GOD’S WARNINGS, OMNIPOTENCE, AND THE GUILT OF HUMANITY

Job was not the first or the last to indict God, charging Him with “injustice.” In fact, such indictments are ubiquitous in Western society today, where any form of punishment is disparaged as “insensitive” and “mindless.” Even now, students at OSU are mourning the death of a terrorist who had knifed and plowed down a number of students with his car. In another case, a woman refused to bring charges against a migrant who had raped her because she felt that he had been driven to commit the rape.

In our moral and intellectual climate, it should not be surprising that God is scorned as a vengeful, medieval deity. “Christian” evolutionist, Karl Giberson, affirmatively quoted atheist Richard Dawkins in this regard:

·       [God is a] “tyrannical anthropomorphic deity” and “commanded the Jews to go on genocidal rampages.” But who believes in this [OT] deity any more, besides those same fundamentalists who think the earth is 10,000 years old? Modern theology has moved past this view of God.” http://biologos.org/blog/exposing-the-straw-men-of-new-atheism-part-five/

The late and renowned atheist, Bertrand Russell had been asked, “What if you meet God after you die and he asks, ‘Why didn’t you believe in me?’ How will you answer him?” Russell answered:

·       God, there was simply not enough evidence, just not enough evidence.

Is this true? Does God punish without sufficient warning? Scripture gives us a resounding “No.” Why then do people claim that there is no evidence? According to Scripture, humanity suppresses this evidence (Romans 1:18-20) and prefers the darkness to the light of truth (John 3:19-20).

Scripture gives us many accounts that substantiate this claim. For example, Pharaoh continued to harden his heart, even after the horrific 10 plagues. His chariots even pursed the fleeing Israelites into the sea with waters walled up on either side – an unmistakable testimony to the fact that Israel’s omnipotent God was with them.

How can we account for such willful blindness and foolishness? Only in this way: that humanity’s hatred of God is so great that it overrides every other consideration.

The Book of Revelation provides another stunning portrait of the sin-hardened. Even after the plagues that had accompanied the opening of the seven seals and the six trumpets, we read:

·       The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Revelation 9:20-21; ESV)

Can we indict God because of our stubbornness? Even after this, God provided many other signs that He meant business. He sent two supernatural prophets to prophesy against the nations for 1,260 days. When they had succeeded in killing the two, humanity gloated over their death and refused to allow them to be buried. However, this worked against them. After several days, God raised them and brought a terrible earthquake upon the land (Rev. 11).

Did they repent? No! Was God finished with His warnings to repent? Certainly not:

·       The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish  and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. (Revelation 16:8-11)

Instead of repenting and confessing their sin to their Creator and Provider, they “cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores.” Did they not know what they were facing? They must have, but they had hardened their hearts like Pharaoh. They were no longer amenable to reason.

At this point, we tend to raise another objection:

·       God, you are omnipotent. You can do all things. If you have the power to change the hearts of men, why didn’t you change all their hearts so that they would come to you? To know to do good and to not do it is to sin.

This objection represents a misunderstanding of God’s omnipotence. While He can accomplish all the things He wants to accomplish, He cannot accomplish them through any means. He cannot sin; He cannot violate His Word. Besides, He is also constrained by His very character. Jesus had prayed that the Father would spare Him from going to the Cross:

·       And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Evidently, there was no other way. God’s character constrains Him. His holy nature demands that there had to be a sufficient payment for sin. There was no other way.

I don’t understand why there must be eternal punishment, at least, not completely. However, I am resigned to the fact that I only see in part (Deut. 29:29) and that there is much about my Savior that I still do not understand. However, I am willing to wait and to abide with the understanding that He has offered to us.

JEALOUSY: ITS DECEPTIVENESS AND ITS MURDER

Jealousy is a deadly sin. Why? It is one that we refuse to face. We might readily admit that we have a problem with anger, resentment, lust, and even pride. However, jealousy is the one we will not face. Therefore, it is a stealth sin, one that goes undetected, and because of this, it is one of the most deadly.

