God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. (Genesis 6:12-15)
As the population of the world increased, evil increased along with it. God’s heart was broken. His indictment upon humanity was that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5). Mankind’s sin was universal, and God prepared for a universal judgment – a worldwide flood.
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). God would deliver Noah and his family from the flood through the building of a boat, an ark. We don’t even need to know the story to guess what Noah used to build the ark.
The ark was made from wood. Wood comes from trees, more trees of the Bible. We’re only six chapters into the first book of the Bible and trees have told us most of the story. These trees in Genesis 6 carried Noah and his family safely through God’s righteous, divine judgment of sin.
God command to Noah was specific. The ark was to be made of cypress wood (Gen. 6:14). Older Bibles (KJV & NASB) used the term “gopher” wood here.
I think the gopher wood came from Minnesota.
Maybe not. But Noah’s salvation came through trees.
Thousands of years later, our salvation would come through another tree.
But first, trees still have another role to play in the telling of the flood story. We’ll look at that next time.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
Some of the best moments in our church’s new virtual worship experience come from personal sharing and exploratory questions. Last Sunday one of our members wondered whether the COVID-19 pandemic could possibly be a judgment for sin. He prefaced the hypothesis with humility and repentance for his own sin, not judgment toward others. Is it possible, he mused, that God is “ticked off” because of a certain sin? And he named the sin.
It’s a question which deserves a clear answer, especially because of the manner in the way it was expressed. I’ve been thinking about this ever since, constantly praying day and night for wisdom to respond if the question ever comes my way again. The next day someone else raised the same question in an unrelated telephone conversation. That intensified my desire to articulate a good answer.
I decided to look online to see what others are saying about this question. It turns out people have a lot to say about the coronavirus pandemic as a judgment from God. Unfortunately, much of it isn’t worth reading. What I found ranged from serious to shallow, from silly to sickening. Some of it was interesting. There were comprehensive essays on biblical pestilence and divine judgments, especially in the Old Testament. I read that the coronavirus pandemic is divinely related to, or a form of God’s judgment against: Jews, those who oppose Jews, homosexuality, environmentalism, climate change, abortion, financial debt and deception by the Chinese government. Oh, there’s one more. Someone concluded the pandemic is God’s judgment against the church. A couple atheists really enjoyed that one!
One website claimed God is “ticked off” about a particular sin under their magnifying glass. I wonder, how do they identify which sin ticks him off more than all other sins? If we’re looking for God in the coronavirus, the list from my internet search isn’t very helpful. Despite Google and Facebook’s efforts to police the internet, misinformation still abounds.
Fortunately, God is not the author of confusion. Despite the online melee, the Apostle Paul provides a clear answer. Is God ticked off because of any or all the sins listed online? Is God responding to humanity’s besetting sins with anger and vengeance through COVID-19?
The Apostle Paul’s answer is a clear and unambiguous “No!” God isn’t ticked off at anybody. The heart of the Gospel is that God poured out his wrath – all of it – upon Jesus at the cross. Christ became sin for us on the cross and darkness fell on Jesus at noon so his light could penetrate our hearts in the midnight of our sin and we could become the righteousness of God. The Apostle Paul’s message to the world is one of reconciliation, not wrath. While we were yet sinners, God could have judged us. Instead he loved us (cf. Romans 5:8). God judged himself instead of judging us. How could he be ticked off?
The Apostle John applied this to everyone, not just Christians. “He [Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) If God were even slightly irritated at anyone, Jesus’ sacrificial death would be insufficient for full atonement. But the Scriptures are firm that God is fully satisfied with Christ’s death. The term for that is “propitiation.”
The Apostle Peter agrees: “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) A little later, he added, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18) Peter doesn’t describe a God who is ticked off at the world. Not at all!
Jesus affirmed this, too. When the Savior was informed about the Roman government’s murderous cruelty against some Jewish citizens, he challenged his hearers with a question: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?” (Luke 13:1-2) He added a second challenge about eighteen men who died when a tower collapsed on them. Were these tragedies signs of God’s judgment because those men were worse sinners than others? Was God selecting them for special judgment? Jesus’ answer was clear and emphatic. Absolutely not! Neither human nor natural disasters are signs of God’s judgment. Rather, they are a warning that the world is fallen, providing an opportunity for us to repent of our sins. In other words, God is not ticked off. Rather, he calls us to come to him in repentance and faith.
