God’s Love. God’s Justice

God is love. We know this not only because the Scriptures explicitly tell us but they also show us. God provided ways to come to Him even when we had turned our backs on Him. Yet the pride people have in themselves or their fear in trusting God cause them to not take advantage of God’s generous mercy. When we do not take advantage of what God offers, then the natural consequences of the condemnation we live with is the result.

It started with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden listening to Satan rather than God. Yet God provided for them even as He evicted them from the Garden not only materially but with the promise of ultimate salvation by one of their posterity. It continued with Cain ignoring God’s desire to be worshiped with a whole heart and becoming jealous of his brother Abel’s close relationship with God. This ultimately lead to Cain’s murder of Abel even after God encouraged Cain to do what he knew was right. It reached its first wide scale demonstration of God’s judgment as God wiped out most of humanity with the flood because the hearts of men were nothing but wicked. However Noah, through faith, found favor with God and perpetuated the human race.

God showed over and over that one does not have to be perfect to be granted His grace. We see the mistakes of Abraham and Isaac in lying about their wives. We see Jacob tricking his brother Esau out of his blessing (with the help of his mother, Rebekah). Yet all three are revered throughout Scripture, for they repented of their errors and sought God with soft hearts. It is through their offspring that ultimately produced the earthly mother and father for Jesus.

The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus demonstrates the supreme example of God’s love for mankind. Once for all, the sacrifice of Jesus provides everyone with the ability to escape the condemnation we all have. Even those who never heard of Him have the ability to receive this divine gift if their hearts seek their Creator as He has been revealed to them.

Yet so many wallow in their condemnation through every rationalization imaginable. We have become so used to safety in our post-modern society that any threat to our comfort is abhorred to the point of violently excluding those who might make us feel uneasy. This gives us a false sense of security and an impression that we are, somehow, in control of our eternal destiny based solely on our rules. We no longer appreciate God’s demonstrations of love because we do not feel we need it. Back in the days of Thomas Hobbes when life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” people were far more open to considering divine grace. Now we recoil from those thoughts out of fear of being ostracized as a stupid throwback to an unenlightened era.

The situation mankind finds itself in now versus then has not changed since God does not change. The other side of the coin of God’s love is His justice. Since He is Holy and cannot have sin in His presence those who do not avail themselves of His gift of salvation cannot escape His judgment. When the resurrection of the dead occurs, the first resurrection will be of all those whom God has judged to be His followers who will live with Jesus through eternity. The second resurrection will be of those who are not His followers. Those in the second resurrection will be shown all their sins and the times God tried to call to them, as He did to Cain, but they did not listen. These people will then be punished in Hell (or the Lake of Fire) for their sins along with the Devil and his angels there to perish — to be no more forever.

God’s love is the most wonderful and beautiful gift that anyone could ever receive. God’s justice is the most awful event that one could ever go through. To purposefully turn away from a merciful God, to spurn His free gift of salvation, to act as if God does not exist or, worse, does not matter, is to accept His judgment and His wrath. Those who continue to turn their backs on God need to heed these words and those who have received His gift need to continuously pass it on.