So often people question how God – who is eternally the same – can be called a God of love since so much of the Old Testament is conquests. I think one of the answers to this question comes in the book of Leviticus.
In Leviticus 18, God is going over a series of laws for the Israelites to abide by. In verse one, He proclaims His authority to institute these laws by saying “I am the LORD your God.” He will repeat that phrase three more times throughout the chapter, making it clear that any objections to these laws will go unheard. He is Creator, He gives the laws that will be best for the children of Israel.
As He is giving these laws, He starts listing some things that were abominations. Offering children to Molech, homosexuality, and bestiality are listed and called perversions for the Israelites. But it is in this context that God gives a glimpse into His mind and the reason for the conquests that His children will be making.
“Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.”
“For all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled. Lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.”
“Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you and that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.” (Verses 24-25, 27-28, 30)
The reason the Israelites conquered the peoples they conquered was because those nations were committing great wickedness. They were living as an abomination before the LORD. God used these nations as a warning for the Israelites; if they would live the same way and defile themselves in the same way, they would also be destroyed. The land would “vomit” them out. Yikes.
Now, I get that all of this is the Old Testament, but there are still so many things we can learn.
God has always and will always have standards.
Even if you don’t believe in God, you will be held accountable to His standard. We will all stand before God on the Judgment Day and give an account of the deeds done in the body. For those whose wicked deeds have never been pardoned by the blood of Jesus, it will be a terrible day. Not because God isn’t a God of love — He is, which is why the earth is still standing (1 Peter 3:9) — but because our wicked deeds spurn the great love of God which was manifested in sending His Son as a sacrifice for those sins.
Even when we disagree with God’s law, He is God.
We live in a society that not only embraces, but actually honors those who live as an abomination before God. The New Testament (which we live under today) strictly forbids homosexuality. It is still an abomination before God (Romans 1:26-32, 1 Cor. 6:9-11). Just because our culture embraces it, or just because many “religious” figures deem it acceptable, doesn’t mean God has changed His mind. Even if we find it hard to stomach, or hard to abide by, that doesn’t mean it’s ok. We must live lives that are “holy as He is holy”. We must live lives that are characterized by what He deems holy, not by what our society regards as acceptable to abide by.
God loves His children and wants what is best for them.
He wants every one of His created to be with Him in heaven forever, and He’s made that possible by sending Jesus. However, we must accept Jesus (and His doctrine) if we want to receive the gift. We cannot take Jesus and leave His teaching at the door. We cannot accept forgiveness but deny holiness of life. Jesus is an all-inclusive concept. We receive His pardon when we humble ourselves before Him, repent of the wickedness our previous life has been characterized by, and live lives that are obedient to His will — not our own will.
It’s SO hard. It’s hard to seek God’s will instead of my own. It’s hard to make my will His will. But that’s what the Christian life is about, molding ourselves into His image. Letting the Potter mold our hearts and fix our broken pieces. It won’t be easy, because there are a lot of things that I may be tempted to hang on to. But ultimately, heaven is worth any changes we have to make or any things/relationships we have to give up. And if it doesn’t seem worth it at this point, spend time in the Word of God and grow in your love for Him. When we love God enough, anything He says we will do. Anywhere He leads we will follow.
God has always been a God of love, but people have always chosen their own paths. I am so thankful that God has given us Jesus, so that we can repent of our selfishness and receive forgiveness when we stumble or wander off. Should we choose to reject His great, precious gift, our guilt will be on our own heads, and it won’t be God’s fault. It will be ours.
