Let’s assume for a moment that you have a child that you told to stay indoors while you quickly went out to fix an outing later in the day. Let’s also assume that you’ve provided everything imaginable – food, toys, power supply, games, and so on – just for the comfort of the child. All you just want the child to do is to remain indoors while you went out to prepare for a splendid day for the two of you.
Suppose the child gets out of the house and one thing leads to another and he ends up getting injured and badly bruised, what would be your first reaction be when you see your child wounded outside the house?
Would you fold your arms and laugh at your child’s bad state?
Would you tell him something like, ‘I hope you’ve learnt your lesson’?
Really, I don’t expect you to react that way.
I suppose that majority of parents (and prospective parents) would pick the child up, clean him and dress his wounds.
While we are not ignorant of the fact that there are some parents that would fold their arms and mock their children, that would be the exception, rather than the rule.
No normal parent would derive pleasure from his/her ward’s pains.
Don’t forget, we were created in God’s Image and Likeness and it’s very possible to deduce some aspects of God’s Nature from our actions.
So, if an imperfect human parent won’t derive joy from his/her child’s pain, do you really believe that the Perfect God would derive joy from inflicting diseases, sicknesses and calamities on His erring children, just to teach them sense?
The answer is ‘No’. It’s simply not consistent with His Nature!
God will never use calamity, diseases, pestilences or death to chastise or teach us a lesson. Every good and perfect gift is from God (James 1:17) and God is the Master at doing good (Psalms 85:12). The Good God would never use bad evil to try us (James 1:13). That picture is totally discordant with His Nature. It’s just not Who He is!
I remember sharing this with a friend who replied,
“Promise, people are so used to seeing Jesus as the Lamb. They’ve forgotten that He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah”
Yes and Amen! I agree.
However, if you’re trying to use that truth to buttress your position that the Father (in His Lionlike wrath) would use sickness and calamity to chastise and teach you sense…then, we must have messed up our theology at some point.
Now, someone may be wondering why the Israelites were judged with pestilence and disasters in the Old Testament.
Good question.
In the Old Testament, God’s wrath was revealed fully against man, because his spirit was dead and he couldn’t decipher the effects that sin was having on him. Hence, in the Old Covenant, the only way God could make man understand His displeasure with sin was to reveal His wrath against sin fully!
However, in the New Testament, particularly after the death and resurrection of Christ, God is no longer angry with mankind!
Why?
Simple. ALL wrath has been poured on Christ at Calvary.
Romans 5:9 says,
“Much more then, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him”
We are saved from wrath because Jesus Christ has appeased the wrath of the Father on the cross by His Blood!
Consider Isaiah 53:10-11,
“It pleased the LORD to bruise Him. He shall see the travail of His Soul and be satisfied…”
God is not pouring His anger on Mankind – that anger has been appeased by the suffering on Christ on the cross.
TO BE CONTINUED…
