Something caught my eye as I was reading in 2 Kings this morning. I recently listened to a sermon where a preacher said that "no where in scripture does it say that God loves the sinner but hates the sin." Initially, I took offense at his words. He quoted Psalm 5:5 The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all evildoers." What do you do with "You hate all evildoers?" Then I ran across Psalm 11:5 The Lord examines the righteous and the wicked. He hates the lover of violence.
A few days later I was reading Psalm 139, Psalm 139 is a beautiful Psalm...beautiful! It has this one little part that I typically read over quickly and don't think much about:) However, because of the sermon and the scriptures this time I had to pause, think, meditate and pray. What is it Mark, what is it in Psalm 139? Hear the prayer from the man who God said is a man after HIS own heart! Psalm 139:19-22 God, if only You would kill the wicked— you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me — 20 who invoke You deceitfully. Your enemies swear ⌊by You⌋ falsely. 21 Lord, don’t I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You? 22 I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies.
Please remember you are getting an incredibly short summary of my journey in thinking and praying through this. So in today's reading in 2 Kings we see Elisha sends a prophet to anoint Jehu as king. God's purpose in this is to annihilate the house of Ahab...annihilate ALL male HIS DESCENDENTS! This includes men, boys, infants...! Then verse 9 is where it hit me, God did the same thing to Jeroboam and to Baasha. Why? Because they were completely evil!
2 Kings 9:6-10 So Jehu got up and went into the house. The young prophet poured the oil on his head and said, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, Israel. 7 You are to strike down the house of your master Ahab so that I may avenge the blood shed by the hand of Jezebel—the blood of My servants the prophets and of all the servants of the Lord. 8 The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will eliminate all of Ahab’s males, both slave and free, in Israel. 9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10 The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel—no one will bury her. ’ ” Then the young prophet opened the door and escaped.
One commentator summarized it this way.
The prophet anointed Jehu and explained the purpose for which God had chosen him. Jehu was to destroy Ahab’s dynasty. This would avenge the blood of the Lord’s prophets and . . . servants which had been shed as a result of Jezebel’s influence. God would thoroughly annihilate Ahab’s line as Elijah had prophesied (1 Kings 21:21-22, 29), and Jezebel would also die as Elijah had foretold (1 Kings 21:23). Jeroboam’s dynasty and Baasha’s dynasty had ended violently (cf. 1 Kings 15:25, 28-29; 16:3-4) and so would Ahab’s. Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (1:555). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Think back over our readings in Deuteronomy and Joshua...how many times did we read that God was annihilating the nations before Israel. We know that they were being annihilated because of their great sins and their horrific practices, regardless, they were annihilated!
Deut 12:29 “When the Lord your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land,
Deut 19:1 “When the Lord your God annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses,
Josh 11:14 The Israelites plundered all the spoils and cattle of these cities for themselves. But they struck down every person with the sword until they had annihilated them, leaving no one alive.
Josh 11:20 For it was the Lord’s intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Josh 23:15 Since every good thing the Lord your God promised you has come about, so He will bring on you every bad thing until He has annihilated you from this good land the Lord your God has given you.
Josh 24:8 “ ‘Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You possessed their land, and I annihilated them before you.
As I read our passage this morning Psalm 5:5 came back to heart and mind...Psalm 5:5 The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all evildoers." I thought but Jesus loves sinners, HE spent time with sinners, he ate with them, HE communicated to them in a way that no RELIGIOUS PERSON every had...right?
Think about every encounter Jesus had with a known sinner...which ones did HE always have kind, gentle, gracious life giving Words toward? There is a word that you have to place in front of "sinner." I don't believe that you will find an exception to this..."repentant sinner." If you find one shoot me an email. In the next phase of my struggle God took me to the Holiness of God and the Cross...ALL MY EXPERIENCES THERE HAVE RESULTED IN A CEASING OF MY QUESTIONING...BEING SILENCED, FILLED WITH AWE, AS I BECOME MORE AND MORE AWARE OF THE AWE STRIKING NATURE OF HINT OF HOLINESS I AM ALLOWD TO SEE, HE COULD SHOW ME MORE BUT I DON'T THINK I COULD TAKE IT...IN THE LIGHT OF HIS HOLINESS I ALSO SEE HOW SINFUL I AM. THIS GIVES ME A CONTINUAL OPPORTUNITY TO CONTINUE IN REPENTANCE AND FAITH!
What was the question that the jailer asked in our reading in Acts? What must I do to be saved? Answer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved! If you believe unto salvation you will be changed, transformed, a new creature in Christ! If you believe unto salvation you will begin to experience an insatiable hunger for HIM, for HIS Word, for prayer and for fellowship with other followers of Christ!