| A Boss After God’s Own Heart 11 / ABAGOH >>> |
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A Boss After
God’s Own Heart (ABAGOH)– Part 11 God’s wrath and judgment |
All quotations are from the Amplified Bible (Bible Gateway Online)
Ecclesiastes 12:4 For God will bring every act to judgment, every
hidden and secret thing, whether it is good or evil.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we believers will be called to account and
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one
may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad
that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals,
motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities.
1 Peter 4:17 For it is the time destined for judgment to begin with
the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome
be for those who do not respect or believe or obey the gospel of God?
In our previous lesson, we talked about Nathan’s visit to king David after he slept with Bathsheba, got her pregnant and killed her innocent husband to hide what he had done. God sent Nathan the prophet to confront king David. Sometimes we think that we are doing fine and that we can just continue to do the sinful things that we’ve been doing. But it is just a matter of time because God sees everything and there is a specific day in His agenda that He has appointed for judgment, if we don’t want to repent. After listening to Nathan’s story about the rich man and the poor man with the little ewe lamb, David expressed his anger and condemned the rich man, thus condemning himself. Nathan the prophet now delivers to him God’s message about the whole issue. The game is over for King David. Now comes God’s judgment:
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you as king over Israel, and I spared you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your care and under your protection, and I gave you the house (royal dynasty) of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have given you much more! Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife. You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will stir up evil against you from your own household; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has allowed your sin to pass without further punishment; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have given a great opportunity to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme Him, the son that is born to you shall certainly die.” Then Nathan went back to his home. 2 Samuel 12:7-15.
David must have felt miserable after Nathan’s departure. He must have
regretted everything he did from the very first day, as he stood on
the roof of his palace and saw Bathsheba bathing. He finally acknowledged
his sin before God, but God was not going to let him unpunished. There
is only one little step between temptation and sin. The bridge between
the two is our will, or our ability to take decisions. Either we decide
to cross the bridge, move to the other side and give in to sin, or we
decide not to go over the bridge and stay away from sin. Depending on
the decision we take, our life and our environment will be positively
or negatively impacted. When we take the wrong decision and sin against
God, He does not strike us dead right then and there. He is a God of
mercy and He gives us time to acknowledge our sins, repent and adopt
a conduct that is pleasing unto Him. But sin always has consequences.
We all know when we do something wrong because God has put in us something
called the conscience, which is God’s voice speaking in us and helping
us to differentiate between good and evil. That is the reason why nobody
can have an excuse for not doing the right thing because we always have
the possibility to do the right thing. It is one thing to do wrong unknowingly
and it is another thing to sin willingly. In either case we must repent.
But if we shut up our conscience and harden our hearts, then we put
ourselves in a very dangerous situation. If God would send His judgment
on us each time we do wrong, there would be no human beings on the face
of the earth because we are all sinful by nature. But God is patient,
full of grace and mercy. He gives us time to repent. But when we get
so far that we still stubbornly refuse to listen to His voice, then
He will send His judgment.
King
David did not really have to go that far. Yes, it would have been terribly
embarrassing for the great king of Israel to abase himself and confess
to Uriah, to Joab his commander in chief, and as a matter of fact to
all Israel, that he committed adultery with his servant’s wife while
he was on the battle field, and that she was now pregnant. But if David
had confessed his sin from the very beginning, God still would have
had mercy upon him, and all the evil that later came upon his family
and bloodline would not have happened. God’s judgment was so severe
against David that he had to run away from his own son Absalom who stirred
up a coup d’état against his Father. David had to run away from his
royal palace and hide himself like a fugitive. Later on Absalom humiliated
his father David by sleeping with his concubines in front of all Israel,
just like Nathan the prophet had predicted (2 Samuel 16:21-22). David
also lost four of his sons, the first one being the baby that Bathsheba
conceived after their sinful act. God is not mocked and you only reap
what you sow (Galatians 6:7). David’s evil behavior had disastrous consequences
in his family: rape, treason, violence, murder and incest are some of
the plagues that struck in. (See Amnon’s sexual abuse on his sister
Tamar in 2 Samuel 13:1-14; Absalom’s revenge and murder on Amnon in
2 Samuel 13: 28-29; Absaloms’s rebellion in 2 Samuel 15:1-12). We don’t
need to push God to such an extreme that He has to handle us the hard
way.
After what he had done, David deserved to die. But because he acknowledged
his sin, God did not kill him. David poured out his repentant heart
in Psalm 51. God is no respecter of persons. It does not matter who
we are and what we are called He expects us to repent. If we continuously
sin and do not repent, God’s wrath and judgment are not far. God is
calling the rulers of this world and the leaders of His Church around
the world to amend their ways and exercise justice and righteousness.
