Judgement is a heavy topic to consider at any time. God’s wrath is not something that anyone really enjoys meditating on, not even Christians who are spared God’s wrath in Christ.
Recently, I spoke to Doug after a morning service, where he had preached on God’s judgement against Israel from Amos 3, and he remarked that he was physically exhausted after preaching that passage.
The truth is, we would much rather think about mercy, forgiveness, and peace. These are the things that cause us joy. We sing about such things, and rightly so.
But the only way that we, or anyone, can truly appreciate the unfathomable extent of our forgiveness, freedom, and peace in Christ is as we consider just how undeserving we are of any divine favour, whatsoever. The only way that we can truly enjoy gospel relief is after we have felt the true weight of our predicament. As we see the disaster looming. The inescapable (or i-re-voh-cable) judgement bearing down upon us.
And so it is imperative that Christians be reminded often of judgement. It is essential that we remind the world of the coming judgement in evangelism. For without judgement, not only is worship distorted, as we lose sight of God’s holiness, but we also cannot truly appreciate the extent of God’s great mercy and grace in the gospel.
As we have made our way through Amos over the past few weeks, one of the questions that could arise in our minds is how God, being good and just, could visit judgement upon nations rather than individuals.
Surely not all the people who resided in the various cities to which Amos preached judgement were equally guilty of the sin they were being judged for. Disaster—very physical, tangible disaster—was coming upon them and Amos repeatedly used the phrase, “I will not revoke punishment.”
In other words, God intended to punish these ungodly nations with disaster. How then is God just to include all of those citizens in this punishment?
After all, doesn’t the law say in Deuteronomy 24:16, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin”?
The answer lies in Jesus’ words in Luke 13, which Doug quoted on Sunday:
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ”Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
We often read these words, thinking that Jesus was simply saying, “Don’t assume that physical disaster always comes in response to sin.” But did Jesus really say that? Did Jesus call the Galileans “innocent” at any point his answer? He did not. Instead, he warned the listeners about thinking that they were somehow innocent because they had not experienced such physical calamity!
Instead of confirming them in their spiritual pride and presumption, Jesus expertly flipped the whole situation around, and in essence declared, “You are the man!” “You are also guilty! Marvel at God’s mercy to you, and not his severity to others.” We can therefore conclude that the question really ought not to be, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but rather “Why don’t more bad things happen to me?”
Jesus and Amos expose the spiritual pride and presumption of our hearts—we who love to justify and exonerate ourselves. How desperately we need the Holy Spirit! There is no way that we would ever come to God for mercy without him. We don’t think we need mercy—not really!
So, the first lesson, which Doug has brought out so clearly from Amos, is the fact that we should not presume upon our good standing with a holy God but should instead examine ourselves in light of truth. We must recognise our culpability and repent, taking hold of the Lamb of God before it is too late.
A second lesson, which we would do well to remember, is how easily we live by sight and not by faith. We are those who say we worship an unseen God, and yet we put so much stock in the visible, physical world.
We are quick to believe that the materially rich are those who are prospering. And we are so quick to assume that those who suffer are under God’s wrath. We have far too narrow a view of God’s holiness. Because we put so much stock in the material and the visible, we forget that the whole world is subjected to corruption as a result of sin: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:20–22). We too easily forget that we all reap the wages for our sin, which is death (Romans 6:23).
All of this leads us to the biblical and fearful conclusion, not that God is unjust to bring physical punishment upon all the sinners within a particular cohort, but that such punishment is but a shadow of a greater punishment yet to fall upon those who rebel against a holy God. Justice is not served in a mere moment for sin against an infinitely holy God. To sin against an infinite God demands an infinite punishment.
But you might be thinking, “What about the promise to Christians in Romans 8:1, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’?” Well it remains true, even when Christians are caught up in the midst of disease, disaster, and any expression of God’s wrath revealed against a rebellious world. The sting of death, for the believer is removed. There is mercy and grace available in the midst of the greatest affliction. Death itself is but a falling asleep—a merciful porter—ushering us into eternal glory. But for unbelieving sinners suffering calamity now, their suffering is nothing but a token of what yet awaits them.
Christian, though we are far greater sinners than we realise, our God is far more abundantly merciful than we can comprehend.
Anton