God’s Goodness and Severity

God’s goodness can be clearly seen in Exodus 20:6. “But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My command­ments.” His severity can be seen in verse 5: “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” And in Psalm 90:11, “Who knows the power of Your anger and Your fury, as the fear of You requires?” Who really knows it and its seriousness? For the most part we are inclined to believe that God, who has a father’s heart that is more tender than a mother’s (Isaiah 49:15), is not so ter­ribly strict and not like a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29.

God does not desire any sinner’s death. His sorrow over every one who chooses the way of perdition is greater than ours. God is bound by the laws which He Himself created and which are in effect forever.

Disobedience to the laws of God started in the heart with a thought about greatness, about rising above the stars of God. Isaiah 14:13. God’s anointed cherub (Ezekiel 28:14) broke God’s holy law with this thought. The anointed cherub—with all his beauty—chose to follow the evil law. Through the law of development, “what you sow, you must also reap,” he came to a point where he could not turn back. He had become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and unrighteousness was found in him. Ezekiel 28:15. The evil will unfold more and more until the day when the man of sin, the son of perdition, will take his seat in the temple of God, “showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. It was not a lack of God’s love and goodness that led to his perdition, but rather that he chose to use his free will to exalt himself.

God’s goodness is without end. No matter how deeply a person may have fallen, His fatherly embrace is open to receive him if he “wills” to return to the Father’s house. Luke 15:20-24.

God’s goodness and His severity are exercised according to the laws which He Himself has established. As long as we live in the dis­pensation of grace we can receive forgiveness for fornication, covet­ousness, idolatry, etc. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. But we cannot receive grace to have these same sins forgiven when the wine of the wrath of God is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. Revelation 14:10. Those who were disobedient in Noah’s days re­ceived an opportunity to hear God’s goodness in the kingdom of the dead (1 Peter 3:18-20), but those who are disobedient in these days have their last opportunity in this world. Luke 16:22-31.

God’s goodness comes to an end when one “will” not hear and will not pay attention to God’s outstretched hand. Proverbs 1:24-33. God’s grace is still abundant and we still live in the time when God’s goodness leads us to repentance. However, there will come a point in time when the strength of God’s wrath will be poured out without grace. Revelation 14:9-12.

Oh, how serious it is to understand your own time and God’s grace working in your life! Esau cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry when he realized he had missed out on the blessing. “Have you only one blessing, my father?” Genesis 27:30-38. Does God, in His goodness, not have a blessing reserved for us if we have not taken it as seriously as we should have? No! Because He has bound Himself by His own laws of love which He gave to us in their perfection, in and through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. If we are indifferent to this great sacrifice of God which He sent for the sake of sin, we exclude ourselves from God’s saving grace. God cannot—according to His own laws of love—alter an individual’s fate, even in the dispensation of grace, if he voluntarily chooses the way of disobedience.

Jesus started His ministry by saying, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15. He came full of grace and truth and offered all God’s goodness to mankind, but only a few wanted to hear and be­lieve. The time of grace is soon over. Jesus lets it come to a point to­ward the end of this dispensation where every individual is locked into his lawful development. “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still.” Revelation 22:11. It sounds hard and merciless, but the begin­ning of the harvest has come; sin has matured. “He who is filthy, let him be filthy still.” They have not availed themselves of the death of Christ to resist sin. Temptations have entered into their hearts and as a result they have become impure. However, those who are righteous and holy continue to increase in the good.

Behold, therefore, the goodness of God, and keep to His goodness in humility and thankfulness, so that you do not end up under God’s severity and the fury of His anger!