As you know, the LORD has revealed His names throughout scripture, Those holy names give us an understanding of who He is, His character. I would like to study an unusual example of one of these revelations.
Moses made a request of God. He asked God if he could see His glory. The LORD allowed all His goodness ("tuv/tove"- to be beautiful, pleasant, to do good to someone, to confer benefits, be favorable, joyful, good, pleasing, delightful, act rightly) to pass before Moses. The LORD told Moses that His goodness would pass before him while the LORD proclaimed His name, saying to Moses, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" * (Ex. 33:18-23). There was a three-fold covering to protect Moses from the consuming glory of God as He passed by: He placed Moses in the cleft of the Rock, covered him with His hand, and proclaimed His name of His goodness as He passed by. On another occasion, the LORD again passed by Moses, proclaiming the name of the LORD (Ex. 34:5-8). This is what the LORD proclaimed as He passed:
Moses made a request of God. He asked God if he could see His glory. The LORD allowed all His goodness ("tuv/tove"- to be beautiful, pleasant, to do good to someone, to confer benefits, be favorable, joyful, good, pleasing, delightful, act rightly) to pass before Moses. The LORD told Moses that His goodness would pass before him while the LORD proclaimed His name, saying to Moses, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" * (Ex. 33:18-23). There was a three-fold covering to protect Moses from the consuming glory of God as He passed by: He placed Moses in the cleft of the Rock, covered him with His hand, and proclaimed His name of His goodness as He passed by. On another occasion, the LORD again passed by Moses, proclaiming the name of the LORD (Ex. 34:5-8). This is what the LORD proclaimed as He passed:
"And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity (perversity, depravity, guilt, to bend, twist, distort, make crooked) of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation." So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." Ex. 34:6-8
As we can see above, the character of all the goodness of God includes the readiness to forgive in the face of sincere repentance (Rom. 2:4), freely applying grace and mercy, but never allowing unrepentant guilt to go unanswered in order to insure justice. However, part of the quality of His goodness is "longsuffering". He will wait for as long as possible to judge. Peter puts it this way:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise (judgment, see v. 3-7))...but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
2 Pet. 3:9
2 Pet. 3:9
Throughout scripture, in the fullness of all His goodness, longsuffering, mercy, and grace, the LORD witnessed His name (as proclaimed above) to the greatest "villains" in the Bible. As the Just Judge, He sent His witnesses to these people before the moment of their destruction to present them a choice. Here are some examples:
When the time of the fulfillment of the prophetic promise made generations before to Abraham was at hand to deliver His people out of slavery, The name of all the goodness of God in the person of Moses, passed repeatedly before Pharaoh. Moses was not only the prophet of God, but he was someone with whom Pharaoh was acquainted, having grown up in the same royal household. Pharaoh disregarded Moses even in the face of many confirming signs and wonders.
King Saul, full of fear and disobedience, was given to pass before him both Samuel and David to witness the truth of God's name of all His goodness. David was an example before the king of one who trusted in the name of the LORD (1 Sam. 17:45). David did not have fear in the face of men (even big ones!), and even ministered to King Saul in anointed music to relieve him from the torment of evil spirits. Saul did not receive the testimony of these witnesses.
King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel ("Ba'al exalts, Ba'al is husband to, unchaste") who commanded the worship of the blood thirsty, abominable false-god Ba'al in Israel, and persecuted to death the prophets of God, had the witness of all the goodness of name of the LORD before them in the person of the great prophet Elijah ("My God is Jehovah"). They did not heed the witness of Elijah that God had passed before them.
Haman, the great villain in the Book of Esther, who planned genocide against all of the Jews, was given a witness in the goodness and truth of God's name. These witnesses were his wife, Zeresh ("gold"), whose advice he often sought and trusted, and his counsel of wise men. They told Haman:
"...If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him." Est. 6:13
However, Haman by this point, had become consumed by his hatred and resentment of Mordecai and the Jews, and did not heed all God's goodness as it passed by.
Herod the Great was already a murderer of his father-in-law, several of his wives, and two of his sons. God sent witnesses before him, in the form of wise men, to tell Herod of the birth of a new King of the Jews (Jesus). These wise men revealed to Herod that the appropriate response to this birth was to seek out and worship this child, in the same manner as Moses bowed and worshipped before "all My Goodness". Herod, immediately connected the birth of this child with the coming of the Messiah, and sought the child out, not to worship Him, but to murder Him. He murdered the children of Bethlehem and the surrounding area in this plan (Mt. 2:1-18). The opportunity was given to Herod to come before the Messiah, but he refused it. One of Herod's successors, Herod Antipas, was given the same opportunity to know the goodness of God through John the Baptist, who bore witness to the Light, the Messiah, and called Herod to repentance. Herod killed John as a present for his beguiling step-daughter (Mk. 6:17-28). Shortly thereafter, Herod Antipas was allowed to meet and speak to the Goodness of God, Jesus. However, as the Goodness "passed by", He was abused and mocked in Herod's court (Lk. 23:6-11).
