Tuesday, June 07, 2005
When God Can't
Again, this is early in the history of man on earth when God is displaying His power to make and keep covenant with His creation. The descendants of Abraham became as plentiful as those stars, in spite of obstacles, humanly insurmountable. I don’t know who places the obstacles. Satan? Or a test of faith from God? Both, like Job who couldn’t be touched by Satan without God’s permission? From our perspective, these debates become almost funny! The thing is, nothing is insurmountable to God. Nothing. As long as God doesn’t encounter what would be out of character for Him, the situation will follow in God’s grace, mercy, and peace…or it will continue in God’s wrath. As it happens, Calvary was both. Jesus was not spared the Cross and God’s wrath, so that we could fully experience God’s grace! Abraham and Sarah had a boy, Isaac, way past childbearing years but some would say God was not exactly showing His nice side when He asked Abraham to raise his knife over his only son. God is Love (1 John 4:16) and God is Righteous (Habakkuk 1:13)
We see obstacles everyday. Prayers rise up to Heaven and return with a no vote from God. I don’t mean the prayers for a yacht…meaningful, loving prayers. We see things happening that couldn’t possibly be the will of God, could they? Suffering, evil and death. Someone we love still not saved from themselves and Satan’s stronghold. Faith is remembering, as Abraham did, no obstacle is too large for God. But God cannot conflict with Himself. God loved Jesus and said so (i.e. Matthew 3:17) but He couldn’t bless Jesus with His grace. His plan was to unleash ALL of His wrath for ALL sins, for ALL time, on the One who was born to bear it. It is out of character for God to look on evil. It is also out of character for God to hate anything other than sin. Abraham knew God didn’t hate Isaac. He trusted the intention might be to resurrect the boy back to life. Isaac was God’s promise kept, but the situation points to a future scene on the same mountain range where God’s wrath on Jesus was completely, wholly directed at the sins of men. His Righteousness and Love were both revealed on Nisan 14: Good Friday.
We see obstacles everyday. Prayers rise up to Heaven and return with a no vote from God. I don’t mean the prayers for a yacht…meaningful, loving prayers. We see things happening that couldn’t possibly be the will of God, could they? Suffering, evil and death. Someone we love still not saved from themselves and Satan’s stronghold. Faith is remembering, as Abraham did, no obstacle is too large for God. But God cannot conflict with Himself. God loved Jesus and said so (i.e. Matthew 3:17) but He couldn’t bless Jesus with His grace. His plan was to unleash ALL of His wrath for ALL sins, for ALL time, on the One who was born to bear it. It is out of character for God to look on evil. It is also out of character for God to hate anything other than sin. Abraham knew God didn’t hate Isaac. He trusted the intention might be to resurrect the boy back to life. Isaac was God’s promise kept, but the situation points to a future scene on the same mountain range where God’s wrath on Jesus was completely, wholly directed at the sins of men. His Righteousness and Love were both revealed on Nisan 14: Good Friday.
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I'm a slow old poke. I only write a couple posts a week. Not to mention the trials of teendom here. They never said it would be easy! Thanks for asking.
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