God of Justice

As a family, we have been reading through the book of Exodus with an in-depth children's commentary.  The things that has stood out the most to us all is how God is a holy God of justice.  In today's church, we like to emphasize His love and mercy - which are relevant and incredible to think on - but we forget that God is so holy and spotless that He will not tolerate sin forever.  Sin has to be punished.

If you look at the Ten Plagues on Egypt, there is a distinction between the first five plagues and the last five plagues for Pharaoh.  The Bible states for the first five that Pharaoh hardened his heart.  He refused to listen.  God had been so merciful to him - yes, the five plagues had been an act of mercy.  The first five plagues were:

• The river Nile turned to blood
• Frogs coverin the land
• Lice covering the land
• Flies covering the land - except for where the Israelites lived
• The cattle and livestock struck down with a deadly disease - except for the Israeli cattle

Notice the mercy behind these plagues.  They were an inconvenience, caused disgusting stenches everywhere, and were highly annoying - and in the case of the cattle, threatened the Egyptians livelihood - but they did not threaten the lives of the people.  God was showing His might and power to Pharaoh without taking the lives of his people.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart.

Finally, after the fifth plague, there came a point when God would not tolerate Pharaoh's sinfulness anymore.  Even the royal magicians know that God was at work, and they entreated with Pharaoh to give in, but Pharaoh would not.  So God sent boils on the people.  Once again, not what one would call life-treatening, but this time it was an infliction on the people themselves.  A very painful infliction.  When Pharaoh calls Moses to take away the boils Exodus says that God hardened Pharaohs heart.  What a sad state to be in.  Pharaoh had chance after chance after chance, but God finally said, "That's enough.  No more.  I will not tolerate your stubborn sinfulness any longer, for I am holy."


If you look now at Revelations, you will see many parallels to the Exodus plagues.  The plagues that procede from the trumpets and the bowls of the angels are things like locusts, water turning into blood, giant hailstones, etc.  Sound familiar?  It should.  We are in the days of mercy.  God is allowing humanity this time to turn back to Him, but there will come a day at the end of time when the chances will have all been used up and everyone will reap the rewards of what they lived.

Some of this can be a bit hard to swallow, I know.  We wonder how God can possibly show mery one moment and justice the next.  Whatever happened to grace?  I'll wrap this up with a little story I read once that illustrates the three beautifully.

 Once, young James did something wrong and was found out by his father.  His father was sad and loved James very much, but the disobedience could not be excused.  "You did the wrong thing, James," his father told him.  "You must be punished for it.  That is justice."  James know he could expect three spanks for what he had done, so he was surprised when his father stopped after two.   At his son's puzzled look, Father said, "You have been punished, but I am letting you off the third spank.  That is mercy.  Now go to your room."  James had been there for barely three minutes when Father called him back.  "Lets go for an icecream," he said.
"Why?" asked James.  "I did the wrong thing."
"Yes, but you got justice when you got what you deserved, then I showed you mercy by not giving you what you deserved, and now I am showing you grace by giving you what you don't deserve."

Worst Analogies

These always make me laugh without fail, so I thought I would bring a little merriment into your day.  :P

Worst Analogies Ever written in a High School Essay

The following originally appeared as winners of a
"Worst Analogies ever written in a High School Essay Contest"
in the Washington Post Style Invitational"   

• He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
  Joseph Romm, Washington 
• She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
  Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station
• The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
  Russell Beland, Springfield
• McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup.
  Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring
• From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.
  Roy Ashley, Washington
• Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
  Chuck Smith, Woodbridge
• Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
  Russell Beland, Springfield
• Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake
  Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills
• Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
  Unknown
• He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
  Jack Bross, Chevy Chase
• The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
  Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring
• Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man."
  Russell Beland, Springfield
• Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
  Jennifer Hart, Arlington
• The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
  Wayne Goode, Madison, Ala.
• They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth
  Paul Kocak, Syracuse, N.Y.
• John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
  Russell Beland, Springfield
• The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
  Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria
• His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free
  Chuck Smith, Woodbridge
• The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
  Unknown

 

From http://www.etni.org.il/farside/analogies.htm