Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.
- Rollo May
The Bible explains, "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." Jeremiah 17:9-10 MSG
The New Testament also concerns itself with the state of our hearts, directly mentioning the word over 150 times. Sadly, sin and Satan are expert at using human nature to deceive mankind, including much of modern Christianity, into believing the majority of our thoughts and feelings, words and actions (or lack thereof) justifiable. This is why the New Testament also employs the word "fear" over 100 times, most often as a warning to believers that we should carefully and constantly "judge ourselves that we might not be judged."
The Bible warns so often and clearly of God's justice that most Western Christians allow for the vague possibility of Earthly or eternal judgment. Even so, the concepts are so vague and undefined as to raising little or no alarm in modern believers, either for themselves, their families or others. Certainly if the Church in 1st World Nations were working out it's salvation in "fear and trembling" out lifestyles would reflect it. As for evangelism, there is little drive to carry to others that which we largely ignore ourselves. For example, it's been calculated that America spends more money for Christmas wrapping paper than it's total annual missionary budget. Evidence abounds, from abortion on demand to wonton worldliness, that individually and collectively, our hearts have been hardened:
- "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘ They shall not enter My rest.’" Hebrews 3:7-11
- "I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age." 1 Corinthians 10:1-11
- "Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment." Jude 1:3-7
Another vital lesson from this example is that of self destruction. Regardless of their overwhelming military superiority, neither Egypt or any of Israel's enemies had been able to stand against them. Unfortunately, the sins of the people and strategic failure of Israel's leadership accomplished what their enemies could not. The passage's warning continues:
- "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, Hebrews 3:12-14
The Day Of The Lord
Interestingly, a little known passage adds insight as to why God led millions of His people to die while wandering in the desert of Sinai for 40 years. This passage even seems to connect the judgment against God's people at Sinai with abortion and a sinful generational that longs for "the day of the Lord."
- "Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, Leaned his hand on the wall, And a serpent bit him!Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?“ Amos 5:18-20
- "I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want." Amos 5:21-24 The Message
- “Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried Sikkuth your king* and Chiun, your idols, The star of your gods, Which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,” Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts." Amos 5:25-27
Given the worship of Moloch often included child sacrifice, this is among the many verses clearly teaching God will certainly judge without mercy His people participating, either directly or indirectly, in abortion. Additionally, without "oceans of justice" and "rivers of fairness" He hates and despises our religious meetings, will disregard our offerings, and finds the noise of our songs and instruments more insulting than pleasing.
More information
In the Red Dropdown Icon you'll find resources that we hope will both stimulate and facilitate your pursuit of and understanding of the God of the Bible. To get started simply place your cursor on a category of interest and see where it leads. You can also join the discussion in a variety of ways including posting comments to God Blogs as well as making comments or asking questions by email or text.
Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved