God, Wonderful and Terrible - Good and Bad news

I said in the last post that there is another side to the wonder of God that we see in creation. If we are born into a safe and loving environment, it may take time to see this, especially if we live far from wars and the savagery of man and of nature.  However sooner (more often than not) or later,  we come fact to face with the problem of the existence of  pain and of evil in the world. It is a problem (in that it is hard to explain) for both the Christian and the non-Christian. I can never seem to quite make up my mind just how much to “blame” God for it all. I mean in creating free will, He certainly created the possibility of evil (a mankind who was prevented from choosing evil could not logically choose to love in any meaningful way).  And what about earthquakes and other “acts of God”. Well at least the insurance companies know who to blame! I am not so sure, since as the Scriptures tell us the “Prince of the power of the air” has an agenda to kill and to steal and to destroy (John 10:10).  He seems to be doing a good job!

 But is it certainly God who knocked Paul off his horse when he thought he was serving him but was not. Paul later talks about knowing the terror of the Lord (II Corinthians 5:11). I suspect that this is an oblique reference to that event. The Scriptures also talk about God “Awesome and Terrible” (Deuteronomy 10:17 – KJV, AMP),  that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, and that unregenerate man is His enemy.  It is true that He tells this last piece of bad  news in the context of simultaneously telling the good news, for  “if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10). So Christ died for your sins and mine while we were still His enemies. “... perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.   God is fearsome and terrible, but God is good and has provided the (only, unique)  way of escape.

So there are two pictures here of God, and both are true.  “Behold” Paul tells us “The goodness and severity severity of God”. On the one hand He is severe to those who turn their back on Him. On that day, we are told,  those who have not accepted His pardon will cry out in terror for the rocks to fall on them. On the other hand, He is good to those who continue in His goodness.   God is Love and God is good, but God is also a Holy God and God is a consuming fire.  The good news is that we can choose to be on His side. But if we choose not to.....

People tell me they don't have a clue about what the Book of Revelation is all about. While I am not by any means an expert on this, I do have a clue. It is, after all, the “back of The Book”, and as at the back of any book, it tells how it all ends.  God and good win,  evil and the devil and his angels loose. They and all who follow them (default) are cast into the lake of fire, and God executes justice and revenge on His enemies.  Those who have received His pardon, go on to the place where there is no more death, no more tears, no more pain, no more torment. The rest of us are cast into the lake of fire, of everlasting burnings.

The default, the way we all start off,  is that we are His enemies. We have all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.  But Jesus invites us into His Kingdom. “Behold”  He tells us, “I stand at the door and knock, If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).  You don't dine with your enemies (it is a picture of fellowship).  If you open the door and invite Him in,  He becomes your friend, your saviour and your redeemer. If you harden your heart and choose not to listen to His voice and His invitation, you become deaf and remain His enemy.  If we refuse His gift of forgiveness, His free Pardon, what are we left with?

I mentioned above that Paul knew the terror of the Lord. The full quotation is “Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men”.  And in the same context “the love of Christ constrains us” and “ we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  

I too implore you dear reader to be reconciled to God.  There are many I pray will read what I have written. There are many with whom I have longed to be able to share the things that I write today, not as a guilt trip, but because I honestly fear for you.  As I said in an earlier post, there are times when (knowing as least something of the terror of the Lord,  and loving you deary) the burden of not being allowed to speak is intolerable (see 'Hell? Are you trying to scare me into heaven?').  Please forgive me for the times and the places where my life has failed to reflect the truth of what I say today. I am painfully aware that even as a Christian,  I fail in many things (James 3:2).   I am “hearing” more protests, more objections. I will answer some of them in the days to come.