God is a just judge, God who feels indignation every day (Psalm 7:11).
The arrogant will not remain in your eyes; You hate all who practice wickedness (Psalm 5:5).
- Most of the evangelical community forgot the previous verses.
- To the point that they were not even controversial.
- How often do preachers proclaim to sinners God’s righteous indignation against the sinner?How often does the chair even address topics such as divine anger or sacred hatred?Is it because we no longer study the scriptures?.
Regardless of whether it is acceptable for our present time, God’s righteous indignation is a reality in the scriptures and an essential part of the whole true proclamation of the gospel. Therefore, we must understand this doctrine and the truths that surround it. Note that once understood, they must also be proclaimed. The purpose of our study is not simply to obtain a balanced theology for ourselves, but to proclaim the truths we have discovered for the benefit of God’s people. risk in simply learning, but there is often a great danger in proclaiming what we are learning. The truths we know will do us little harm and bring little benefit to the church if we confine them to our libraries.
The first question we must ask ourselves for both our neighbor and ourselves is: “Do we really want a just God?”This may seem like an unusual, or even unnecessary, question, but it actually reveals a lot about our human condition and our problem before God.
On the one hand, we want a just God. It would even be terrifying to think of living in a universe under the absolute sovereignty of an unjust and omnipotent being. The Hitlers of this world only appear on the stage of history for a moment, and their own evil quickly wipes them out. However, the radius of their destruction seems to extend far beyond their own generation. What then would it be to live under the unjust rule of an eternal and immoral deity? Just thinking about it is enough to cause nightmares. His injustice would make him incoherent and even capricious. Its power would make it terrifying. Even if he was good to us for a long time, there would still be no certainty that his kindness would continue. We would be like sailors on a calm sea who go crazy anticipating a possible deadly storm. There would be no certainty or any reasonable basis of faith. There would be no hope of future rectification of the ills of a present world reeling under the weight of unpunished injustice and unchallenged immorality. For these reasons, if a vote were to be taken, those among healthy men would vote for a perfectly just God in whom “there is no injustice. ” [1] An absolutely trustworthy God will judge the world with justice and execute judgment among all men with perfect and impartial justice. [two]
A righteous God is the kind of God that most men want and even demand. When great injustices are unleashed in our world without any apparent divine intervention or judgment, ignorant men rise up like stupid beasts and seek justice from heaven, but the thinking man sits silently in a corner with his head hidden in his hands. . He knows he’s in a difficult position. Through the accusing finger of his own conscience, he realizes that God gives men the justice they demand, so that all men, including those with the highest demands, may be condemned. As it is written: “There is no justice, not even one. ” [3] Those who demand that others appear in court must understand that they seek their own judgment in the same court. Although not all have committed the same atrocities, they have all sinned and all are under condemnation of death and eternal separation from a holy and just God. Anyone who has tried to distinguish themselves from the greatest of sinners is blind to his own depravity and the wickedness of his works.
It is the dilemma posed by the question: “Do we really want a just God?”Would we really want him to sound all aspects of our lives?Thoughts, words and actions? And then he’d give us the exact phrase we’re owed. ? Only man or culture whose conscience has already been burned would offer to appear before such an examination and receive what may come from the court of a perfectly righteous God.
The truth that God is a righteous God is a double-edged sword, which brings comfort in knowing that an immoral and almighty being does not rule the world; However, for those who still have a conscience to contemplate, this truth is absolutely terrifying. If God is truly righteous, loves all that is righteous with perfect love, and hates injustice with perfect hatred, what should be his response to our own personal wickedness?
Excerpt from chapter 15 of the book “The Power and Message of the Gospel?From Paul Washer, which will be published by Faithful Editor. We had the opportunity to translate it and the privilege of being able to share with you brief excerpts from each chapter. .
Translation: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel. Un revised or modified version. Published with permission.
© Faithful Editor. All rights reserved. Original: Just Indignation (Paul Washer) [15/26]
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