ARE WE UNWORTHY OF GOD?

Must we believe that we are worthy? After the Apostles came to Jesus to ask Him to increase their faith, He told them a parable which reflected the nature of faith. According to Him, faith wasn’t about an amount. Instead the smallest measure of faith is enough. Then Jesus taught them what was essential about faith—a correct understanding of their relationship with their Savior:

•    Luke 17:10 “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Even the best of us are unworthy of anything good from our Savior:

•    Romans 11:35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

Consequently, Jesus will never owe us anything but punishment:

•    Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

According to Jesus, even the tiniest sin can damn us eternally:

•    Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Even if we gave our life for a righteous cause, this would not earn us a penny from our God who is perfectly righteous and will not tolerate any sin:

•    1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love [of God through faith], I gain nothing.

How else does this dismal and depressing reality function in our lives? It discourages pride and self-trust. But aren’t these good things? Shouldn’t we feel proud of ourselves and trust in ourselves? Not according to our God. Instead, we need to graduate from these to trust and glory in our God.

A woman of the street had braved her way into a luncheon of Pharisees where Jesus was also present. The forgiveness she had received gave her the courage to cry tears over His feet and to anoint them with precious oil. However, the Pharisees were appalled and concluded that Jesus wasn’t a prophet, because a prophet would never allow himself to be touched by such a woman. However, Jesus responded that because she had been forgiven much, she adored Him much:

•    Luke 7:47 (NLT) “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

According to Jesus, love and adoration result from forgiveness, and forgiveness and gratefulness result from knowing that we are condemned sinners apart from the mercy of God.  

Our needs draw us together, while pride and self-sufficiency drive us apart. More importantly, our needs draw us to God. Jesus told a parable about a self-satisfied Pharisee and a hated Roman collaborator who entered the Temple to pray:

•    Luke 18:11–12 “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’”

The self-righteous Pharisee had blinded himself to believe that he was worthy of God. However, the despised tax collector could no longer blind himself from his unworthiness:

•    Luke 18:13–14 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Law in our heart and the Word humble us to connect us to our only hope—the forgiveness of God:

•    Romans 3:19–20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law [obedience] no human being will be justified [forgiven] in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Consequently, we need the harsh and unforgiving teachings of the law. They show us our brokenness and have us bring our tears to Jesus:

•    Galatians 3:22–24 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

From what had the law been guarding us? Belief in our own worthiness! Therefore, Jesus had to come to open our eyes:

•    Psalm 146:7–8 …The LORD [Yahweh] sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind…

IF GOD’S PLANS DO NOT CHANGE, HOW CAN OUR PRAYERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

 

 

  The Bible teaches that God’s plans do not change:

·       Isaiah 14:24 – The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand. (Ephes. 2:10; PRO 19:21; NUM 23:19; PSA 33:11)

And yet our prayers are effectual:

James 5:16 …The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

2 Kings 20:5–6 …Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria…

How do we reconcile these two truths? God knew of our prayers from before creation since He is all-knowing. Therefore, our effectual prayers played a role in His plans even before we were created.

Does God’s foreknowledge rule against our having freewill? Certainly not! When my wife goes out to shop, I know she’ll be back. She always has come back! However, she never expressed any complaint that my foreknowledge limited her freewill.

God had created the time/space/matter package and therefore is not limited by it. Therefore, He can know the future as well as the past. Likewise, if I create a house, I too am not limited by it. I can go inside, outside, or even burn it down.

His foreknowledge does not determine our actions, even though He knows them perfectly. Consequently, even though God knows exactly what we will do, we are not puppets or machines. Therefore, our prayers and decisions matter profoundly.

UNDERSTANDING SCRIPTURE REQUIRES US TO UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXTS

Understanding Scripture properly requires us to understand to whom it is being addressed. In this case (below), three different parties are addressed:

1.    The Mature in Christ
2.    The Apostles
3.    The Natural Person lacking the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:6–7, 12-15 Yet among (1) the mature (2) we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God… 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual [having the Holy Spirit]. 14 The (3) natural person [not having the Spirit] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person [having the Holy Spirit] judges all things, but is himself to be judged [“properly discerned”] by no one.

