I will cause many peoples to be appalled at you, and their kings will shudder with horror because of you when I brandish my sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life. - Ezekiel 32:10
sometimes we are so used to the image of our loving God that we forget how fearsome our God can be. woe is he who is the object of God's wrath.
and what does God hate? sin. he loves us, but hates the sin; loathes it, abhors it - God cannot tolerate sin. God and sin are polar opposites.
these post-resurrection days, sin almost seems to bear no consequence. we are now objects of his grace, spared by God's mercy, yet we don't seem to appreciate it. if only we knew better God's intolerance to sin and his powerful wrath - i doubt there'd be as much sinners then. it is because we have taken his grace for granted.
fear of the Lord - is it still relevant? yes, i think it still is. i would suggest that it is exactly due the lack of it which is why people go on sinning so freely these days. if sin had warranted an instant death penalty, i don't think any of us would dare to sin. BUT, obedience out of fear should not be our focus.
we are privelleged to be living in post-resurrection days - we now revel in God's grace given so freely. but it is the terrifying severity of his wrath which magnifies his grace. he did not just forgive us a few petty sins. he has forgiven us countless death penalties, over and over and over and over again. what remarkable mercy. we cannot choose to ignore it.
the absolutely terrifying wrathful God, versus the infinitely wonderfully graceful God. they are the one and the same. to fully appreciate the graceful God, we need to fully comprehend the wrathful God. if only we fully understood the stark contrast, we would never live the same way again.
MY APPLICATION: to instill a Godly fear inside me. not to cripple, but to empower me to be holy for God. for it is only through this fear that i understand his grace.
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