Today I had prayer with a new friend, Thomas Owens. When we concluded, we talked a bit about "judgment" and how disasters are an 'example' of judgment. I have come to the place in my understanding of God that I believe that God isn't "sending judgments" against the earth for sin in the form of every earthquake, flood, famine or hurricane. My rationale for this is that God's wrath against sin was spent upon His Son, that God punished sin in His Son, and us in Him. If anything, God is not sending judgment upon an unbelieving world (yet), but rather is in a sense "judging the household of faith." (1 Peter 4:17).
Consider this scenario. There are those who claim that God "sends" sickness and disasters upon people, and they rationalize that God's absolute sovereignty requires that He has the ultimate say in whether those events happen or not. I would argue, however, that while God holds the veto power over the devil who is the author of sickness, death, disease, disaster and comes to steal, kill and destroy, God has also subordinated HIS authority to His Church, through His Son, who came to "destroy the works of the devil." In a very real way, the Church's mission is to carry on Jesus' mission of bringing the Kingdom of God to bear "on earth as it is in heaven." So when disaster, disease, death, sickness, and the other works of the devil are manifested on the earth, it is evidence of the church's failure to believe and fulfill Christ's commandment to carry the "Gospel of the Kingdom" to the uttermost parts of the earth. What does the Kingdom look like? It is anywhere the Presence and Power of God reigns. It is supposed to reign in you and me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Bob, I agree with your rationale for this topic. Jesus never caused someone to be sick, while He walked the Earth (At least the Gospels that I've read). So why would anyone believe that Father would do anything different? Jesus said..."I and the Father are one. God has not changed.
Post a Comment