If we fail to understand the distinctions between these three groups, we will not understand this passage. The Apostles are imparting Spirit-given truths to the mature in Christ. However, those without the Spirit cannot and will not receive them.

Consequently, even the mature in Christ are not receiving new extra-Biblical truths directly from the Spirit but through the Scriptures written by the Apostles and illuminated by the Spirit.

Sometimes, understanding who is being addressed can lead to heated differences in interpreting the Scriptures. A prime example divides hyper-Pentecostals (and the New Apostolic Reformation) from other Christians:

•    John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

Is Jesus addressing the “whoever” among the Christians or among the Apostles? Are all able to greater works than Jesus or just the 12? To answer this question, we must look at the context, both the immediate context and the context of the entire Bible.

THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT: While it is undeniable that Jesus is addressing His 11 Apostles (Judas had just departed from the Last Supper to betray Jesus), is John 14:12 referring to only the Apostles or to all believers? Both can be persuasively argued.

However, when we regard the context of the ENTIRE BIBLE, it becomes apparent that it had been the Apostles who had been specially equipped to perform the miracles that had authenticated their message—the Gospel!

•    Hebrews 2:3–4 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard [the Apostles], while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Consequently, the first believers congregated at the feet of the Apostles, who, as eyewitnesses, had been commissioned by Jesus (John 14:36; 15:36) to carry forth the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20):

•    Acts 2:42–43  And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

•    Acts 5:12–13 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

•    Mark 16:14–16, 20  Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned…And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

Paul testified that the Apostles were accompanied by confirmatory miracles:

•    2 Corinthians 12:12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

These signs distinguished the 12 from all others. Not all had gifts of miracles, tongues, and healings:

•    1 Corinthians 12:27–30 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

Will be all perform greater works than Jesus? We are not all miracle workers. Therefore, if we all were to do greater works than Jesus, it would have to merely be through our everyday lives of being and speaking the Gospel. To expect that we should be able to heal on-the-spot as Jesus and His Apostles had done will lead to disappointment and doubts.

WEAKNESS, FAILURE, FRUSTRATION, AND DESPAIR

 


Many are sold-out for Jesus, but we despair over our weakness and failure to overcome our fleshly afflictions (Romans 7:24-25; Galatians 5:17).  Consequently, we wonder, “What is wrong?” and despair even of our trust in our Savior.

However, Jesus assures us that this struggle is normal for the Christian, even blessed:

•    Matthew 5:3–6 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Our frustrations and despair with ourselves is the process of dying to the self and living for God. This leads us to prayer, thanksgiving, and rejoicing! In what? That we can no longer trust in ourselves but to Christ alone, our only hope:

•    1 Corinthians 1:28–31 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Why then do we hope and boast in Jesus? Because He is our only hope and the One who loves us. Consequently, we want to be like Him and to devote ourselves fully to Him, but how? We need to adopt a new way of thinking, through which we see that our brokenness, disdained by the world, but is beautiful before God:

•    Psalm 34:18–19 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

The marines might be looking for “a few good men,” but the Lord esteems the broken-hearted and draws close to us:

•    Psalm 51:16–17 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Our offering to God is our neediness and self-despair. Since this is the last thing that we want surrender, our Lord has to nurture neediness within us:

•    2 Corinthians 4:7–11 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

If we want to be like Jesus, we are coerced to trust in Him through our suffering and self-despair. We are forced to walk on the water as He had, terrified with each step. We are required to give up what is most valuable to us, as Abraham was required to sacrifice Isaac and as the Father sacrificially sacrificed His beloved Son.

However, we cannot do this on our own. Even the Apostle Paul required God’s help. Because of the many revelations he had received, pride stood knocking at his door. To drive pride away, God allowed Satan to afflict Paul with a “thorn in the flesh.” It must have been painful or even life-controlling. Therefore, Paul petitioned God repeatedly to take it away. However, God answered:

•    2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul would have to accept his weaknesses and afflictions so that the power of God would rest upon Him. We also must do this and even boast about our failures and insecurities, blessings in disguise!

