The Righterzpen
Jesus is my Shield in any Desert or Storm
- Feb 9, 2019
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GOD HATES EVIL MEN
"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren." Prov 6: 16
Notice the context of the things it states that God is hating. These are stated first as aspects of behavior, than parts of the body and than whole individuals. I know it is a common belief today to say "God hates the sin and loves the sinner!"; but if we look at this passage we see that is not what it's saying.
Take a moment to consider the contradiction of that idea in the context of salvation. If God loves all sinners, how effectual is that love if some of those sinners end up under His wrath? That is like a negligent parent telling their 4 year old "We love you honey; now you can go play in the traffic!" Just as the love of a parent is manifest by protecting a child from their own childishness; so the love of God is manifest by protecting the believer, not only from God's wrath; but death it's-self befalling the individual before redemption has taken place.
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate." Prov 8:13
"The foolish shall not stand in your sight: you hate all workers of iniquity" Ps 5:6
"I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them my enemies" Ps 139:22
"And I shall set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you ...And I will destroy you high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you ... And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God" Lev 26:11&30&44
"As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom 9:13
Now all these statements of God hating sinners may seem strange to us in the context of the purpose of Jesus's incarnation. Jesus came to seek and to save sinners, so how can he hate them too? This doesn't seem to make much sense until we consider the notion of substitutionary atonement it's-self.
First of all, we must realize that these statements in the Hebrew Scriptures are in deed in the conscious thoughts of incarnated God. There were people Jesus hated with a perfect hatred and counted as his enemies. Looking at the gospels we see that more often than not, many of the Scribes and Pharisees were on the receiving end of Jesus's human anger. He called them hypocrites and said they were of their father the devil. (John 8:44 - Thus by deductive reasoning we can conclude that they are not children of God.) Now if all sinners are in the same predicament; how could he hate some and not others?
The second consideration we must take into account is that Jesus's "love" (as opposed to his hate) for an individual was predicated upon weather or not their sin would be redeemed. Those whom he would redeem were (probably in most cases) revealed to Jesus by the Father, through the Spirit. Without this redemption taking place he'd have no basis to love any of us, because his holiness would prevent it.
Now of course we see that there were people who would ultimately perish that Jesus displayed human pity for. The most obvious example was Judas. So, what was the basis of his pity if it wasn't out of love? That answer comes in God's righteousness and moral character. He doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, (Ezek 33:11) even despite the fact that His righteousness still demands a payment.
I'm not sure I can explain this "theologically"; as much as maybe I have a certain personal understanding of it. I'm a veteran who did clean up after Desert Storm. I suffered physically, mentally and emotionally because of the war and I always figured I'd be overjoyed on that one day when I finally heard Saddam Hussein was dead. When that day did come; I had a reaction I'd never expected. I cried. I cried a lot; but not because he was dead, nor because I felt his death vindicated the suffering myself and others had endured. Yes, I was relieved that he was no longer a threat to his own people; but I also bore a certain dread for what I knew he would face on the other side of eternity. Couple this with the understanding that I too should suffer wrath for my own sin; made me (too) not take pleasure in the death of Saddam Hussein.
MAN IS BORN IN A SINFUL STATE
"For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God" Eccl. 9:1
Notice that the righteous and the wise along with their works are in the hand of God. This is because he is the one who has made them righteous and wise.
"Behold I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" Ps 51:5
This is not saying that the act of his mother conceiving him was sin, only that he acknowledges the state of his sinfulness existed long before he made any choices about acting upon what was already inherent in his heart.
"The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" Ps 58:3
Now, how does a baby "speak lies" when developmentally they don't even have the patterning in the brain to assemble thought. In order to assemble thoughts; one needs to have acquired some language. Linguistic acquisition is only partially formed at two years old. Even when a person is well into puberty, there are some reasoning abilities they still lack. This is function of the development of the nervous system and God is not unjust to hold someone accountable for something they don't understand. So, what does this passage mean?
The wicked are turning aside (away - from God) at the point which they are related to the matrix (reference to conception); they waver (vacillate) as soon as they be separated from their mother's body - both setting in organization lies.
The first portion of this verse makes sense when we consider that all of Adam's decedents exist in a corrupted world from the point of their conception. They are corrupted at conception because the Earthly contributors to their physical existence are both corrupted. The breath of life that God grants to every living being is not corrupted in and of it's-self; only the entity that it animates with life is corrupted. The two portions of that entity that God's breath of life makes alive (soul and body) spring forth corrupted because they spring forth into a fallen world.
"There is none righteous, no not one: there is none that understand there is none that seek after God:... for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" Rom 3:9+&23
"But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Gal 3:22
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom 5:12
JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not (is disobedient) the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." Jn 3:36
"For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which hath sent him." Jn 5:22
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" Acts 4:12
ALL THE BIBLE (AND ONLY THE BIBLE) IS THE WORD OF GOD
"Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me," Ps 40:7, Heb 10:7
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures:" 1 Cor 15:3
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" 2 Tim 3:16
"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: hut holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" 2 Pet 1:21
"For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plaques that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life," Rev 22:18 &19
There are those who would contend that this warning is speaking only about the book of Revelation; although if we look closely at the language we see that isn't so. The literal Greek rendering is "the words of the prophecy of this scroll" The New Testament (including the book of Revelation) was written in letter form, so we know this isn't talking about the book of Revelation. The "prophecy of the scroll" I believe was the Old Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures testified to the reality of the Messiah. "God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" This I believe is a reference to the book of Revelation and "Every man who hears the words of the prophecy of the scroll" I believe is a reference to the New Testament. One doesn't come without the other. They work in tandem.
THE NATURAL MAN HATES GOD
"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake:" Mat. 10:22
"For every one that does evil hates the light, either cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." Jon 3:20
"The world cannot hate you; but me it hates, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil" Jon 7:7
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Jon 15:18
"I have given them thy word: and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as 1 am not of the world." Jon 1 7:14
"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved" Matt 10:22, Mk 13:13, Lk 21:17
"Than shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake" Matt 24:9
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