July 2,012

 

We have been told that the God in the Old Testament is an angry, vengeful God and that Jesus is loving and forgiving. So let's see from Scriptures in the Old Testament if YHVH  was angry and vengeful.

 

Deuteronomy 32:41

I will render vengeance to My enemies and will reward those who hate Me.

 

Nahum 1:2-3a-c

El is jealous and YHVH  revenges and is furious; YHVH  will take vengeance on His adversaries and He reserves wrath for his enemies. YHVH  is slow to anger and great in power, and will not acquit the wicked.

 

We do see from the above verses that our Creator YHVH  is vengeful, gets furious and is angry at times, as we all do. Yet, He is also slow to anger and great in power.

 

Did you notice who He is angry with or takes vengeance on and reserves His wrath for?

 

It is the people who are His adversaries, the ones who rebel against Him. It is never with those who obey Him.

 

I had someone tell me once that we either better obey Him or we are toast. Well, what's the other choice? The only other choice we have is that if we choose not to follow our Creator, then we will choose His adversary, the devil to follow.

 

Most of us would never knowingly follow the devil, but if we do not accept our Creator's gift of eternal life through His Son, then we are accepting the devil's gift of eternal death and that is not a good thing!.

 

YHVH does not force anyone to love and obey Him. He gives you that choice whether you want to serve Him or not. If you follow and obey Him, He will bless you. If you don't, you may be blessed in this life, but you will be cursed in the next life. He wants you to obey Him with a willing heart.

 

What is amazing is that we expect our children to obey us and when they don't, we tell them that they have to obey the rules as long as they live under our roof. If they don't listen, then they are punished for disobeying.

 

If we expect our children to obey us, then why do we have such a hard time understanding that we should obey our Father in heaven? If you want to live in His house, then you must obey His rules.

 

Maybe, is it because of rebellion? We do not want anyone telling us what to do or how to live, especially our Creator. Just like the song Frank Sinatra sang, "I did it my way."

 

Our Creator has already told us ahead of time in the Holy Scriptures what would happen if we do not obey. It's not or else. It's because He knows that evil will come upon us when we do not obey. He has only good plans for us to give us a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

 

But that is not our Creator's will for us. He wants to bless the socks off of us!

 

If you read Deuteronomy 28 and 29, it tells you what to do to get the blessings and what will happen if you don't obey.

 

I remember I use to love reading the blessings but would skip over the curses. Amazing that Christians want to pick and choose the verses out of the Old Testament, but they ignore others. Yet they say we don't need to keep the OLD Testament Commandments because Jesus did away with them at the cross. 

 

You can't pick and choose!

It's either all,

or nothing!

 

 

He does not take vengeance on His people. He may have to correct and chastise them, but He will never be vengeful with them.

 

If He does not change and is the same yesterday, today and forever, then,

 

does He still get provoked when we commit sin and put other things ahead of Him? I am just as guilty on this as anyone....

 

I believe that He does even today...

 

As His children, Hebrews 12 states that He disciplines His children. Therefore, it is because we belong to Him and shows He loves us. Do not our parents discipline us? We maybe chastised by Him, if we are His children, but we will never experience His wrath as His children. He will NEVER inflict His wrath on His children.

 

If we are not disciplined by Him, then we do not belong to Him as stated in Hebrews 12.

 

So, is our Creator YHVH our Elohim unjust in taking vengeance on His enemies and taking His wrath out on them?

 

No, a thousand times NO!

 

When a person lives in rebellion

against Him,

then He does judge them...

 

I'll let Romans 3:5-6 speak for itself:

 

Is YHVH unrighteous when He inflicts wrath? I speak as a man. By no means. For then how shall He judge the world? {with righteousness}.

 

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the Only Eloah,  

be honor and glory forever and ever. Amein!"

1 Timothy 1:17 

 

Shalom and abundant blessings,

Anna Constance