Time's Up!

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the Earth and its works will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:8-10

A question a lot of skeptics of the Bible like to ask is, "If God is loving, then why did He kill so many people in the Old Testament?" It is an understandable question since many people equate a loving God with allowing people to live in His world, forever, regardless of whether they acknowledge Him as God. Many people, unable to reconcile a God of love with a God of wrath, walk away from the faith or become atheists. The Christian Post has an article titled, "Faith Crashers: Why Does God Kill People in the Old Testament?" It says, "Contemporary Christians have had a difficult time trying to come to grips with what they find in the Old Testament, especially those narratives that recount the destruction of whole groups of people by the acts of God," said Thomas Howe, a professor of Bible and Biblical Languages at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, North Carolina. "Non-Christians capitalize on this and attempt to undermine our faith by calling into question either the goodness of God or even His existence." An area that is missed in this judgment of God is His patience. One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience. It is a byproduct of God's love. Those who judge God often begin and end their criticism of Him at the judgment He administers. Is that a fair assessment of God's actions? Let's look at some examples.

The Flood

Genesis 7:23 says, "Every living thing on the face of the Earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the Earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the Ark." It is easy to look at the results of the Flood, every living thing on the face of the Earth being wiped out, and conclude that God is not worthy of our faith since He killed an entire planet of living beings except for eight people. But, let's back up. Before the Flood, what do we read about God? In Genesis 6:3, God said, "My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years." God did not snap and flood the Earth like a short-tempered and abusive father. No, He allowed humanity 120 years to repent of their ways and change their mind. During this time, Noah built the Ark, and there is no record of anybody changing their mind. Just before the time ran out, God sent the animals He was saving to the Ark. What kind of spectacle was that to see? Yet, not one person repented of their evil ways. 120 years is a lot longer than the average person lives today. Therefore, God gave the people of the world more time than our current lifespan to turn to Him, but they chose to perish instead. How patient was He supposed to be? 

Pharoah's Army

Exodus 14:27-28 reads, "Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak, the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived." Through Moses, God destroyed Pharoah's entire army that chased the Jews after their release from slavery. Here again, people may wonder how God could destroy an entire army, which was just following the orders of their king. However, before this climactic ending to the Jewish Exodus from slavery, God tried multiple times to convince Pharoah to free the Jewish slaves. Exodus 7:3-4 says, "But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt, and with mighty acts of judgment, I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites." God would end up sending ten plagues on the people of Egypt to get Pharoah to release the Jews. Why did God do that? He did it because Pharoah's was stubborn and would not listen to the plea of Moses. God sent Moses to speak to Pharaoh on multiple occasions before and during the plagues. Pharaoh did not listen. After releasing the Jews, Pharoah's heart hardened again, and it cost him his army. Patience without a limit becomes enabling. God decided it was time to stop "enabling" Pharoah's stubbornness. 

The Lost World

Paul writes, in Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness ..." One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience. Nearly two thousand years ago, the wrath of God we see displayed during the Flood, the Exodus, and other places in the Old Testament was poured out on Jesus Christ on the cross. Instead of destroying humanity or an army, God destroyed Himself, in Christ Jesus, to take away the sins of the world. This act of love bought the world time for each individual to turn to Jesus Christ by faith and accept Him as their Savior. However, as it was during the days of Noah and during the Exodus, time will eventually run out. God gave the world 120 years to turn to Him before He sent the floodwaters. Pharaoh did not have as much time, but he had more signs and wonders given to him from God before the waters of the Red Sea ended his rebellion. Today, we are fast approaching the two millennia milestone since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How much time does the lost world have left before God says, "Time's up?" Only this time it won't be water that signifies the end, it will be fire. The love of God is displayed in His patience. Regardless of how you feel about God's destruction of the world or Pharoah's army, you will have to make a decision about Jesus Christ. As long as you have breath, God is patiently waiting for you to turn to Him. He does not want you to perish. However, the longer you delay, the closer you are to the end of God's patience. You may not like how He has treated others in the past, but you will not like how you will be treated in the future when your life ends or God's patience runs out, and you are found to be without the saving life of Jesus Christ indwelling you. Do not wait like the people in Noah's day. Do not be stubborn like Pharoah. Take advantage of God's patience and accept His offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. 

The Patience of God

"Love is patient ..." 1 Corinthians 13:4

In Genesis 18, The Lord was speaking to Abraham and told him that when He returned the following year Abraham's wife, Sarah, would have given birth to a son. The scriptures record that Sarah, who was listening to the conversation, laughed in disbelief at hearing she would have a child. Sarah was past the age of childbearing. When God asked why Sarah laughed, she responded with, "I did not laugh (Genesis 18:15).” After the Lord left Abraham and was headed to Sodom, He let Abraham in on His plans to destroy the city due to its wicked behavior. Abraham, who was determined to intercede on behalf of the people of Sodom, negotiated with God no less than six times in an effort to persuade the Lord to spare the city from destruction. In Abraham's final plea he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there (Genesis 18:32)." The time had come when God heard the cries of the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt. God decided to send Moses as His representative to Pharaoh in order to free His people. Moses asked God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:11)?" Moses continued to hesitate in responding to God's direction; claiming the Jews would not believe God sent him and that he was slow of speech and tongue. This culminated in Moses pleading to God, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else (Exodus 4:13).” Just after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the Bible records that the Israelites were afraid of God because of the thunder, lightning, trumpet sound and smoking mountain they witnessed. Therefore, the people told Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die (Exodus 20:19).” What do you see here? You have Sarah who, first of all, didn't believe in God when He said she would give birth to a son. Then she compounded her unbelief by lying to God that she didn't laugh. We all know that God would eventually destroy the city of Sodom, killing everyone aside from four people; Lot, his wife and two daughters. It is safe to say that God knew only four people would survive the destruction, yet He allowed Abraham to attempt to intercede for the city. God allowed Moses to try and get out of the plans God had for him. With each objection, God tried to reassure Moses with a miraculous sign. He even summoned Aaron to go along with Moses to give him some comfort. The Jews basically told God to shut up and stop talking to them because they were so afraid of Him and lived to tell about it. Moses would go on to continually be the mediator between them and God.

When you read all these interactions between the Lord and His people, what you see is God's patience on display. In His love for Abraham, Sarah, Moses and the people of Israel, God showed great restraint in not lashing out at any of them despite their unbelief and outright rejection of Him. Many people, Christian's included, have a difficult time reconciling the God of the Old Covenant with the God of the New Covenant despite the fact that they are the same God. They struggle with how a God of love could do things like destroying the entire city of Sodom. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." This is often times viewed only in terms of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross; that this act of love is the only definition of love. Therefore, how can God be the same yesterday and today and forever, when He is unleashing His wrath in various ways in the Old Testament? However, the Bible describes many facets of love. In 1 Corinthians 13, we see that the love of God is kind, does not envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude, does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, never ends, and, first and foremost, it is patient. After all, the greatest display of God's wrath, the global flood in the days of Noah (Genesis 6), came after God waited 120 years while Noah built the Ark. As 1 Peter 3:20 says, "God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water." God waited over an entire century for the people in the days of Noah to repent of their wickedness and they did not. This is God showing His love for the world by being patient. Even today, as Christians eagerly await the return of Jesus, the delayed return of Christ is more evidence of the love of God expressing itself through patience. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." The ultimate goal of God is for all to come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. The fact that Jesus has not yet returned is God showing His love through patience in hopes that His delay means salvation for the lost. God patiently endured Sarah's unbelief, Abraham's intercession, the doubt of Moses and the rebellion of the Jews because of His love for them. He now patiently waits for the lost of the world to come to faith in His Son, Jesus. This time He has patiently waited for much longer than the 120 years during the time of Noah. Genesis 7:16 reads, "And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in." God, not Noah, shut the door of the Ark when the flood waters came. Jesus is our Ark and the door to salvation goes only through Him. One day soon, whether through death or the final judgment, God will shut the door again. What side of the door will you be on? He is patiently waiting for your decision.