The Savior put shoe leather to that conversation when he approached Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. He could have been ticked off by the fickle and wayward crowds, but he wasn’t. Instead of responding in anger, Jesus wept in sorrow for the city. God’s posture toward humanity is weeping in sorrow for the world’s suffering, not getting ticked off. One key emotion profoundly absent in Jesus’ demeanor as he submitted to his suffering is anger. Jesus was not angry in the least as he died in our place on the cross. Think about it. The crucifixion of Jesus is the greatest injustice in history, the greatest sin of all. It’s far worse than any sin on any list today. But Jesus was not ticked off. Instead, Jesus prayed forgiveness for who killed him, even as God’s judgment was poured out on him.
I’m a recovering legalist. I’m not out of the woods yet. Perfectionism still dogs me. My life story is littered with anger. (All legalists have an anger problem.) If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife or my sons. I can spot faults a mile away. Sarcasm is second nature to me. On many occasions I should have dispensed grace and forgiveness to myself and others, but instead I kept score of shortcomings and demanded judgment. Sometimes it has taken root only in my mind or my facial expression. Other times my anger has exploded in word and deed. I know what it is to be angry. I’ve been ticked off thousands of times. But I can’t think of one occasion in my life when it was a reflection of my heavenly father.
There’s a portrait burned onto my mind of a God who is angry at the world because of sin. My sin. Your sin. Everybody’s sin. In my legalism, I look for God’s judgment in plagues like AIDS or the coronavirus. I’m not alone. Legalism is everywhere. If you want to observe legalism in action, just be alert for angry people who highlight specific sins (usually not their own) which demand extreme judgment. You don’t even have to look for legalists. They’ll probably find you. It won’t be a pleasant encounter.
Legalism casts a distorted image of God. The further I crawl away from my legalism, the more I can discern how the COVID-19 pandemic is not a case of sinners in the hands of an angry God. Jesus, Peter, John and Paul all argue against it. Instead of being ticked off, God is weeping over the world, longing, even pleading, for us to return to him. As long as the Spirit of God resides on the earth through the church, our message to the nations as Christ’s ambassadors is reconciliation through Jesus. A ticked-off God does not lead us to reconciliation. Only grace can do that. Grace erases God’s anger, all of it.
Whenever we see anger and vengeance vented online, we can know we’re not feeding on grace. Even so-called “righteous anger” is often self-righteous legalism wrapped in a veneer of piety. If righteous anger includes being ticked off, it’s not genuine righteous anger. How do we know that? Because God, who is perfectly righteous, is not ticked off by my sin, your sin, or the world’s sin. God’s righteous anger weeps and seeks reconciliation for the world. Righteous anger absorbs the biggest offenses and returns only love. That’s what happened on the cross.
The next time a friend or a family member asks you if COVID-19 is a sign that God is ticked off about a particular sin (or sins in general), please show them Paul’s words that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” Then implore them to be reconciled to God through Christ, not because the pandemic is a sign God is angry with them, but because it isn’t.
If you’re interested in hearing more about what God is doing in these difficult days of coronavirus, check out the link below.
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. James 3:1
For the past seven years I’ve been meeting with a group of guys at 7 a.m. Saturday mornings for life transformation. Through the years several guys have come and gone, but three men have emerged as constant, committed, and transparent. We have developed very high trust with one another. I love each one of them with all my heart. I would take a bullet for them. I think they would take a bullet for me. But let’s not test that theory, please. I might be wrong.
One man in particular, the youngest (although he’s 60), is almost totally uninhibited. He says out loud what everybody else is thinking. And I love him for that. He unlocks the group week after week.
Many of our sessions, especially in the beginning years, began with a lament. Problems in the church. Struggles with family. Corruption in government. Shortcomings in the media. Dead-end conversations by the water cooler at work. Eventually a Scripture would come to mind which addresses the situation and we’d spend an amazing time before the Lord. Time after time I was amazed how God met us.
After a couple years, I noticed how no matter where we started, we ended up with the same set of solutions. So one day I started to chart them on a white board. On the left side was where we were. On the right side was where we needed to be. Over time I gradually added items to the list.