Since it remains hidden, it can disguise itself as a concern for others and even as various forms in spirituality. Moses’ siblings, Miriam and Aaron, spoke against Moses for marrying a Cushite (Ethiopian) woman. However, it seems that they were jealous. Instead of telling Moses, “We want the authority that you have; give us a share,” they charged Moses with hoarding the authority for himself:

·       And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. (Numbers 12:2; ESV)

Instead of jealousy honestly saying, “I want this, because I am jealous,” it makes its claim based on an egalitarian principle, and these are not hard to find. After all, the Bible claims that we are all equally created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), we all have been given precious gifts, and all the Israelites were equally the children of their God.

In essence, Miriam and Aaron were arguing:

·       We are just as entitled as you are, Moses. God has also spoken through us, and so you have unrighteously hogged all the glory for yourself. The problem is not with us but with you!

Sometimes jealousy can even disguise itself in the form of a utopian vision for social change. Korah, a Levite, was not satisfied with the role that God had bestowed upon him and led a broadly-based revolution against Moses:

·       And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16:2-3)

Moses hadn’t exalted himself. It was God who had appointed Moses to this position after having prepared Moses for the job through 40 years of discouragement:

·       Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3)

Moses required great humility to prepare him for the role God had given him. He would not be able to trust in his own opinions but in every word that would proceed from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3). In contrast, jealousy is convinced that it is entitled to more. Korah and his band were convinced that they were entitled to more and therefore weren’t satisfied with God’s “daily bread.” They were also proud, but they disguised their pride and jealousy in a utopian vision for the entire Israelite nation: “For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them.”

The deceit of pride and jealousy are always wrapped in a veneer of the truth. It was true that all Israel was holy and that the LORD was among them. However, it was not true that Moses had “gone too far.” Nor was it true that there should be no role distinctions, as the revolution had insinuated.

While we are all created in the image of God, there is nothing in the Bible that would eliminate role or wealth distinctions. In fact, so many of the Bible’s teachings are predicated on role distinctions – parent/child, wife/husband, employer/employee, priest/commoner. Even the priests had been divided into three groups, each having its own responsibilities.

Certainly, Korah and team would not have been satisfied once they established their “workers’ paradise.” However, this is the ruse of jealousy, disguising itself in the robes of idealism. However, Moses saw through them:

·       And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together.” (Numbers 16:8-11)

Korah and team should have known better that they weren’t merely revolting against Moses but against God Himself. However, sin is blinding, especially jealousy. It convinces us that we are totally justified, even in rebelling. The fault is always with the other person, as Scripture repeatedly warns:

·       All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. (Proverbs 16:2)

However, sin is so powerful and deceptive that, once given room, it will not allow us to hear the voice of reason and repent. Therefore, in response to Moses’ chilling revelation that they were sinning against God, the rebels merely stiffened their neck and rationalized their rebellion by blaming Moses for their rebellion:

·       “Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men?” (Numbers 16:13-14)

According to Korah and his crowd, Moses was at fault. How? Because he hadn’t made good on his promise to Israel! Moses hadn’t yet brought Israel “into a land flowing with milk and honey.” They had conveniently forgotten about Israel’s rebellion against God at Kadesh Barnea. This was why Israel now had to wonder in the desert for 40 years. However, the rebels found it easier to blame Moses – the 1% -- for their problems.

However, Moses had warned them that, ultimately, their rebellion was against God. However, they did not have ears to hear. Their sin had hardened them. They should have been terrified by the prospect that they were in rebellion against God, but they weren’t and repentance had no place in their thinking.

Even after God opened the ground to consume the leadership, and their followers fled in terror:

·       On the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.” (Numbers 16:41)

How is it that after seeing God’s terrifying judgment on their esteemed leaders, the people of Israel were still so infected with confidence in the “righteousness” of their rebellion that they would still accuse Moses and Aaron of doing wrong?

Entrenched, unconfessed sin causes us to believe in the “righteousness” of our cause, even in the face of overwhelming evidence against it. They too had become infected with egalitarian jealousy against Moses and Aaron. They still felt entitled to share in Moses “glory.”

Seeing the power of sin and jealousy, we must practice humility and vigilance. Lord, grant us this vigilance – the hatred of darkness and the love of your light.

