The average person who would
call himself a Christian in today's society has little, if any, regard
to the concept of God as an absolute terror in judgment and power. He would find these words in
Hebrews, for our God is a consuming fire, to be a complete aberration
to his notion of the kingdom of God and the one who is the
revealed ruler thereof. For the last century and a half
there has been a concerted effort from the kingdom of darkness
to further blind men to the true nature of God by picturing him
as some doting old grandfatherly type who daughters about hoping
that someone will aid him in his quest to rescue men from
their problems and anxieties. He is pictured as one who is
trying his best to get men to listen to him, and he is yet
wringing his hands in despair as they turn a deaf ear to his
overtures. This is the culture of smile, God loves you. Most
preachers emphasize the love of God without properly declaring
the God who loves. In doing so, they present a caricature
of him and leave men with the impression that he loves everyone
in the same fashion, and is basically powerless to make his love known
unto them without human aid and their willingness to receive
it. To be sure, he is indeed a God whose love is from everlasting.
His love is pure and steadfast. His love exceeds the human capacity
to understand. But his love is particular in
nature, and he is pleased to declare his particular love and
mercy to his elect against the backdrop of his absolute sovereignty
and holiness. The glory of God is discovered
in his complete separation from men and their natural state.
As Paul said, he only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to
whom be honour and power everlasting. He is holy and set apart from
men and will not even look upon sin, which all men are found
enslaved to by nature. God is angry with the wicked
every day. He will not at all acquit the wicked. He will by
no means clear the guilty. This understanding of who the
true and living God is, is in stark contrast to the model and
familiarity that is manifested in the conversation of most who
claim to be the followers of Christ, who think nothing of
addressing Him as if He was their buddy. The goodness of God is
displayed as we are brought to understand His holiness and hatred
of every evil way. The psalmist said, If thou, Lord,
shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. If the modern
soothsayers are correct, this message of scripture would make
no sense. On the other hand, that man who has been brought
to know the terror of the Lord is made to tremble in His presence,
knowing what a great mercy is displayed to those who deserve
destruction. Rather than the expectation of
his favor dispensed in a general way, that man who is convinced
of his own sin and the absolute justice of God in condemning
him forever is made to marvel in fear and reverence before
him when his kindness and mercy appears in the revelation of
the gospel. We often hear some of the modern mud-dobbers say
that God has a sense of humor, and then they go on to regale
us with entertaining stories and anecdotes purporting that
the Lord is ready to yuck it up with men. or at the very least
to be a good sport of allowing them to engage in all sorts of
foolishness which they might call worship. The scriptures
do speak of the Lord's laughter at the plight of the wicked.
The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is
coming. But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them, thou shalt have
all the heathen in derision. I will also laugh at your calamity,
I will mock when your fear cometh. This laughter which is spoken
of in the Bible has nothing at all to do with any lighthearted
merriment, but rather is an expression of derision or contempt which
is vested upon the stiff-necked rebel as well as the proud religionists
who go about to establish their own righteousness. When the Lord
Jesus Christ walked upon this earth, he did so with a heavy
heart. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He
was grieved by the unbelief of his own disciples. Then Jesus
answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
He was grieved by the sin which was laid upon him, even unto
death. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his
sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the
ground. He was grieved by the rejection of that nation into
which he was born. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. He has trod the winepress alone,
and is now enthroned as a conqueror, who shall laugh at the calamity
that befalls those who do not worship him in spirit and truth.
Imagine the terror that shall grip the heart of those who have
disregarded His law and disrespected His Only Begotten Son when He
comes to judge the quick and the dead. The only laughter that
shall be heard in that day is His.