"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell severity; but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in His goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Romans 11v22
Paul summarizes this section by using a word which contains an element of surprise "Behold ." He wants us to do something that is done all too little by we human beings. He wants us to stop and consider the issues he has been bringing before us. Using the well known phrase "history repeats itself" we could say this is what is in Paul's mind. We must take account of the character of the God with whom we are dealing. He is at one in the same time the perfection of goodness and the opposer of all that is evil, because the two are in conflict with each other. There are those, today who are teaching that in the Old Testament God was all severe and that in the New Testament He is all good. This is a caricature of the God of the Bible, and no such God exists. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. This fact is fundamental to scripture, He never changes; why would you change perfection? The fact that God is gracious (demonstrating His eternal goodness) to any of us is surely a matter of wonder. Moses of old could say, "It is of His mercies that we are not consumed." No human being in existence has any claim upon God; the God who created them, who feeds them, who sustains them. We do not make the terms, He does. He is the potter we are the clay.
What has happened in our present generation, is that we have turned things on their head. We are now dictating to God the terms on which we will acknowledge Him. We are now re-writing the rules, we are now redefining morality. We are making ourselves God, and telling God what we will accept and what we wont. Unfortunately the shoe is on the other foot. What has disappeared from this generation is the fear of God and we need to be reminded of it. Paul has largely in this letter revealed the unbelievable goodness of God to all mankind without exception; he stops in this little word of caution to consider the severity of God, which is, as he has described, now a historical fact. Because of their rejection of Christ, God has temporarily cut off His people Israel and brought them under judicial hardness. If He will do that to His own chosen people, what will be the fate of the rest of us?
There are many today, who are resting on the mistaken idea, that the eternal goodness of God would not permit Him to punish people eternally. Consider the following well documented facts.
- God destroyed the bulk of the nation whom He saved out of the land of Egypt "The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believe not." Jude 1v5
- God banished forever from His presence the very angels who lived before Him "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Jude 1v6
- God destroyed in a moments time the cities of the plain, without mercy "Even as Sodom & Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1v7
Out of three million people who left Egypt, under the redeeming power of God, only two people actually entered the land some forty years later! In the days of Noah the population of the world was possibly of the order of three hundred thousand plus people, yet only eight souls were saved as God plunged the world into a global flood. The severity of God is awesome and we do well to behold it again in the stories recorded for us, for our learning. The God of the Old Testament is just as severe to day as He was back then and will punish sin eternally in all unbelievers. This is why the writer to the Hebrews says "If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries ." Hebrews 10v26-27; and again "Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense saith the Lord. and again the Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10v30-31; again, "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven." Hebrews 12v25
The severity of God is awesome and fearful. Across the bows of a fearful future comes the beautiful message of the grace of God. it is time for the generation in which we live to take stock of these historical facts and recognize the portents of coming judgment on a sinful self-pleasing world. Into that world God sent His Son in an act of unparalleled goodness toward all of us, and we must grasp it with both hands as the only means of escape from Divine judgment, Says the apostle Paul in this chapter "Toward thee goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." This is not a basis for believing that you can be "saved today and lost tomorrow." Rather is it a re-iteration of chapter 1v17 which says that a right relationship to God is revealed "from faith to faith." It begins with faith and continues with faith. It is not that your continuance in the things of God are any form of works that will save you, it simply means you recognize you are saved by faith and you go on in faith simply believing what God has said and taking Him at His word and making that a pattern for your life.
BEHOLD THE GOODNESS AND THE SEVERITY OF GOD!
No comments:
Post a Comment