what kind of a god would punish people both now and then for eternity?

September, 2005what makes us happy...

When I wrote about the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster at the start of 2005 it created no small stirr among some Christians who were claiming that all natural disasters were the result of a wrathful God. Some disagreed with me and appealed to the apparent dire apocalyptic warnings within the Bible about the increase in natural disasters "in the last days" as being fulfilled by such events as the Boxing Day Tsunami.

I was listening to the Sri Lankan AOG Superintendent just a few months after this tragedy, wondering how he would have felt if he had heard these these cruel claims when so many of his own congregation and congregations died during this disaster?

At the other end of the theological scale there is a growing push to reinvent God into an All-Tolerant God who will never judge or condemn anyone.

The true identity of God is critical when it comes to understanding the relationship of God to natural disasters, and ultimately to the eternal destiny of us all.

DIVINE CAUSE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS

The Bible does present God as having the ability to control the elements.

For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
Psalm 107:25

He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:29

There is also a presentation of God using the elements to judge people.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.
Ezekiel 13:13

Perhaps the greatest example of this was the flood of Noah which destroyed the then known-world. A casual reading of Scripture would not leave you wondering what role God played in this metereological judgment event.

THE WAY GOD USES WEATHER FOR HIS JUDGMENT...

In every event of God judging a people with severe weather or seemingly 'natural' disasters (caused by earthquakes, fire, foreign armies, for example) there was always the offer to avert such things. Scripture emphasises God's graciousness and mercy far more than it does His right to exhibit wrath. His gracious offer to avert such acts of judgment was usually given by a messenger.

Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
2Kings 17:13

Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.
2Chr. 24:19

The Old Testament book of Jonah is well-known for its two most famous verses about a big fish swallowing a prophet. What is less well-known is the reason why Jonah was on the seafood menu in the first place! He hated the Assyrian Ninevites! He wanted God to judge and destroy them! But when God gave him that very message he knew it was an act of graciousness and mercy which might lead to the Ninevites repenting and turning to the Lord. That's why he fled. He knew that God never judges someone without first offering them a chance to repent and avert such judgment. This applies to God intervening with natural metereological events as well- the flood of Noah is the greatest example of this (if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly 2Peter 2:5).

This is why the claims that recent natural disasters have been the judgment of God upon the wicked are so wrong. This same Biblical principle of God graciously providing a way of escape before He executes wrath is why the heresy of a Pre-Tribulational Rapture is so demonic and dangerous (read why). This horrific doctrine is totally contrary to God's character which always extends grace first before judgment.

GOD WILL JUDGE EVERYONE...

But what none of us truly appreciate is that we are all experiencing God's grace now.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Romans 2:4

If God is not going to judge everyone, there is no ultimate justice in the universe (since man's justice is so inadequate at times, it would be unjust if injustice was not judged). Those who claim that this is unfair of God have failed to realise what life is all about, and just how gracious God is to everyone in this life time. The Bible presents God as being the judge who will judge us for what we have done, said, thought, but ultimately what we have done with the knowledge of His Son that He has revealed to us.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Revelation 20:12

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
John 12:48

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Hebrews 13:4

Despite the best intentions of some who claim that God doesn't take too seriously what we do, "as long as we don't hurt anyone else", the Bible presents God as taking very seriously our role as His ambassadors (the bearers of His image).

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1Corinthians 6:9-10

1. Never condemn someone for something they weren't aware of.

2. Never judge someone without first giving them the opportunity to be corrected.

3. Never condemn someone for sincerely seeking Him with an open heart.

Perhaps you feel one of the two extremes about God and judgment- that either He is a brutal, dictatorial, nasty God who judges without warning (and you therefore comply with Him out of fear) or that God is all-tolerant, unconditionally forgiving, unconditionally accepting, and offers the world a uni-dimensional form of love. Perhaps questions have arisen from time to time about why or how God would judge those in other parts of the world who have never heard the Gospel. Or perhaps you have wondered about recent natural calamities as to whether they are God's wrathful judgment or not. I hope we have gone some way to briefly address each of these issues.

Maybe there is something you have just read which has brought conviction of sin to your heart. In this case, I urge you to accept God's grace and apply the promise of 1John 1:9 which invites us to confess our sin to God to receive His forgiveness.

Andrew Corbett, August 2005

© 2005, Finding Truth Matters

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