A Light-Washed God
Disclaimer: “1. O clap your hands, all ye people;
Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
2. For the LORD most high is terrible;
He is a great King over all the earth.
3. He shall subdue the people under us,
And the nations under our feet.
4. He shall choose our inheritance for us,
The excellency of Jacob whom he loved.”
Selah.
Psalm 47:1-4 KJV
STOP: Please ensure that your sword is prepared; this article will be taking a deep dive into the Word, and as always, you will need it. Ephesians 6:10-17.
What’s Happening to Our Society?
Let me ask a quick question: "Would you be willing to severely 'soften' the image of God so as not to repel the rebellious or the unbeliever?”
I propose that by the looks of a society that is increasingly brazenly and openly reveling in its sin, that is precisely what we have done.
I won't be a hypocrite; I, too, followed suit with the softening of God’s image to make Him more palatable, approachable, less demanding, and apparently less domineering. I foolishly likened fearing the Lord to the same fear and respect you would have for a demanding sports coach.
Though well-intentioned, misguidedly likening the mighty hand of our holy and supreme God, who is to be feared above all, to that of a coach is not only unwise, it is absurd.
Minimizing the splendor and seriousness of an all-consuming, powerful, and sovereign God that has justly wiped out unrighteous nations and has also drowned the world, save one righteous man, his family, and some of His animals, is a colossal mistake.
Through playful Sunday school lessons and light-hearted imagery, we have reduced the story of the flood to a simple story of a man who was instructed to build an ark for no apparent reason and then take some animals two by two, followed by some light rain staged against an aquatic blue sky, with no provocation.
Then we cut to Noah standing on the bay of the ark, anticipatory arms outstretched to receive a determined delicate little bird with an adorable sprig of vegetation in its mouth. The massive sky is illuminated by the burst of rays seeping from full fluffy white clouds; Noah welcomes the winged messenger bearing good news with a rainbow plastered in the background.
Where are all the dead bodies? Where is the carnage? Where is the depiction of the story God intended to portray? A warning and showcasing of his far-reaching power and unmatched will and a display of how seriously he takes holiness, unrighteousness, disobedience, and rebellion.
We have tempered the fear of God and have taught our children to do the same. We leave out the most perilous part, to Repent. God instructed Noah to preach to the people to turn from their wickedness, and they ignored Him. They ignored God! It appears they must have confused, fearing God’s command through Noah to repent, with a strong-willed coach calling mid-game plays.
Please note; God chose Noah to carry His message forth to the people not because he had a lot of righteous talk…but because he had a lot of righteous walk, Genesis 6:5-9.
So better yet, What has happened to our society? We have lost the fear of God.
The Lion and the Lamb
How we presently view and present Yeshua has now become so emasculating and far removed from the Holy Scriptures that describe Him as the strong sword-bearing, table-flipping, chastising, rebuking,whip-wielding King that He is, to some sort of weak and amiable director of a hippy-dippy spiritual Woodstock movement.
Have I gone too far? Do congregations not have to be prepared beforehand, or Jesus apologized for when a sermon is preached on anything that doesn't depict a Yeshua we are comfortable with? A Yeshua that would never do the very things we would expel most members out of our church for, John 2:13-16.
We have become so hyper-focused on programs that attract people to houses of prayer for reasons other than the Lord. I assure you the gospel can go forth, and children can learn about the fear of the Lord earnestly without the need to spend precious resources on indoor volleyball pits, basketball courts, and other superfluous nonsense housed in ostentatious buildings.
Furthermore, more often than not, they serve as monuments of vanity for their builders rather than vessels for the Lord. How reverent is it to turn God’s house of prayer into a common recreational center?
The Continuous Fall
So far, have we regressed from the full and appropriate acknowledgment, humility, and surrender to God's majesty and His mighty hand that we can’t even imagine a depiction of 'Jesus' that's not of Him, holding a soft, delicate, fluffy baby lamb sprawled across his lap. (There are other major glaring issues with the majority of the images of Jesus circulating in this time period, Jeremiah 14:2 KJV, but I will not digress).
Jesus is referred to as a lamb because he was the final sacrifice fulfilling the sacrificial portion of the law, Hebrews 10:3-5. This now means we no longer have to perform animal sacrifices for sin atonement because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, satisfying the sacrifice for his people’s sin once and for all, for those who believe, 1 John 1:29.
But make no mistake, Jesus was called the Lion of the tribe of Judah because of His strength, leadership, rule, valor, and might, with his strong hand on the necks of those of his enemies, Genesis 49.
Jesus himself addresses how he should be feared in a parable that He gave regarding a severe nobleman; he says the following in the end, “26. For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. 27. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me,” Luke 19:26-27.
Calling for the slaughter of some of his enemies who refused to be Lorded over does not reflect the sad, downcast, long-faced, weak, weary-eyed ‘Jesus’ I so often see and hear portrayed.
Jesus is a conqueror.
