Post # 30
Reconciling God’s Two Sides:
– The Blessings and the Curses
– The All Loving God and the God who Punishes the Disobedient.
Can we understand God’s dual nature?
Can the general or stereotypical differences in the nature of men and women shed some light on the two sides of God’s nature?
Why do women tend to grasp more easily than men the concept of submitting to a loving God who says he longs to wrap his arms around us and comfort us. Women tend to talk and form relationships more easily than men.
Why do boys grow up doing mainly nonverbal things and revel in competitions of strength with each other. Their goal seems to be self-sufficiency and ability to defend themselves and their family. They tend to like violent movies and video games.
Does God love violence too? Rev 19:11-21 tells of the day of God’s wrath – He judges and makes war – His eyes are as flames of fire.
The enemy of God is the self sufficiency of human pride. Babylon was the epitome of human pride, with its beautiful architecture and famous hanging gardens. Nebuchadnezzar was punished for taking the credit for Babylon’s prosperity. After serving his very hard sentence as an animal in the wilderness for 7 years he repented and worshipped God from then on.
With some people their pride and independence are so fierce that it is quite a challenge for God to deal with them with the goal of their repentance in mind – to get them to realize that he is God and they are not – for them to humble themselves so he can lead them to repentance, and they will follow. According to Rev 19, it seems the leaders of this world’s system will lose the battle against the returning Christ and will only consider repenting after being killed and brought back to life. If that doesn’t prompt them to choose to repent then the Lake of Fire awaits them, but I believe God’s will is for all people to repent and subordinate their wills to his. There is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents.
This Post was written from notes taken during a sermon by Eric Warren of Pathway Community Church – audio on MP3 Here. (Scroll down to bottom of page for audio).