The son of perdition, Judas Iscariot (consider oneself equal to, to claim for oneself the rank, nature, authority which belongs to God), heading towards his own terrible destruction, was given the gift of all God's goodness in the opportunity to walk with Jesus for three years during the time of Jesus' ministry. Judas betrayed the Person of the Goodness of God, and chose coins and death instead.
Pontius Pilate was about to become notorious in history. Before that however, he was given the opportunity to come face to face, and share a conversation with Jesus. After meeting all God's goodness, he still consented to His death for political expediency, symbolically washing his hands of any guilt for Christ's crucifixion. However, after "all My goodness" passes by, but is rejected, iniquity is not so easily washed away as with ordinary soap and water.
Not all of the reactions to God's goodness were negative in scripture. Many lives, even the lives of foreign pagan kings, were changed dramatically because of the witness of the goodness of God that the LORD placed before them. One example is the extreme effort that the LORD expended, including the sign of the resurrection of the dead, to show His goodness to the evil people of Nineveh, which brought them all to repentance. Even His prophet had trouble dealing with all of the goodness that God had extended to these sinful people. God said to him:
"And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left-and much livestock?" Jonah 4:11
The Just Judge of Israel, in order to perform perfect justice, extends all His goodness, with His mercy, grace, truth, forgiveness and longsuffering to man, including evil men. In some cases, it may be their last opportunity to be rescued from the destruction racing towards them. God told Moses that it is His omnipotent character to decide to offer His goodness, even to the most evil of men*. It is up to man whether or not he will accept it. Psalm 107 says:
"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (v. 20-21).
Our Father, in His perfect justice, causes all His goodness to pass by each of us.
Herod the Great was already a murderer of his father-in-law, several of his wives, and two of his sons. God sent witnesses before him, in the form of wise men, to tell Herod of the birth of a new King of the Jews (Jesus). These wise men revealed to Herod that the appropriate response to this birth was to seek out and worship this child, in the same manner as Moses bowed and worshipped before "all My Goodness". Herod, immediately connected the birth of this child with the coming of the Messiah, and sought the child out, not to worship Him, but to murder Him. He murdered the children of Bethlehem and the surrounding area in this plan (Mt. 2:1-18). The opportunity was given to Herod to come before the Messiah, but he refused it. One of Herod's successors, Herod Antipas, was given the same opportunity to know the goodness of God through John the Baptist, who bore witness to the Light, the Messiah, and called Herod to repentance. Herod killed John as a present for his beguiling step-daughter (Mk. 6:17-28). Shortly thereafter, Herod Antipas was allowed to meet and speak to the Goodness of God, Jesus. However, as the Goodness "passed by", He was abused and mocked in Herod's court (Lk. 23:6-11).
The son of perdition, Judas Iscariot (consider oneself equal to, to claim for oneself the rank, nature, authority which belongs to God), heading towards his own terrible destruction, was given the gift of all God's goodness in the opportunity to walk with Jesus for three years during the time of Jesus' ministry. Judas betrayed the Person of the Goodness of God, and chose coins and death instead.
Pontius Pilate was about to become notorious in history. Before that however, he was given the opportunity to come face to face, and share a conversation with Jesus. After meeting all God's goodness, he still consented to His death for political expediency, symbolically washing his hands of any guilt for Christ's crucifixion. However, after "all My goodness" passes by, but is rejected, iniquity is not so easily washed away as with ordinary soap and water.
Not all of the reactions to God's goodness were negative in scripture. Many lives, even the lives of foreign pagan kings, were changed dramatically because of the witness of the goodness of God that the LORD placed before them. One example is the extreme effort that the LORD expended, including the sign of the resurrection of the dead, to show His goodness to the evil people of Nineveh, which brought them all to repentance. Even His prophet had trouble dealing with all of the goodness that God had extended to these sinful people. God said to him:
"And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left-and much livestock?" Jonah 4:11
The Just Judge of Israel, in order to perform perfect justice, extends all His goodness, with His mercy, grace, truth, forgiveness and longsuffering to man, including evil men. In some cases, it may be their last opportunity to be rescued from the destruction racing towards them. God told Moses that it is His omnipotent character to decide to offer His goodness, even to the most evil of men*. It is up to man whether or not he will accept it. Psalm 107 says:
"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (v. 20-21).
Our Father, in His perfect justice, causes all His goodness to pass by each of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment