by an unshakeable faith... but “be sober, be
vigilant.” It is this faith that will be mocked, misunderstood, and
misrepresented by those who seek to advance an agenda that does not line up
with the Word of God. It is this faith we must be able to defend, to fight for,
in a lost and dying world. But in the end, it is this faith which will, when
the last trumpet sounds, see us standing triumphant at the side of God and His
son Jesus Christ as he begins the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.
Last, be aware of the attacks of
the enemy. It is just these sort of things that he uses to shake us in an
attempt to make us doubt who God is and who we are in Him. Although I firmly
believe there is a time to answer those questions that are put to us, there is
also a time to avoid divisive people and their disputes. Paul put it to Timothy
in this manner “Guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent,
empty speech and contradictions from the “knowledge” that falsely bears that name”
(1 Tim. 6:20). Remember, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” (1
Cor. 14:33) So, if something in your life brings confusion and doubt concerning
His word or His promises to you, you can be certain that it did not come from
Him. I love you and each and every person with whom I came in contact at youth
camps, ministry trips, and visits all those years ago, and I hope that one day
soon, I will find time to visit some of those people who made a true and
lasting impression on my life and my walk with Christ. (I hear Michelle
Hallmark has a bakery serving food that is to die for!) Praying for you and
yours.
In Christ,
Matt
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