Recognizing God's Severity

March 11, 2021

God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies;

~Nahum 1:

The importance of knowing Jesus is knowing all of what He stands for. So often we hear of His mercy, His loving kindness, gentleness and patience. Very rarely do we hear about His jealousy, wrath, vengeance and what He may do to those who are disobedient. Let us focus on the truth that the word tells us about His wrath; "Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord." (Deuteronomy 9:7)

If we will remember how God's chosen people provoked the Lord to wrath, we know that we are no different in Christ. We are called by Him and loved by Him yet we all have the ability to offend him if we choose to turn aside from His commands or disobey. We are nothing special. We are nothing different. We are all called in the same way, to receive the new covenant and keep it sacred. "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28)

His blood covenant is as serious to Him as it was in the Old Testament, if not more serious. If the Lord's people transgressed then, they are capable of this very act today. So often we see the gospel of Jesus Christ being watered down with acceptance of any lifestyle that may very well be offensive to God Himself, all to gain a number of "members" rather then gain true repentance to the Father of the known sins of this world. We see the ignorance of ignoring God's wrath and judgement which shall come upon all that is an abomination to Him; "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

The Lord's desire is for us to know His severity as equally as we know His kindness. When we do we can truely receive humility in our holy walk with God. The biggest issue in society and even in much of the Body of Christ is pride and how much we are ignoring the full judgement of God. There comes a time when we are not to only win others with the "love of God message," rather also the "what could happen without God message."

"but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." (Jude 1:23)

We must love our fellow brethren enough to tell all of the truth. Jesus is the Judge and one day He will come to judge the wicked and this include those who think they know who He is yet continue to walk in sin. We cannot become prideful and wander off as the people of Israel did time and time again. We must have reverence. "The fear of the Lord prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened." (Proverbs 10:27)

There are many sides to Jesus, let us know and take in all of them. When we slip away or are led astray we are vulnerable to compromising and falling away all together. We must always be on guard for our faith. So many times mighty men of valor and kings have fallen due to their pride. The lack of understanding the severity of the Lord caused them to fall away and be punished.

"The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord ; So what wisdom do they have?" (Jeremiah 8:9)

We are so grateful to have a way to know the Almighty One who created the heavens and the earth, to commune with the Sovereign King of Kings. We have no right to think He is any softer then He was before. He hasn't changed. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

Let us respect the Lord in all that He is and in doing so we will humble ourselves to what we truely cannot be without Him. The churches will fall away as they begin to accept things that which will be judged in the End; in doing so they themselves will be judged for this as they lead others astray. The Lord does not take kindly to those who allow abominations inside His House. It will never be acceptable or considered "love" to Him when we disrespect the teachings of God.

"For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord , and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God."

(Deuteronomy 18:12‭-‬13)

Let us truely love Christ and look for His acceptance, not from men. When we focus on not offending men we may be truely be offending God. Jesus said we would be hated as we truely live for Him, others may be offended as we point out the truth. When we do however, we are loving God and His statutes. We know that Jesus is the Judge and He will never turn a blind eye to sin; true repentance and change of lifestyle is vital to following Christ. The severity of Christ is just as wondrous as the kindness of Christ. We must know and understand both and live according to both. Thanks be to God for His steadfast patience with our continued wickedness in this land. Let us turn to live for Him and set aside any wicked way we may be accepting to avoid confrontation and pull those out of the fire in true love. "For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

(Hebrews 12:6)

Prayer:

Lord God Almighty, thank you for being so kind and most of all thank you for being so just. There is no wickedness that is not seen by Your eyes. I declare the works of the Lord is pure and true, undefiled and holy. Lord if there is any wicked way in me or that I am accepting that may cause me to be judged along with anyone I am leading astray; I repent and ask for You to show me so I can be done with this. I want to press in with reverence and fear of the Lord that will bring me the crown of life. I strive to serve You and I never wish to offend You Father. I pray for the eyes of the blind to be opened and the ears of the deaf to be unstopped so that they can come back to serving You whole heartedly. Forgive us Lord of this wicked nation as we continue to walk in pride. I pray for us to learn how to humble ourselves before that Day arrives when the great Judge appears. May glory and praise rise up to Your throne as You lead me to do Your works through this vessel I wish to remain holy and acceptable to You. In Your Name that deserves the most respect, Jesus Christ. Amen.