Hey everyone, this is something random and unedited. It is a response to a conversation with a friend, however I believe there is truth in it so I wanted to share it with you.
Read Deuteronomy Chapters 30 – 32
– Deu. 32:1-43
…I see how God is a consuming fire. The destruction that He says will come, does come as I have read in Jeremiah before, and I also finished reading 2 Kings just this morning. I have been reading through the Bible in a year on my Bible App. I was just reading of how the Kings of Israel and Judah had forsaken God and lived for other gods. In 2 Kings 25 in tells of the Children of Israel being carried away by the Babylonians.
Through reading Deuteronomy 32:1-43 I see the relation of God as a consuming fire, to what you described as God’s way of clearing land in a Forrest fire. It kills harmful pestilence that would utterly destroy the land in if we’re not completely burned away. After a great fire it will appear that all is waisted, however we know that God makes beauty rise from the ashes. Life springs up from within the ground. After being stripped bare, much like in my own life, the Children of Israel had to be completely wiped away and realize that all the gods they were serving were dead. It was indeed the One and Only God who’s blessings and grace they were living under. It was then they could realize and repent of their sin. On a side note, God does prescribe destruction on his enemies, those who would say that they are mighty and great by overcoming the God’s children. For this reason God sends his wrath and destruction upon those who capture his children.
It is only fitting that God sought to end their rebellion, to give them a hope and a future, by sending His only son to pay for their sin. Yet not only their sin, but the sin of the whole world, including those who were his enemies. Because of His great love, God was stirred to compassion to send His son for His children, for you and I. To bear their wicked sin, my wicked sin, your wicked sin, He paid a wicked sin debt. But we cannot stop there and become discouraged. We must see the work that He completed by dying and rising back to life “from the ashes, of what appears barren and lifeless.” All because of His great love to bring them, to bring you, and to bring me into a personal relationship with Him. He did not pay that great of a price to only have half or part of us in a relationship. He did it for ALL of us. He even reveals this principle in the relationships He allows us to have here on Earth: they are not healthy, or really a complete relationship at all, unless both sides, both people, give 100% always. Unconditional Love.
That is the gospel, that is the Good News. In the words of Pastor Jeff Warren, “news is only news when the people have never heard it before.” A challenging question, Did the “Good News” change your heart and life when you heard it? It is not about changing the behavior, rather it is about the relationship that God desires to have with you. A life changed, is fruit of a new life from the ashes of our dead, sin filled, old life.
