The steady, unrelenting approach of Him

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to Him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” Joshua 7:19

We cannot hide from the LORD God.

And His love will stop at nothing to bring us to repentance.

Confession is an act of worship, acknowledging that He is God and I most certainly am not.

And even under the pressure of leading a tumultuous multitude in conquering the Promised Land after an unexpected loss, and even though the consequences were fierce, Joshua was able to approach the thief with kindness, and tenderly call him “my son.”

This moment, the stoning of Achan and his daughters and his animals, is hard. But a clear picture of not to mess with the Living God who detests sin. Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, taking this holy reconciliation upon Himself.

Yesterday I read aloud to my class my selected monologue from Lewis, modeling proper tone and pause and poise, “who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of man, and His compulsion is our liberation.”

Till on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on him was laid.

Amen.

Free, free indeed.

The great mystery

And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. Revelation 8:17

 Today I was reading Isaiah, after Isaiah describes the saving work of Christ the Messiah, there is a promise of God:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes^[an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

 “This is like the days of Noah to me:
    as I swore that the waters of Noah
    should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
    and will not rebuke you.
 For the mountains may depart
    and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
    and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

And somehow there is this promise, I will not be angry with you. His wrath was poured down upon His beloved One, who bore the iniquities of us all.

And the great mystery is that The LORD God, Creator of the Universe, will stop at nothing to receive glory and honour from all. And indeed the mountains may thrown into the sea and a third of the sea shall be turned to blood. But His steadfast love shall not depart.

And John was told to prophesy, to remind us yet more time about many peoples and nations and languages and kings–a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

His steadfast love shall not depart from you,
    and His covenant of peace shall not be removed,