Anti-Semitism and its Cure

Recent polls have reported that, because of anti-Semitic violence, 25% of the Jews of the UK are thinking of leaving. In France, the percentage is 75%.

The horrid reality of anti-Semitism is even growing in the USA at an alarming rate. Attorney Jay Sekulow reported:

• It’s being called a “new anti-Semitism.” Radical professors are punishing Jewish students for making pro-Israel statements. Christian students who support Israel are being intimidated. Radical Hamas supporters are issuing fake eviction notices to Jewish students. And it’s happening on college campuses all across America. The threats of violence, intimidation, and discrimination against Jewish students and anyone who supports Israel...

His observations are supported by FBI 2012 Hate Crime Statistics:

• Approximately two-thirds of religious hate crimes are anti-Jewish. The FBI reported that of the 1,340 religious hate crimes, 62 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-Jewish bias. The number two targeted group victimized on a religious bias were Muslims, as only 12 percent were victims of an anti-Islamic bias.

After the Holocaust, my Jewish people vowed, “Never again!” However, many of the most influential Jews remain silent in the face of growing anti-Semitism. One NYC Jewish history organization, while never ceasing to look back at the Holocaust, refuses to introduce any programming about the present threats to the Jewish people. They are not oblivious to this present threat. You cannot enter into their building without passing through security and a metal detector. However, they seem to be in denial regarding the coming Holocaust.

On several occasions, I have asked the staff why their programming remains silent on this critical issue. They blandly responded that this simply isn’t their focus. Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem to be the focus of the media, universities, or the U.S. government. All remain silent, smiling at the coming Holocaust.

The Prophets of Israel saw it coming. Jeremiah cried:

• Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? (Jeremiah 8:21-22)

But there was little Jeremiah could do. The problem was deep, and his countrymen were loath to examine it, let alone to correct it:

• Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. "They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares the LORD. "Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:1-6)

I do not wish to blame the victim. However, this is just what the Prophets of Israel did at the bequest of their Master. Even Moses warned his people:

• He [God] shielded [Israel] him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape… He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God-- gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. The LORD saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters. "I will hide my face from them," he said, "and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.” (Deuteronomy 32:10-20) 

Instead of returning and placing their trust in the God who had fathered and shepherded them for millennium, Israel has placed its trust in themselves, the very thing that Moses had warned them against:

• You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 8:17-20) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q4XL4oRIRE

Throughout their history, my people Israel have suffered these promised woes. Even the Orthodox Jews have turned away in their heart. Instead of acknowledging God, they are filled with a sense of racial superiority.

In Why the Jews Rejected Jesus, Orthodox Jewish writer David Klinghoffer concludes that Jewish rejection of Jesus is founded in “the mystic uniqueness of the Jewish essence or nature. There was something distinct about the Jewish soul…The Jewish soul feels the worlds, in a remarkably visceral way, as unredeemed.”

He bases this opinion upon Judah Loeb’s famous interpretation of the Talmudic tractate, Avodah Zarah, which stated that God had offered the Torah to all the other nations first, “to see if they possessed a predisposition to the Torah, and did not find it in them,” in contrast to the holy disposition God found in the Jews (pgs. 215-217).

This understanding, of course, is not at all reflective of the Hebrew Bible but instead, of much of the Talmud and is an affront to God.

I cry for my foolish people. Jeremiah’s lament has become mine. What to do? Continue in prayer to point them back to their sins and the promised hope of repentance before their rejected Messiah.

What is my consolation? It is found only in our Savior Jesus. Through Paul, He promised:

• I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.  And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:25-29) 

To Him be the glory!

Predestination is not the Real Offense

Predestination is not the Real Offense

The teaching of predestination/election can be troubling, but it shouldn’t be. It merely teaches that humanity is downing, and therefore, God has to jump in to rescue them. However, God is even more gracious than that. He rescues those who are His enemies (Rom. 8:5-8; 5:8-10) - those who even refuse to be rescued (John 3:19-20; Rom. 3:10-16). What is so bad about that? Nothing! Instead, it’s called the “Good News!”

