People often wonder why God
used such harsh judgment on individuals in the Old Testament. They wonder how
we can adore and serve a God who is so violent, especially toward women and
children too. They insist that, since the beginning of time, all the wars in
the world were started by Christians in the name of God. In the Old Testament,
God reveals to us His justice. Evil men do not understand justice, but those
who seek the Lord understand it fully (Proverbs 28:5). He shows us in unequivocal terms that His justice
and holiness demand righteousness.
God gave His prophets, His
judges and His Truth to those who lived prior to the birth of Jesus Christ;
however, very few people ever came to Him in reverence of His awesome power. In
the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands that everyone
everywhere should repent of our sins and believe in Christ for righteousness.
He even set a day to judge the world with His justice. He has given proof of
this to all men by raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:30-32).
Before God’s new covenant
opened a way to come to Jesus by faith, we were guarded by the law and
restricted from feeling the assurance, which was later revealed through Christ (Galatians
3:22). The law served as our tutor to
lead us to Jesus Christ, so we might be justified by faith (Galatians
3:23). Now that faith has come, we are
no longer under a tutor. We are free to accept Christ’s free and gracious gift
of eternal life (Galatians 3:24-25).
God even gives us the examples of all of those who lived with Him by faith in the Old Testament (Hebrews 11) and encourages us to do the same thing. Those who place their complete faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin have begun a journey, which leads to living throughout eternity in the kingdom of God (John 1:12). Once we truly begin this journey, we are God’s children and our place in God’s Kingdom has been reserved, because He put His Spirit in our hearts as our guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).
Even so, most people fail to
live according to His precepts. He gave mankind the law in order to give us the
chance to earn our own salvation. As a matter of fact, not one human being ever
lived up to the whole law except God’s Son (Romans 10:4). Jesus Christ actually fulfilled the law by His life
and death (Matthew 5:17). He
lived perfectly without transgressing one iota of the law, making a way for
everyone who desires to be saved, to receive eternal life and the freedom from
everlasting torment (Hebrews 2:10, 5:9).
Now, we live in the age of a
new covenant. God does not deal with us only through justice, but also by
grace. His demands for holiness are still the same, but it is a new
dispensation. He exhibits ceaseless patience with mankind now. In the New
Testament, God deals with us through love. He draws us by His Spirit to come to
Him of our own free will and to surrender our willpower and our life to Him. He
does not use the threat of destruction in the New Testament, but draws us by
His mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16).
He shows us another side of Himself. He is holy and just, but He is also loving
and kind.
No matter what side of
Himself God reveals to us, however, mankind still chooses to reject God. They
prefer to live their life believing the deceit of the devil that blinds their
eyes to the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Those who trample the Son of God under foot, who treat His blood of the
covenant as an unholy thing and who have insulted His Spirit of grace will
ultimately receive the well-deserved consequences of their choices by living in
hell for the rest of eternity (Hebrews 10:29). God will judge the earth again during the Great Tribulation. Repent now, while there is still time (Matthew 3:2, 4:17).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, those born
before Your life and death came to faith by looking forward to Your Salvation (Romans
1:2, 16:25-27; Hebrews 11:13). We look
back at what You accomplished on Calvary’s cross. We can never thank You enough
for enduring the horrendous suffering forced upon You for our salvation. We
thank You for giving us Your righteousness in exchange for our sin (2
Corinthians 5:21). Thank You also for
calling us by your grace and showing us Your mercy every day of our lives.
Without You, we would be nothing.
Thought for the Day:
“The LORD loves
righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” - Psalm 33:5
