Wednesday, July 18, 2012

DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR GOD


There are passages in Scripture that make most of us rather uncomfortable. For example, when God says, as part of His judgment against Judah, He would cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of this friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them (Jeremiah 19:9). We cringe when we read such statements. We hope that no one else, especially our unbelieving friends (or enemies), will find those passages and ask us about them.

It was reported that the infamous atheist Richard Dawkins offered to put up money to buy Bibles for children in the schools in England. He wanted them to read it from beginning to end. He wanted them to see what the God of the Bible was really like. He spoke with certainty that having read all the Bible they would certainly reject the God it proclaimed.

Christians, knowing that such thinking exists in the world, often set out to defend and debate the revelation God has given of Himself in Scripture. In an attempt to answer objections, they often dull the cutting edges of certain Scripture to the point that it may as well have not been written. Do you suppose that God wants us to know Him just as He has revealed Himself? Is it possible that we actually do not know what we are doing when we attempt to either conceal harsh sounding Scriptures, or explain them in such a way that the true nature of God is not revealed? Do we really want to hide the fact that God is holy and just, and that He will indeed punish the wicked?

If God did not want Himself known in the light that Scripture reveals Him, He would have had His prophets speak in another way. He is the one who said, I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons… It is true the cause would be by way of the siege and the siege was due to God lifting His hand of protection from Jerusalem. Yet, it is clear that God wants us to know He is behind the judgment. In the book of Jeremiah this point is made in an almost exhausting manner. It is as if God wants us to know that He will indeed punish sinners!

Hell (gehenna, or the lake of fire) is the eternal punishment that God has promised to all who are not saved, or rescued, by the Lord Jesus Christ. Interestingly, gehenna is connected to the valley of the son of Hinnom found in Jeremiah 19. This is the valley that Jeremiah prophesies would be turned into a valley of slaughter (vs. 6). It is the valley that became a perpetual smoldering pit for trash, dead criminals and animals. Gehenna, translated hell in the KJV, is the word Jesus used to refer to the place of eternal punishment.

But hell is future. No one has seen it. Could it be that the graphic terms of Old Testament punishment against sin are given to assure us that the graphic terms of future eternal punishment are for real. God told Israel in graphic details what would come of them if they continued in rebellion. For the most part they didn’t believe God. Surely, He wouldn’t do such a thing. God is not like that! Yet, He did do it!

As to the gory thought of cannibalism in a city under siege, prophesied through Jeremiah in 19:9 - it really happened! Lamentations 4:10, The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. (NKJV) God is letting the world know that hell is no more beyond Him than the awful judgments predicted and carried out in the OT time period.

You can’t believe in a God like this? Well, you can make up your own god. Or, you can deny there is a god. Many have followed their own imagination and feelings before you and come to various conclusions. God reveals Himself very clearly in Scripture. It is in your best interest to bow before Him and heed what He says. Those who do not will be punished with everlasting destruction from His presence (2 Thess. 1:9). He is a consuming fire. You need to know this!

Christians, don’t hide the truth concerning God. It may be uncomfortable. But it is necessary that the world know who the true and living God really is. If they conclude they cannot believe in a God like this, then they will have to deal with their conclusions. But if you misrepresent God, and someone believes in your misrepresentation; you will have God to answer to! God is not ashamed of His revelation. Should we be?

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