God Against Us
Read Isaiah 63:7-14.
Well, that title is certainly provocative! We live in an age of the church where we hear (and preach) constantly that God is on our side, that God is always for us, that God is not against us. It's a "feel-good" Gospel, but it's not the Biblical Gospel. It's only part of the story.
Right there in the text from Isaiah, in one of those passages we don't read often because we don't like what it says, we're told the people rebelled. God's people didn't do what God called them to do. They didn't live the way God called them to live. They rebelled against God and all of God's goodness and they stopped being God's people by their behavior. So, according to the prophet (who, we believe, was speaking under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit), what happened? Here it is in Isaiah's own words: "So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them" (7:10).
To me, that's a frightening verse. God fought directly against those who rebelled? He became their ENEMY, not their friend (and not their frenemy). We can choose to live in such a way that will cause God to be on the other side. Is that not frightening?
You see, God does love us. God desperately loves us. God has done everything he can to show us that love, including coming in Jesus and dying on the cross. And, if that weren't enough, he rose from the dead. He died so that we could be forgiven. He rose so that we could live forever. And it's all a free gift, but it's a gift we have to receive and then live out. There is a way of life connected to the gift. God asks us to respond to his love with love of our own, love demonstrated by the way we live.
God against us is a frightening idea. But, thanks be to God, his desire to be "for" us is stronger than his "need" to be against us. God may be a fearsome enemy, but he is an even more formidable friend. That's why Paul could say, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).
I choose that side. I pray you do, too.
Well, that title is certainly provocative! We live in an age of the church where we hear (and preach) constantly that God is on our side, that God is always for us, that God is not against us. It's a "feel-good" Gospel, but it's not the Biblical Gospel. It's only part of the story.
Right there in the text from Isaiah, in one of those passages we don't read often because we don't like what it says, we're told the people rebelled. God's people didn't do what God called them to do. They didn't live the way God called them to live. They rebelled against God and all of God's goodness and they stopped being God's people by their behavior. So, according to the prophet (who, we believe, was speaking under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit), what happened? Here it is in Isaiah's own words: "So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them" (7:10).
To me, that's a frightening verse. God fought directly against those who rebelled? He became their ENEMY, not their friend (and not their frenemy). We can choose to live in such a way that will cause God to be on the other side. Is that not frightening?
You see, God does love us. God desperately loves us. God has done everything he can to show us that love, including coming in Jesus and dying on the cross. And, if that weren't enough, he rose from the dead. He died so that we could be forgiven. He rose so that we could live forever. And it's all a free gift, but it's a gift we have to receive and then live out. There is a way of life connected to the gift. God asks us to respond to his love with love of our own, love demonstrated by the way we live.
God against us is a frightening idea. But, thanks be to God, his desire to be "for" us is stronger than his "need" to be against us. God may be a fearsome enemy, but he is an even more formidable friend. That's why Paul could say, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).I choose that side. I pray you do, too.
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