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.
Rom 11:22
God is love, and truly that love is revealed in Jesus Christ, as we see in these scriptures:
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
The Love of God was made manifest in sending His Son into the world to die for our sins. His outpouring of mercy and love on His creation was clearly demonstrated by this great sacrificial act. God further displays His love for us in the multitude of gifts He has lavished on His Church. This Father of Lights cares so tenderly for us that He keeps us hidden in Christ, from the weapons of the adversary:
• Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
There is yet another dimension to the Jesus Christ of scripture, one of wrath, anger and judgment against the wicked. To negate any one of these traits of the nature of God, is to deny our knowledge of Him. The Holy Almighty God and Savior has judged severely and will again, as we shall read:
• Lam 2:2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
• Num 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
• Jud 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
• Rev 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
• Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The Jesus Christ of scripture who loves His children and leads them to eternal life, will often times employ painful lessons so that we may repent and be perfected in holiness: Jesus Christ will:
• Send the bread of affliction (Isa 30:20);
• He will scourge us (Heb. 12:6);
• Chasten us (Deut. 8:5);
• Punish us for our iniquities (Matt 24:51)
God will also cut us off from His Body, if we become as Lot’s wife, who disobeyed the command of God (as did Eve), losing such a great salvation:
• Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
If your church, pastor, bible study teacher, parent or other spiritual leader is NOT leading you to the REAL JESUS of scripture, be diligent and seek Him in TRUTH. The Spirit at work in the children of disobedience would have you see only a one dimensional God who is devoid of wrath and will save no matter how sinful one may become. There ARE false brethren, as scripture has warned:
• 2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
God’s nature is eternal and does not change, as it is written:
• Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
The Lord has given us His Spirit and the written Word, so that we may know without a shadow of a doubt, His will for mankind, the promises to the faithful, and the consequences on the rebellious. We have a historical record which reveals how God dealt with man from the beginning of history. To assume now, post-cross of Christ, that He no longer judges wickedness, (as so many in Christianity now do assume) is to doubt the Lord we claim to know.
We must:
• Depart from iniquity (2 Ti 2:19);
• Walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16);
• Deny ungodliness (Titus 2:12);
• Deny ourselves DAILY (Luke 9:23.
These are covenantal conditions that are New Covenant, New Testament, the Words of the apostles and Jesus Christ Himself.
To gain further insight into God’s will, the children of Israel received these Words of God, given to the prophet Moses:
• Deu 11:1-32:
Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. 2.And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, 3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; 5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel: 7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did. 8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; 9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12 A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? 31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us (Col 2:14), however, God will still judge a rebellious and wicked heart, one that has turned aside from the truth of Christianity:
Rom 11:20-23:
Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 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. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Jud 1:11-13
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Hear O Israel:
Jdg 10:11-13
And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
Jesus Christ HAS delivered us from the land of sin and death, offering us an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of God. Let us not neglect such a great salvation and serve the REAL JESUS acceptably with reverence and fear, for our God IS a consuming fire.
Morning Manna
Nov 29, 2009
