In any case, I learned that my seatmate did not attribute any particular status to the Bible. She declared that she had read the Bible extensively, but she did not have any particular confidence in it. Indeed, as far as she was concerned, it was a collection of writings over a long period of time that was often contradictory. Indeed, she declared that she did not like the “wrathful” God depicted by many of the stories in the Old Testament. She noted that, when the Bible tells about how the Israelites conquered the Promised Land, God often told them to kill all of the people including even the women and children. Since she didn’t like the God depicted by these biblical accounts of history, she asserted “I have my own religion.” As we talked, it became apparent that her religion was a very tolerant view that allowed me to enjoy my truth while she enjoyed hers. Her religion was tolerant of everything, but intolerance.
When I shared my faith, I told her why Easter was so important to me. Jesus came to take the penalty for my sins and to die in my place for my transgressions against God. By accepting the gift of His selfless act on the Cross, God would view me as having the same perfect character that Jesus Himself possessed. The Bible is very clear that Jesus was sinless in all His ways and that He lived a perfect life. As a result He was the perfect sacrifice for me and everyone else who believed in Him, including my seatmate. I asserted, however, that the Bible teaches that to accept what Jesus has done on the Cross for us, we have to submit to His authority over our lives. My seatmate was very strong in asserting that she did not agree with me. “I’m not going to submit to anybody’s authority over me,” she declared. I frankly was disappointed by her attitude, but I run into it all the time on the part of people who do not understand the teachings of the Bible. Indeed, the Bible itself acknowledges that it’s teaching seem foolish to non-believers. The Bible also teaches that the Holy Spirit, a member of the Godhead, works in the lives of believers to help them understand the Bible. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can appreciate the Bible’s teachings and recognize how it all fits together. Of course, we can study the Bible for a lifetime and yet never fully plumb its depths.
What are we to say about the Biblical passages where the Israelites were instructed to kill even the women and little children? Do we have a heartless, cruel God? From a human perspective, it may seem so, but this is because we do not fully understand the nature of God. The Bible describes God as Holy. Indeed, the biblical references to God’s holiness permeate all of Scripture. Just what does it mean to be Holy? To put it simply, it means that God is separate and all together different from mankind. It means that God is perfect. He’s not just number one on a long list of standards; He is the standard. There is no one like God. The word Holy describes all of God’s attributes collectively. We can take great comfort, if we recognize that the standard does not exist outside of love!
If all of the above is true, what are we to make of the Bible’s descriptions of God’s wrath? First, we must define godly wrath as “anger with a good purpose.” God hates sin because it is the antithesis of Holy. God’s wrath is His response to sin because sin seeks to destroy the goodness of His creation and His people. Indeed, if God did not oppose evil, He would not be perfect! The biblical account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden describes how Adam and Eve were in fellowship with God during the time of their innocence. However, God in His love had given them free will. He had given them free run of the garden. They could do anything they wanted except for one simple thing. They could not eat the fruit of one tree. They no doubt had thousands of trees whose fruit they could eat. Who knows how long Adam and Eve lived in fellowship with God before they exercised their free will to disobey God by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree.
Indeed, we only measure what is limited and time was unlimited until the “death principle” entered into history. Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience introduced the “death principle” and resulted in God’s curse upon His creation. The good news is that God knew, before He began His creation, that His creatures would eventually exercise their free will to disobey. Because of this, He established a plan before the foundations of the earth to make a way for man to be reconciled to Himself. His plan involved the events of Easter that we have just celebrated.
The Bible teaches that by accepting what Jesus did for us on the Cross, we become new creatures in Christ. Old things pass away and all becomes new. Once we are transformed by receiving Christ’s gift, we become God’s adopted children. In the time of Christ, under Roman law, adopted children had more rights than natural born children. Indeed, fathers were actually permitted to kill their natural born children because of disobedience, but they were not allowed to kill adopted children for the same reason. Adopted children had special status because they were chosen.
Indeed, the Bible teaches that God has chosen those who have accepted Christ’s gift. He wants His children to take on His characteristics. Therefore the Bible instructs us to be holy and He (God) is Holy. How do we become holy? As we are obedient to God, He begins to cut away everything that doesn’t look like Jesus. A highly skilled woodcarver was asked how he managed to take a block of wood and create a very beautiful image of a German Shepherd dog. He explained that it was really rather simple. You began to work on the wood and cut away everything that didn’t look like the dog.
To put it another way, God works on us as a “consuming fire.” He allows us to go through experiences that are often difficult but refine and shape us. Indeed, silver smiths know that you can purify silver by heating it so that all of the impurities are driven out of it. If you heat silver too much, however, you can damage it. Silver is heated just the right amount to purify it when you can see your reflection in it. In the same way, God lets us go through the trials of life to refine us, but He limits the adversity we experience to the amount necessary for Him to see His reflection in us.
Given the importance of Easter in reconciling us to God, we should be highly motivated to learn all we can about it. Institutions of biblical higher education exist to provide in depth instruction regarding God, His nature, and His Word. Indeed, the goal of a biblical higher education is to help students understand how God works in their lives and provide them experiences that will enable them to look more like Jesus.