At first I left the white board sitting in the church basement where most of our people would see it. But that turned out to create a problem. One influential person walked past it and commented to nobody in particular, “I don’t like it.” Another very thoughtful, soft-spoken person stared at the chart and confessed, “I don’t get it.”
Those responses are totally understandable. It would have been surprising if they had liked it. It would have been amazing if they had comprehended it because they had not been through the process. So I took down the white board and stored it in the furnace room. It was almost like our little secret. If someone outside the men’s group asked about it, I’d say, “It’s not for you. It’s about another group.” That wasn’t a put-off. It was quite literally true. The chart was just for us. We never judged anyone else by our criteria.
On Saturday mornings whenever a discussion would hit a tipping point, I’d drag out the chart and set it up. We’d go over something on it again. This didn’t happen every week, but we referenced that little chart dozens of times over the years. We confessed how hard it is for us to move from the left side to the right side. Our little group invested hundreds of hours in conversation and Bible study, impromptu video sermons, prayer and anguish over that chart. We had to become vulnerable. We had to get past surface issues to find root causes. We had to identify our biases. We had to learn to see the world through a different lens. It changed the way we read Scripture. We no longer saw the Bible as a club to batter others. Instead, God’s Word was a lifeline to us, the weak and needy.
Why do I tell this story now? Two reasons:
First, several of our meetings early this year have felt like revival to me. I’ve said that to the guys. I’m sensing a spiritual breakthrough. For the first time, I’m not the person dragging out the chart. Others are doing it, too. A few weeks ago after a home Bible study, one man said to me, “I see why this specific item is on the chart.” And he named the item. Our meetings are getting longer from intense engagement. We pushed three hours last Saturday.
Another guy said, “I’ve been resisting this for years. We all have. It’s finally making sense to me.”
Yes, I think it is finally making sense.
A second reason I’m telling this story is I think the chart is finally finished. About three weeks ago, we added a word at the bottom on the left side to describe where we are now and a word at the bottom on the right side of the chart to describe where we want to be. But I wasn’t the person who discovered it. The rest of the group saw it first. I just recorded it for them.
We’ve made it to the bottom of the board. More important, we’ve made it to the bottom line of the chart. It’s only one word, but it sums up everything.
That word is grace.
After sharing this story, I may be obligated to reveal the contents of the chart. I’m not sure when that will happen. Undoubtedly the chart will be misunderstood. People will draw conclusions that aren’t accurate. It may spark controversy we’re not quite ready to face. But the right time will come. Eventually, there will be a part two to this post.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.John Newton
For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. 1 Peter 4:17-19
The east coast is breathing a collective sigh of relief as Hurricane Maria has followed the projected course out to sea. It’s just grazing the North Carolina coast today. This is a moment for emergency planners and weather watchers to pause and reflect on the national trauma of the past month.
First there was Hurricane Harvey which devastated the Texas coast. Then Irma marched through the Caribbean islands and Florida. Now it’s Maria, which destroyed Dominica and Puerto Rico last week. Lost in the news, Mexico was hit by two major earthquakes with hundreds dead. In the past month we have witnessed genuine suffering by real people. It’s not a video game. The suffering is real. When will it all end?
The pictures tell an unbelievable story. Those on the scene in the Caribbean have described the hurricanes’ impact as comparable to a nuclear bomb. Puerto Rico is still in major distress as airports have been slow to reopen and necessities are barely trickling in. People are dying.
Some religious commentators have attributed the hurricanes to God’s judgment for national sins. When they say that, they often name two or three behaviors which they believe have provoked God’s wrath. It’s interesting that those who say such things never name sins in which they are personally indulging. For some reason we seem to believe God’s wrath is drawn to other people’s sin, but not our own. Others get God’s judgment, but we receive God’s grace. How is that good news?
In contrast, the Apostle Peter wrote that God’s judgment will begin with the church rather than the world. I don’t think God is hurling hurricanes at us in judgment of national sins. But he does want everyone to recognize the gravity of our situation. We are broken people with broken hearts who live in a broken world. We need a Savior who will deliver us, not only from hurricanes and earthquakes, but also from ourselves and our sin.
God wants us to cast ourselves upon his mercy and grace. We won’t do that until we face our brokenness. Somehow hurricanes and earthquakes help us see our true spiritual condition. I believe God wants to redeem our nation, not judge us. When will it all begin?
Prairie Pastor 