Exodus 34: 6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation.
8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Throughout the history of our world the justice and benevolence of God has always been questioned for there are some people who do not accept the Bible teachings on God’s love when viewed in the context of His judgements. Others reject the Old Testament and only embrace the new, because they view God as being too harsh, when He issued corrections.
At the foundation of everything that God does is the principle of love, even when a necessary judgement becomes due. When some nations were blotted out of existence in days of old, it was a loving thing that God did, and it was the best and the only right thing for Him to do at the time.
Some folks take cover under the pretext that He is God, and as such, He will do whatsoever He chooses to do. Now, while this is true, that view falls short of the much better understanding God would have us embrace, that is, whatsoever He does isn’t arbitrary at all, but is well thought out as being the very best action that must be taken in a given circumstance.
This understanding of God should be embraced by His people, if we are to avoid the snare of blaming God wrongfully, for in the Old Testament we would read of the Antediluvians in Noah’s day being destroyed by the flood, and we would oftentimes read of God sending the nation of Israel to utterly destroy certain nations.
Thus, some persons have come to question, both the goodness and justice of God, for some believe erroneously that He is supposed to be one-sided in His administration, only using love without justice.
But the Scriptural view of God is that He is both A loving God and a God of justice, because love is not love at all if justice is not recognized and employed where warranted. Our first passage enumerates the goodness and mercies of God, but it also states that He will in now wise clear the guilty.
In the ancient sanctuary system, the mercy seat was located above the law, because God takes delight in mercy. But the law was located below to catch what mercy failed to accomplish, and thus, the Hebrews knew, and witnessed the goodness and the severity of God, so that in their minds, the right balance was struck, which balance some seem to be unaware of in our day.
Several passages of scripture, both in the Old and in the New Testaments firmly establish, and project this balanced view, so that the inhabitants of earth today would not be deceived into believing that we would get off scotch free with any and every type of wickedness that is practiced. Let’s read:
Joshua 24: 20 If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
John 13: 4 He arose from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
5 After that he poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Matthew 26:24 The Son of man goes as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Romans 11: 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.
Deuteronomy 7: 9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
10 And repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hates him, he will repay him to his face.
Revelation 21: 7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, murderers and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Matthew 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
In the days of the Antediluvians, God in His mercy sent Noah to preach the people for 120 years and during that time He supplied the entire world with all that was needed for life and well-being. The Lord provided food in abundance, and the people back then always had more than enough, and to spare.
God continued to take care of earth’s inhabitants right up until the very day of the flood, for He gave them breakfast even on that fateful morning. Thus, a great change took place after they had passed the limits of God’s forbearance, thus forever closing the probation of that long-lived race.
Then, The same God who had for so long mercifully taken care of those people for so many years sent a whole lot of rain, and flooded the entire planet to the tune of several miles high, thus bringing to an abrupt halt, the wickedness of that era.
Retribution for unrepented sins had seemed so long delayed, but the time came when the tables turned, and the justice side of God was made manifest. The forces of nature were unleashed, and every person who had spurned their day of grace, perished in the waters of the flood. Let’s read:
Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 99>100] Upon the eighth day dark clouds overspread the heavens. Soon large drops of rain began to fall. Darker and darker grew the heavens, and faster came the falling rain.
The beasts were roaming about in the wildest terror and their discordant cries seemed to moan out their own destiny and the fate of man. Then “the fountains of the great deep” were “broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Rivers broke away from their boundaries, and overflowed the valleys. Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable force, throwing massive rocks hundreds of feet into the air.
The altars on which human sacrifices had been offered were torn down, and the worshipers were made to tremble at the power of the living God, and to know that it was their corruption and idolatry which had called down their destruction.
As the violence of the storm increased, trees, buildings, rocks, and earth were hurled in every direction. The terror of man and beast was beyond description. Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared for his own existence.
Love, no less than justice, demanded that God's judgments should put a check on sin. The avenging waters swept over the last retreat and the despisers of God perished in the black depths.
After the earth was repopulated, major retribution also had to be meted out to nations which had gone so deep in sin and rebellion that God was moved to blot them out from the face of the earth. The very same atrocities we are witnessing live today, were then taking place, just using different methods and different weapons.
The heart of man is desperately wicked, and if God did not intervene on several occasions, we would have self-destructed a long time ago. But persons have been ignorant of the reasons why God had to do what He did, so now, He is letting us witness for ourselves, why His judgements, in days of old had come due.
Thus, when He begins to carry out His strange act in our day every mouth may be stopped, for we would have seen and heard for ourselves how the brutality of man against his fellowman will drive the planet to extinction if God does not bring major retribution at some point.
Kings and nations like Agag, the Philistines, Jericho, the Amalekites, amongst others, had to be visited with severe justice, because the crimes committed would have caused folk in our day to shudder. Then there were wicked Roman emperors like Nero, who took satanic delight in burning martyrs.
Thus, what we are witnessing currently in Europe is nothing new, because persons are just following the playbook that was written by devils, and acted upon by evil men several eons ago. Every person who will deliberately take the life of another for no reason is a murderer, walking in the footsteps of our mortal and invisible enemy. Let’s read:
John 8: 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
But a major retribution is coming, and it is stated in the scriptures that God Himself would arise to take care of situations, when men fail to do so. God will permit things to go on for so long, but the time will come when the invisible line between God’s mercy and justice will be crossed, and then the inhabitants of earth will see the other side of God. Let’s read:
Isaiah 13: 5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt.