The Truth as Revealed In the Word
How can we go any further in talking about the fear of the Lord without addressing sin? After all, this offense required the bloodshed of God’s sinless son, the perfect sacrificial lamb of God, our Messiah, Yeshua, to appease the wrath of God on our behalf, 1 John 3:5.
What can be more truthful, in accordance with the Word of God, of course, than…book…chapter…verse… of what sin is? Let’s dive in, shall we?
“4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law,” 1 John 3:4.
And. “23. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin, “ Romans 14:23.
We must be careful to do the things the Lord commands because failure to do what you know is right is sin, James 4:17.
Lastly, when we sin, this is what happens as a result, not what sin is; we fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23.
Please do not be fooled by the enemy's verbal sleight of hand and erroneously confuse what sin is with incidences of sin or what happens when we sin.
Therefore, 1 John 3:7 says, “ Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.”
Book. Chapter. Verse. Truth as revealed in the bible.
Jesus is Compassionate Towards Sinners
There are many examples of Jesus’s mercy and kindness springing forth throughout scripture; for the purposes of this article, I will highlight one such occasion where his grace is extended to a fellow sister of ours.
She had just been accused of adultery, a heinous offense against the law, and in accordance with it, was assessed the death penalty.
We often focus on the one-liner that we all run to when confronted with our sin from others, John 8:7, and oftentimes miss the very important ending. When the ordeal was over, and the accused adulteress’ life spared, what did Jesus tell her just after he had saved her?
Was it,” Go, and sin at your heart's desire with no cares, because I have come to fulfill all of the law?” Or “ I love sinners, so go forth and sin at your leisure, grace will abound,” Romans 6:1-2.
No. Nothing of the sort, he told her plainly, “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more,” John 8:11.
Go and sin no more. I am merely saying the same thing as a disciple of Christ, what Jesus himself has told sinners whom he has compassionately saved. Go and sin, no more. Please scroll back up for a refresher on the biblical definition of sin.
Fear God, Not Man.
Take a look at what is happening, brothers and sisters; we have become so tunnel-visioned and fixated with our own agendas for equity and diversity that the devil has slipped undetected his causes right alongside ours, or have we indeed forgotten what a man and a woman actually is or how God designed marriage? DEI (look it up).
They use our people to garner the numbers they need to support their sinful causes. And some of us are becoming increasingly more tolerant and supportive of sin to avoid offending man, while we, in turn, offend God. A God who watches it all, bedroom window curtains drawn or not, Deuteronomy 7:21. Wake up, loves.
This should matter to us because it matters to our father. Is this what he created and chose us for? Deuteronomy 7:7-11.
We may take sin lightly, but God does not. He has shown us this through his dealings with our people through our conquerings and captivities. He also showed it in his dealings with the unrepentant heathens, in their destruction and demise, and he has even shown us this as He endured the sacrifice of His own now-risen son's life.
All of these are just a few ways God shows us just how seriously he considers sin.
The Other Nations
Why must the God of the Hebrews be feared? For the most prevailing reason, because God is to be feared, Psalm 66:3.
I am under no misapprehension that my correspondence is contained in a vacuum. Non-Israelites should heed the example of Abimelech and Abraham; read Genesis 20.
Pay very close attention to verse 21. Abraham judged the fear of the Lord in the place of Gerar that he was sojourning by how they would treat God’s anointed.
Having no fear of the Lord would mean they would disregard and kill Abraham with impunity, with absolutely no respect for him as a human being.
But God has warned in His Word against heinous behavior towards his people, his actual people (Romans 9:14 -16).
Plainly this warning reads Psalm 105:14 -15, " 14. He suffered no man to do them wrong: Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 15. Saying , Touch not mine anointed, And do my prophets no harm ".
Because understand this very clearly, when you offend God's people, you offend God, " For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After glory, He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye," Zechariah 2:8.
Hallelujah! All praises to the Most High.
Do not misinterpret my candor for cruelty but accept it rather as the compassionate cautioning that it is intended to convey.
Being withheld from this teaching, I believe, causes a greater grievance. It is a kindness to understand why some of the suffering and hardships that plague you could possibly occur, not just for offenses against God's people that happened centuries ago but rather days ago, Genesis 20:17-18 (and that only happened after Abraham prayed).
Don't pity us; fear our God.
Peace and Grace
The irony is, contrary to popular sentiment if we were to focus less on ourselves and our superficial similarities, and through humility, more on the fear of the Lord, we would have a more peaceful society as a by-product.
Non-Israelites must fear the Lord in accordance with the Word. That fear of the Lord is very much represented in how you treat his actual people, Zechariah 2:8.
Israelite, ensure that you fear God in keeping his directive to live peaceably with ALL people, and let the Lord handle the rest, Proverbs 25:21-22, Romans 12:8.
And finally, brothers and sisters, we can no longer treat grace like a trampoline in a room with a low-hanging ceiling and then wonder why we keep bumping our heads, Romans 6:1-3. Our God is gracious, but He is neither a coach NOR a toy to be played with. Love you. His Glory.
