So how does one join God’s Kingdom?
Ever hear the saying: “Everyone wants justice, but no one wants a judge”?
God is just and sovereign. He is righteous. He has to judge, because that is who He is. But He is also merciful, graceful, and compassionate. How can He be merciful without impeding on His justness?
-He prolongs justice hoping for one to turn from their ways. -Because God is just, He has to act. There’s only so long he can prolong judgement
(example: He waited 400 years for the antiquity of the Amorites to be complete before judging them- Genesis 15:16).
-but mainly, He has taken the judgement upon Himself.
Ways God has Provided Mercy in the Midst of His Judgment
-The great flood. The flood was the judgement. God had warned the world for a hundred years before about what would happen. The door to the ark was always open- until the day it wasn’t. Anybody could have gone into the ark, but nobody did- except for Noah’s family. Mercy was available.
-The 10th plague on Egypt: Egypt was warned, as well as Pharaoh what would happen if he didn’t let the Hebrews free. Anybody could have gone into a house with the lamb’s blood painted on the door. And even the Hebrews, if they didn’t sacrifice their lamb according to instructions, they’d suffer the same fate as everyone else. God gives the judgement; God gives the mercy.
-The bronze serpent: The Hebrews had sinned and incurred judgement, but God offered a way out: “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” (Numbers 21:8). If one wants mercy, that’s the only way. They have to look at the serpent. God gives the judgement, God gives the mercy. (This is a fascinating study of how Jesus is the bronze serpent. Bronze withstands fire. Fire symbolizes judgement…).
-Israel/Judah’s fall to the Assyrians and Babylonians was no surprise. God sent several prophets from a hundred years before right up to the day, warning everybody and telling them how to escape God’s judgement. In fact, God warned them as far back as Deuteronomy (see chapter 18).
There’s Only One Way
God will judge the world. He has warned us for millennia. We can never be good enough because His standards of good are unreachable. One cannot stand before the Holy God and live.
Becoming a human, Jesus, accomplished many things, but one of the biggest things is for stepping in our place during judgement. He took the judgement upon Himself so we don’t have to. He is the door to the ark, the sacrificial lamb, the bronze serpent. He is offering a way, and we must take it.
-There is no other way because there’s no other judgement. It all comes from God: the judgement and the mercy.
Jesus: I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). You cannot get into the ark unless you take the door. It’s the only way. God is offering us His hand in mercy. He died so we don’t have to. The world will still be judged because He is just, but we will be saved from that judgement.