 

PATIENCE, ENDURANCE, AND HEALING

Many hyper-Pentecostal (HP) groups insist that we should have it all now—wealth and healing. If we don’t get healed immediately, the sick were often told that there was something the matter with their faith. Now, it is more likely the un-healed are told, “There is something within you that is blocking your healing.” But they are not told:

•    “You might have to wait for your healing,” or
•    “It might not be according to God’s will to heal you. Instead, He might be accomplishing something more important within you like patience, endurance, character, and faithfulness,” or
•    “God’s grace is sufficient” and His strength is made perfect through weakness and infirmity.”

These considerations are left entirely out of the HP equation, although they are central to the Bible and our lives in Christ, even though the concepts of patience, endurance, waiting, and perseverance are mentioned many hundreds of times. Abraham had to wait 25 years for His promised Isaac. Jacob had to wait 7 additional years of labor to receive his beloved Rachel, and Moses had to endure 40 years as a lowly shepherd in the desert before God would appear to Him in a burning bush and instruct him to lead his suffering people to freedom. But meanwhile God was preparing Moses who had become the humblest man on all the earth. And now we await Jesus’ return! Even our Lord waits patiently as He too forbears as sin destroys:

•    Romans 3:25  [Jesus] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Some of our Lord’s goals could only be accomplished through patience:

•    2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Jesus also had to patiently endure:

•    Luke 12:49–50 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism [the crucifixion] to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!”

Patiently enduring demonstrates the truth of our Faith:

•    2 Corinthians 6:4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,

If we patiently endure, we shall reap the blessings. There is no promise that we shall receive God’s promises immediately but in “due season”:

•    Hebrews 6:11–12 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

•    Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

We inherit the promises of God through patience:

•    Psalm 37:9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land… 37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

We need the patience of the farmer who must await the harvest. There is no secret formula to reap as we sow:

•    James 5:7–8 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is…

Through patiently enduring, we receive God’s blessings, which we can pass on to others to build the Body of Christ. This also creates love and community:

•    2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Enduring suffering is also God’s command. Through this God produces character, humility, hope, and gentleness:

•    Ephesians 4:1–2 therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

•    Romans 5:3–4 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

All these promises are foreign to the HPs who claim that they receive their blessings in the here and now. They are forceful motivational speakers who make bold claims. One such speaker, before tens of thousands promised that no one will leave his crusade unchanged.

Can we honestly make such wild claims? According to the Scriptures, we are an insubstantial mist, a sinful nothing:

•    James 4:13–16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

After several attempts to inflame the expectations of crowd,  the HP evangelist counted hundreds who had raised their hands claiming that they had been healed. However, James claimed that God’s will prevails, and going beyond His will is a matter of “boast[ing] in your arrogance.” In any event, we need not worry that we are missing out:

Romans 8:26–27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 

ARE WE IDOLATROUSLY WORSHIPING THE BIBLE RATHER THAN GOD

Is it possible to love the Bible too much to the point of idolatry? Does this love deprive God of His well-deserved love and adoration? Although distinct, God and His Bible are inseparable. Consequently, as Jesus had taught, to love God is to love His Word, and to love His Word is to love God:

•    …“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (John 14:23–24)

We cannot sweep God’s floor or even make Him a cup of coffee. The only way we can love our Lord is by keeping His Word. Likewise, blaspheming God is equivalent to hating his word:

•    "But anyone who sins defiantly…blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD'S word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him" (Numbers 15:30-31).

Likewise, God had charged His King David that despising His Word is to despise God Himself:

•    “Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own” (2 Samuel 12:9-10).

Therefore, the Psalmist had written that hoping in God was synonymous with hoping in His Word and in His promises:

•    I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. (Psalm 130:5-6)

His Word is at the same level of importance as His Name (His character):

•    I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name [God Himself] and your word. (Psalm 138:2)

Consequently, to denigrate the Bible is to denigrate God. Claiming that we are “bibliolaters” because we love the Bible extravagantly is like accusing us of making an idol out of prayer if we pray too much. While it is true that we can make an idol out of anything good, it doesn’t mean that by loving food or exercise, we make them into an idol, as long as they do not compete against God.

