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.