I think that what many Christians really object to is not predestination, but instead the doctrine that requires predestination – our depravity and rebellion, our universal rejection of the light (John 3:19-20; 1 Cor. 2:14). Consequently, since we will not choose God, He must choose us (John 6:40-45; 15:16), if any are to be saved. But we find this dismal assessment of humanity both unbelievable and offensive!

Is humanity really that bad? Not according to us! But we do not see the inner man. We – even the most spiritual - are duped by appearances. The prophet Samuel certainly was! God had to warn him against judging according to the “outward appearance” (1 Sam. 16:7).

Perhaps all of us judge superficially, and therefore cannot appreciate the depths of sin and God’s abhorrence of it. Jeremiah had a hard time accepting God’s dismal evaluation of Israel. God therefore challenged him:

• “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” (Jer. 5:1)

Jeremiah too had a high estimation of humanity, especially of his own kind, and thought that it would be easy to find one honest man:

• I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” (Jer. 5:4-5)

Because Jeremiah had had a high estimation of the educated Israelite, he found God’s assessments and judgments unbelievable and unduly harsh. However, Jeremiah found that all Israel was in rebellion against the Lord. Even his own family wanted to kill him for bringing the message of God. (It is interestingly to note that even though Israel’s rejection of their God had often included every Israelite, the Prophets never blamed God for their rebellion.)

However, once Jeremiah began to see the extent of human rebellion, he too began to reassess humanity and affirm God’s righteous judgments. In fact, he began to plead with God not to forgive.

If we could only see the extent of human rebellion and our hatred towards the Savior, perhaps we might really regard predestination as Good News, which it truly is, and appreciate the extreme generosity of God’s mercy.

It is imperative to understand these depths of our hatred of the light, our enmity against God, however offensive this might be. When we understand the extent of God’s forgiveness of our sins in light of this, we will be truly grateful. Failing to perceive this, we tend to disregard God’s grace.

Jesus was invited to a top-of-the-line pharisaic lunch. A woman He had forgiven entered uninvited and anointed His feet in expensive oil. The host was appalled both by this woman and that Jesus allowed this base creature to touch him. Jesus therefore explained that she was more blessed than the host: “He who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47)

The woman loved much because she knew that she had been forgiven much. Often, we do not know the extent to which we have sinned and have been forgiven and, therefore, love little and disdain God’s just ways. If we only understood the extent of Christ’s forgiveness, we would not be offended by God’s judgments, knowing that they are just. Instead, we’d fully accept the Bible’s judgment that sin deserves death (Romans 6:23; Deut. 27:26). We would also gladly embrace whatever mercy that God might offer – predestination.

There is also another danger when we fail to appreciate the extent of our rebellion against the light – boasting! For my first 15 years in Christ, I believed that I had chosen Christ and not the other way around. Why had I chosen Christ? I had convinced myself that it was because I was more spiritual than others. In doing this, I exalted myself and looked down on others (Luke 18:9-14). Consequently, I had to suffer for years before I could recognize that I had been boasting and that this had been offensive to the One who had given me the faith to believe.

The same had been true for King Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonia empire-builder. Understandably, he was convinced that he was great and that his greatness was all about him. However, he had a disturbing dream which changed everything. Daniel interpreted it for him:

• It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. (Daniel 4:24-25)

For seven years, Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, thinking that he was a cow. Why had God punished him in this manner? Because of his warfare? Taking Israel into captivity? His treatment of the poor? No! It was simply to learn a theological lesson – that his success wasn’t about Him but about God, who chooses “whom He will!”

At the end of the seven years of grievous suffering, Nebuchadnezzar got the point and gave all of the thanks to God for choosing him. If this pagan, unenlightened by Scripture, was held to account for his boasting, we will, even more so, be held accountable.

Why? Because God actually deserves the credit! If someone gives you a magnificent painting from their studio, you hang it up in your house, and others ask if you had painted this masterpiece, should you take credit for painting it? If you do, would not the real artist be offended? Likewise, if faith is God’s gift to us (Eph. 2:8-9; Philip. 1:29; Acts 18:27; 16:14; 13:48) and if we take credit for it, as I had, would not God be offended?

Instead, it is only fitting to credit God for our salvation and even for the faith to receive it – God’s predestined salvation!