Skip to main content

The Hands Of The Living God

           For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31)

          Sinners In The Hand of an Angry God

          I have no wish to try to paraphrase Jonathan Edward’s sermon. It’s 11 pages long and you can follow the link above to read it for yourself. I think you might be surprised by it. As I recall, it’s not the fire and brimstone I expected, but I need to reread it. This morning, the key point is that the passage itself doesn’t say “angry.” It says “living.”

          This does not mean that God is not angry with sin and evil or that He won’t avenge, repay, and judge. Unlike the other gods, He makes clear that He will judge. He states in Scripture for what He will do these things, and in some cases, when, where, and how He will do so. We are sometimes quick to claim His judgment in the same way that those who worship other gods do. If something we think is bad happens, it must be God’s vengeance, repayment, and judgment. That’s a Job’s friends attitude we should reject.

          But there’s another interesting thing to consider. When referring to the Day of the Lord, Scripture sometimes describes it as wonderful, and sometimes as terrible. If you read through the Psalms, it’s clear that in God’s hands is precisely where we should want to be. There’s nowhere safer. It seems to depend on the perspective of the person involved. For those who are guilty (and unforgiven) it’s dreadful to fall into His hands.” For those who are innocent or forgiven, it’s the best place to be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more