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
[The Great Controversy pp 627] The severity of the retribution awaiting the transgressor may be judged by the Lord's reluctance to execute justice. The nation with which he bears long, and which he will not smite until it has filled up the measure of its iniquity in God's account, will finally drink the cup of wrath unmixed with mercy.
Isaiah 20:21 For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be ye not mockers …. for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
Now, it is true that most persons prefer not to dwell on the negative side of the inhumanity we’re seeing but sooner or later the entire world will be engulfed in irretrievable ruin the likes of which no person has ever seen. Therefore, if folks continue to bury their heads in the sand, we will be unprepared for what the scriptures declare will certainly come to pass.
Thus, as we observe in the context of God’s mercy and justice, that which is now transpiring in Europe, we must turn to the scriptures to better understand why God dealt with certain wicked nations, the way He did so that we too may be instructed on what He will do, when He delivers major retribution to those who now indulge in the grossest atrocities.
At one time the Hebrew people were forced to deal with a situation that had come upon them suddenly because the Ammonites and the Moabites, invaded the land and threatened to exterminate the Hebrew nation, without being provoked. This attack was in no way warranted, especially because those nations were spared, when the people of God could have destroyed them.
Thus, when king Jehoshaphat got wind of what was about to take place, he put the matter to the Lord in prayer and gathered the entire nation even the little children and women, for all would be vulnerable, if the impending invasion were to take place.
There are times when everyone would need to pray for deliverance, even the little ones who may not be able to comprehend what is going on. In particular, the king of Israel made mention of the fact that this war was unprovoked, and thus, he appealed to God for His intervention, something we all should do in the current situation. Let’s read:
2nd Chronicles 20:1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria.
3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,
6 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
Even though the Hebrews were then God’s chosen people, we should all keep in mind that Jesus’ death on the cross entirely changed the paradigm for all of humanity, for we all are now His, both by creation and redemption.
Thus, the major retribution that was going to be meted out to those invaders, will be meted out at some point to nations and individuals who commit atrocities against humanity. The value of the human soul is now based upon the price that was paid for it, even the precious blood of The Son of God.
And therefore, when innocents are mowed down in cold blood for no reason, and when brutalities are committed against the human family, it touches a nerve in the heart of Christ who died to save every person on the planet. And when it reaches a boiling point, severe retribution will be coming due, just as it was with the Hebrews and Jehoshaphat. We read:
2nd Chronicles 20: 20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endures forever.
22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, there were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
We are not to think that such atrocities as we are now seeing will never come to our shores, because the Bible clearly states that there would be “a time of trouble such as never since there was a nation, in the entire history of earth. Let’s read:
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
We may not now be at that level of brutality we are witnessing, but we should never forget that at the time of the flood it was the violence and corruption which triggered God’s strange act. And beyond the shadow of a doubt, the corruption of the marriage institution is approaching Antediluvian levels.
When persons seek to lynch members of congress, with whom they disagree, and when some political rivals make ads with machine guns cocked, then we may know for certain that the seeds of violence and brutality have already been sown in the West, only awaiting the right set of circumstances to converge. Let’s read:
2nd Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
[The Great Controversy pp 589] Satan delights in war; for it excites the worst passions of the soul, and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another; for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God.
It's now high time for the leaders in both the secular and spiritual arenas to consider, that what God has predicted in His word is not future but is in the here and now. The problems of earth are not isolated to just one geographical area; it is the entire earth that is embroiled in some level of perplexity, just as the Bible has predicted.
If it is not Covid, and the plethora of variants it has spawned, it is sky high inflation, and if it is not those historical lows to which several lakes have sunk, it is culture wars that have torn societies apart, and if it is none of the above it’s the ongoing issue of global warming that’s melting glaciers and causing great concern for coastal communities, including our own backyard in Florida. Let’s read
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth ….
Therefore, in our neck of the woods it would be well if efforts to preach and teach the everlasting gospel, as given in the Revelation, would be accelerated to a great extent. One of the greatest tragedies on full display is the fact that thousands of people are now going down into Christless graves, because of all the ongoing conflicts.
Thus, it should be on the front burner of our minds to finish up the work of the gospel, as God has, and will direct, because current situations cannot go on for too much longer. The 2nd coming of Christ is not only imminent, it is becoming even more necessary, by the hour, lest left to ourselves, we destroy one another on this planet.
Let well-directed efforts now be made to reach and save the lost. Many tools are at our disposal, so if we cannot go door to door, we can use drones to drop leaflets in neighborhoods and cities. Then we have the web and internet that can be used to plant seeds of truth in otherwise inhospitable environs.
Then again, instead of spending our time surfing for things which do not satisfy, nor do contribute to the up-building of God’s kingdom, we can use “Text” messages, pun intended, to let someone know that there is still a Savior who loves them, and who will grant eternal life to as many as believe.
The time is now and the place is here, for us to put into high gear, our resources, efforts and, energies, to do what we can to save as many as possible. It is not merely our hope and prayer, it is the mandate given us by God Himself, who once stated that “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.”
Let us then rise to the occasion, not only by helping in temporal matters, but like Jesus who healed the physical and spiritually sick, let us do whatsoever we can to rescue humanity, for we are living on the brink of eternity, and major retribution will become due, much sooner than we think.
We will end with a passage of scripture which will remind us that things will not go on this way forever and that true Christians the world over, have a part to play as the final scenes of earth’s history unfold. Let’s read:
2nd Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
God Bless!