As Apostle Paul was talking to the governor Felix, he started feeling
uncomfortable and stopped him because the Holy Spirit brought conviction
to his heart through the words spoken by Paul. The Bible says in Acts
24:25: “But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control (honorable
behavior, personal integrity), and the judgment to come, Felix became
frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I find a convenient
time I will send for you.” The Word of God is like a two edge sword
that reveals the most secret intents of the heart: “For the word
of God is living and active and full of power (making it operative,
energizing, and effective. It is sharper than any two-edge sword, penetrating
as far as the division of the soul and spirit (the completeness of a
person), and of both joints and marrow (the deepest parts of our nature),
exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all
things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom
we have to give account.” (Hebrew 4:12-13). If only each one of
us and specially the leaders in the world and in the church who carry
such great responsibilities could also feel the same conviction and
turn to God, the world would be a better place to live.
The princes of this world who encourage and promote evil must know that
God’s judgment is coming upon them. God sees everything and everybody.
There is no secret deep enough for God that He cannot see. There is
no darkness thick enough that His light cannot pierce. God is angry
with all those who have elected to mock his statutes and walk according
to the corruption of their mind, whether in the world or in the Church
and the Word of God reveals God’s anger about all the evil that is going
on the face of the earth, as we can read in the following portion of
the Scriptures:
For God does not overlook sin and the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in
their wickedness suppress and stifle the truth, because that which is
known about God is evident within them in their inner consciousness,
for God made it evident to them. For ever since the creation of the
world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship (all
His creation, the wonderful things that He has made), so that they who
fail to believe and trust in Him are without excuse and without defense.
For even though they knew God as the Creator, they did not honor Him
as God or give thanks for His wondrous creation. On the contrary, they
became worthless in their thinking (godless), with pointless reasonings,
and silly speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Claiming
to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory and majesty and
excellence of the immortal God for an image (worthless idols) in the
shape of mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their own hearts to sexual
impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them (abandoning
them to the degrading power of sin), because by choice they exchanged
the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God
gave them over to degrading and vile passions; for their women exchanged
the natural function for that which is unnatural (a function contrary
to nature), and in the same way also the men turned away from the natural
function of the woman and were consumed with their desire toward one
another, men with men committing shameful acts and in return receiving
in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their
wrongdoing. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider
Him worth knowing as their Creator, God gave them over to a depraved
mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive, until they were
filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness,
greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness.
They are gossips (spreading rumors), slanderers, haters of God, insolent,
arrogant, boastful, inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and
disrespectful to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving,
unmerciful (without pity). Although they know God’s righteous decree
and His judgment, that those who do such things deserve death, yet they
not only do them, but they even enthusiastically approve and tolerate
others who practice them. Romans 1:18-32.
And again we read:
And we know that the judgment of God falls justly and in accordance
with truth on those who practice such things. But do you think this,
O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things, and
yet do the same yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude
His verdict? Or do you have no regard for the wealth of His kindness
and tolerance and patience in withholding His wrath? Are you actually
unaware or ignorant of the fact that God’s kindness leads you to repentance
that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His
purpose for your life? But because of your callous stubbornness and
unrepentant heart you are deliberately storing up wrath for yourself
on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
He WILL PAY BACK TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS justly, as his
deeds deserve: to those who by persistence in doing good seek (unseen
but certain heavenly) glory, honor, and immortality, He will give the
gift of eternal life. But for those who are selfishly ambitious and
self-seeking and disobedient to the truth but responsive to wickedness,
there will be wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and anguish
(torturing confinement) for every human soul who does or permits evil,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek, but glory and honor and inner
peace will be given to everyone who habitually does good, to the Jew
first and also to the Greek. For God shows no partiality (no arbitrary
favoritism; with Him one person is not more important than another).
Romans 2:2-11.
God’s final Day of Judgment will not be funny at all. God’s grace is still available today. We can still run to the mercy seat and find forgiveness for our sins. God will not be patient forever. He has appointed a specific day when everybody will be judged according to their deeds. That day is coming, and woe to those who will be found in their sins. It would have been better for them if they had not been born, because they will spend eternity in hell fire. This is God’s advice to everyone of us: “(…) Fear God with awe and reverence, and give Him glory and honor and praise in worship, because the hour of His judgment has come; with all your heart worship Him who created the heaven and the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” “If anyone has an ear, let him hear”. (Revelation 14:6-7; 13:9). mt