WHY CHRIST, AS GOD INCARNATE, HAD TO DIE FOR OUR SINS

God is all-powerful. Why couldn’t the Father have spared His Son from the Cross, as Jesus had prayed before His ordeal:

Matthew 26:39 …“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Seemingly, there was no other way. If Jesus had only been a manifestation, a mere appearance of God, or a created being, He could have reasonable asked, “Why don’t You simply create another being to die instead of me?” Clearly, that would not have sufficed, nothing short of Christ’s death:

•    Hebrews 10:4-7 “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God.' "(Psalm 40)

Even newborns, who had not yet sinned, did not suffice, nothing short of God’s Son! God had provided a prophetic portrait of this Gospel reality:

•    Genesis 22:2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you”…Genesis 22:14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Abraham complied and took His only-begotten son Isaac on a three-day journey to Mt. Moriah, tied him to his makeshift sacrificial alter, and was about to plunge his knife into Isaac when the Angel of the Lord intervened and provided Abraham with a substitutionary sacrifice, a ram. Then Abraham named the mountain, “The LORD will provide!” But why not “God has provided?” Evidently, God had revealed the  Gospel to Abraham. This had not simply been a test for Abram but also a revelation of the heart of God. He too would offer His Son on this mountain as a burnt sacrifice. However, this would represent something far greater than Abraham’s cancelled offering. Even Israel had understood that: “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Could it be that the Gospel had been revealed to Abraham? It seems so:

•    John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Why was Abraham glad? Because God would provide the Offering to end all offerings!
•    Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you [your Offspring] shall all the nations be blessed.”

The Gospel not only reveals His transcendent love for His people (Romans 5:8-10; 8:31-32) but also His total abhorrence for sin. How? Nothing short of the death of His external Son could possibly atone for our sins. One small indication of this comes from the revelation that God the Father could not be among sinful Israel without destroying them:

•    Exodus 33:3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people…Exodus 33:14 My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Only the Christ could pay the adequate and infinite price for our sins to satisfy God’s righteous character:

•    Romans 3:24–27 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

God’s righteousness had to be propitiated (satisfied). Prior to this, He had to forbear and to merely “pass over former sins,” a stench to His Being. However, He had to “show His righteousness” in full magnitude that had never been demonstrated to humble and to teach us to never boast in our own righteousness.

Amid great suffering, I had struggled with the Faith. I had felt that God was a deceiving sadist, and I couldn’t shake this thought until I realized that Christ, God incarnate, had died for my sins—something that a sadistic deceiver wouldn’t do! Had God merely sacrificed a created being—and this would have been at no cost to Himself—I would have been left with my doubts. However, through Jesus’ display of righteousness on the Cross, He had proved to me that He is truly my loving Justifier and Savior!

From this lesson, we also learn that God wants us to understand His absolute disdain for sin and to avoid it. His intolerance of sin could only be sufficiently demonstrated through Jesus’ suffering and death.

How does the death of God the Son “show God’s righteousness?” By sacrificing what is most precious! The sacrifice of animals and other created beings could never demonstrate His righteousness. It would be like abstaining from lemonade for breakfast. Instead, it had to be at the cost of His own Son!

Why the need for justice? If God is omnipotent, could He not have answered Jesus’ prayer without sending Him to the Cross? This question overlooks the fact that God’s nature requires justice. Even the martyred saints in heaven called out for justice:

•    Revelation 6:10–11 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

We might think that this is beneath the dignity of these saints in heaven to seek revenge. Nor would we expect that God would be pleased by their request. Instead, they were given white robes and merely told to wait.

Were they seeking revenge or justice? Is there a distinction between the two? Yes! I have often watched good guys/bad guys Westerns. At the end, the bad guys are brought to justice, and I rejoice with tears of joy. I was simply a viewer and had no desire to seek revenge. However, I rejoiced that justice had been done, not revenge.

Perhaps this suggests something about the nature of our God who must bring justice and somehow become our Justifier at the same time. This could only be accomplished through the God-man Jesus taking our sins upon Himself and suffering our penalty. Let Him be praised forever and ever!