Patience and Mercy

Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek 33:11)

Many people mistakenly draw a distinction between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. They say, the God of the Old Testament is vengeful and cruel, but the God of the New Testament is loving and kind. These people have completely misunderstood the Bible. God is a God of both love and justice. They are both essential parts of his character, and they are both on full display in both Testaments. It is true that much of the Old Testament is the story of Israel’s continual rebellion against God, which leads to God’s judgment on them. However, this beautiful verse from Ezekiel makes clear that God never enjoys bringing judgment. His desire is that all would be saved. He yearns for the wicked to repent. And, in fact, a more careful reading of the Old Testament will show God’s great long-suffering and patience, as he withholds his wrath for generation after generation of the people’s rebellion. Who else do you think can hold their temper for centuries?!

God is patient with us as well. He is patient to give us years to come to salvation. He is patient with us for years afterward as we slowly mature and leave behind our evil ways. Thank you, Lord, for your great love, which you demonstrate in your patience with me. Amen.

Deadly Pride

They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God who had control over those plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Rev 16:9)

At the very end of the tribulation God sends the “seven bowl judgments,” seven plagues that afflict everyone on earth who worshiped the beast. Even though they know that these plagues are sent by God to afflict his enemies, astonishingly they refuse to repent and glorify God. Their hearts are truly hard and they are captive to their own pride. Maybe some of the very people I know today will be among their number. And there are many others who may not live to see that day and yet God knows their hearts. He knows they are just as stubborn and prideful as these who would endure the seven bowl judgments without repenting. The condemnation and punishment of such men is truly just. They have surely chosen their own fate. They would only deal with God on their own terms, and so he will deal with them on his.

Do the Wicked Prosper?

Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. (Job 21:7,13)

Job’s counselors, confident of God’s justice, speak about how the wicked will be punished and the righteous blessed. But Job looks at the evidence of his eyes and says, no, the wicked often prosper, at least until death lays them low like all the rest (24:19). In a way they are both right, but they are looking at different parts of the picture. Job asks, “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?” (24:1) But he has. There is one time for judgment, and it is after our life on earth is complete. Job wondered that God did not judge, and his counselors imagined confidently that God judges in this life. They both failed to have God’s eternal perspective. Lord, help me to have your eternal perspective. Let me not be lulled into complacency by the apparent lack of judgment in this life. Help me to always remember that the lost people I speak with every day are bound for eternal punishment without the light of the Gospel which I can share with them.