September 13
September 13
God’s judgment and mercy work together to accomplish his redemptive plan for his people.
Every time I disciplined my children, I tried to talk to them about God’s forgiving and transforming grace. In the midst of what was painful for them, this was something I wanted them to hear, know, and believe. I wanted my sternness in the face of their disobedience to be tempered with mercy. They needed to know I was not turning my back on them. I was not throwing them out of the family. I did not regret that I was their father. And I surely wanted them to know that I was not withdrawing my love. At the same time, I wanted them to know that what they had done was wrong and unacceptable. I wanted them to know that I would never act as though wrong were right.
Your heavenly Father has always responded to his children with a combination of judgment and mercy. Let me clarify. God’s judgment of his children in the face of their disobedience and idolatry is not like the sentence of a judge in a criminal court. That judge is not eternally committed to the defendant. In contrast, because of his covenantal commitment to his children, God acts as a Father Judge. Even when he severely disciplines his children, he does not abandon his commitment of everlasting love and mercy. You see this clearly in the first chapter of Hosea. God commands Hosea to give his children specific names. These names are scary, to say the least. The first child is to be named Jezreel, because God is going to “punish the house of Jehu” (Hos. 1:4). The second child, a daughter, is to be named “No Mercy” (Hos. 1:6). The third child is to be named “Not My People” (Hos. 1:9). These names seem to be an announcement that things are over for Israel, that God has had enough and will turn his back on them.
Just when it seems as though all hope is lost, however, we read the first verse of Hosea 2 and encounter these words: “Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sisters, ‘You have received mercy’” (Hos. 2:1). Do you see the gospel message in these words? Our hope in this life and the life to come is never found in the perfection of our righteousness. On our best days we fall short of God’s holy standard and give him cause for judgment. Our hope is only ever in the strength of his unshakable covenant love. It’s that love that causes the biblical story to march toward the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He had to take our judgment on himself, so that we could be the objects of God’s mercy. No matter how stern God’s discipline might be, we remain the children of God’s mercy forever.