Fear and Trembling

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.) Over the last two articles, we have looked in turn on God’s love and His grace.   We have seen the beauty of Exodus 34:6-7: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”   This article turns to the second part of verse 7: “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”   We too often revel in God’s love and grace while giving no thought to His justice. However, the Bible shows everywhere the terrible face of God as judge.   As J. I. Packer notes in Chapter 14 of Knowing God , God judged Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), the entire world in Noah’s day (Genesis 6-8), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19), Egypt (Exodus 7-12), those who worshiped the golden calf (Leviticus 10:1-3), and even His chosen people, Israel (Judges 2:1-15, 3:5-8, 4:1-3; 2 Kings 17, 32:15-17, 23:26-2...

This is the next article amoung four I have recently written for my local paper. Knowing God , Chapter Fourteen: God the Judge by John K. Jones Over the last two articles, we have looked in turn on God’s love and His grace. We have seen the beauty of Exodus 34:6-7: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” This article turns to the second part of verse 7: “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.” We too often revel in God’s love and grace while giving no thought to His justice. However, the Bible shows everywhere the terrible face of God as judge. As J. I. Packer notes in Chapter 14 of Knowing God, God judged Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), the entire world in Noah’s day (Genesis 6-8), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19), Egypt (Exodus 7-12), those who worshiped the golden calf (Leviticus 10:1-3), and even His chosen people, Israel (J...

“All things being equal, God does desire that no one should perish. But all things are not equal. Sin is real. Sin violates God’s holiness and righteousness. God also is not willing that sin should go unpunished. He desires as well that His holiness should be vindicated…. When the preceptive will is violated, things are no longer equal.” – R. C. Sproul, From Can I Know God’s Will? pp. 22-23. We no longer have a right to claim God’s favor when we violate His commands. We forfeit all claims on His love and mercy. As the highest and best being in the universe, God has the right to demand of us whatever He desires. God’s desires are always in accordance with His nature, and He is wholly good. He can no more command something that is evil than He can cease to be God. He cannot because He will not, and His essential desires never change. God, in some sense, takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (Ezekiel 18:32) and does not desire “that any should perish, but that all should reac...