This is a sequel to the last post on The Ways of God. I laid some foundations that are necessary to thoroughly understanding this teaching. You can read up THE WAYS OF GOD to catch on. God the Father is the most important revelation the new testament believer must catch. This revelation is the very core of the ministry of Jesus, while he was on earth and today in the lives of believers. The gospel has one objective which is to reveal to us the person and character of the Father.
A man may be introduced to a child as being his father but it takes more than an introduction to have a family relationship. The child will only begin to relate well with this person the more the child comes to know this person. My emphasis being on the Word PERSON. I posed some questions in the concluding part of my last post. We will use them as a line to guide us to our destination. God bless you as you undertake this journey of the Word with me. I celebrate you.
What drives God's divine actions is what we want to look at now. One might want to argue about the authority of this teaching so let me point out that it is on the authority of His Word. 1 Jn 4:8 tells us what I consider the most important revelation on God's nature, God is Love. Jn 3:16 says that God gave Jesus because He so loved the world. He didn't give Jesus because of the rocks, fish and birds, He gave Jesus because of you and I. He is Love and His love nature demands a revelation of Himself and His character to man on the platform of His righteousness so that by faith in this revelation man can become a participant in His divine nature.
One of the purposes Jesus came was to reveal the Father. Have you read His prayer in Jn 17? Do you also remember what He told Philip in Jn 14:7-9? Jesus is the express image of God’s person (Heb 1:3). The Law could never reveal the why behind God's judgments. All of His ways are righteous but the unrighteous man under the law could never correctly understand the rationality of God’s divine actions. For instance, in Ruth we see Naomi saying "the hand of the Lord is gone out against me..." when she was trying to convince Ruth to go back to her people. God didn't kill her husband nor her sons. She and her family stepped out of the locational boundary of God’s covenant. When God gives a decree or cuts a covenant with man, man chooses to play his part. Either way, there are consequences. These consequences are a product of order, blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience. What comes to man is a product of his choice. God does not inflict or afflict man. He is good and all He does is in love and for our good. Essentially, man will be a lost species without order.
This is the lesson: God loves man. He has created an ordered system with cause and effect, action and reaction. Man has free will to choose and we have the responsibility to choose well. Once you understand this simple fact life will take on a new meaning. You will stop the blame game and start being responsible for your choices. I will say this again:God is good. God is Love.
God loves man but He hates sin. In order for man not to fall into chaos He gave man the moral system but this system was only a band aid before the cure will be administered. Jesus is the cure and once we received Him by faith we came into order again. This is how God operates. Understanding that God loves you is the beginning of making progress. I know you have questions. I will like to read from you.
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