The Wrath (love) of God

Burning Passion

In the name of truth, I must declare without repentance that the beginning and the end of God is love. The heart of God is love, the life of God is love, the blood of God is love. The love of God is an eternal flame, an unquenchable fire, that BURNS to the increase of that which is fruitful and BURNS to the decrease of that which is fruitless.

The love of God is a fire which purifies. It burns up that which is a deficit unto us and refines that which is a benefit unto us. The love of God, like fire, is a double edged sword. The love of God is capable of building up that which brings profit to us, and it is capable of tearing down that which brings debt to us.

The love of God seeks to improve the quality of our lives and our environment; the love of God seeks to make us better and profitable people. Sometimes however, what we call profit isn't really profit and what we call debt isn't really debt.

'Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ' John 15:2

When one studies the Bible with a heart of reverence, seeking for the truth to penetrate them, one notices a particular pattern. When a people sin against God or break laws up to a certain point, God's wrath becomes unleashed.

GOD AND MAN ARE TWO HALVES OF A COIN

It is good to remind us again that according to the mystical or spiritual Hebrew mind, God is not separate from man and man is not separate from man. You are your neighbor and your neighbor is you, even if you don't see it yet. Whatever you do to your neighbor, good or bad, will ultimately come back to affect you.

You cannot poison a garden from which you eat, and not expect that same garden to poison you. You cannot nurse and cultivate a garden from which you eat and not expect that same garden to nurse and cultivate you.

When the Bible says "they sinned against God", observe in detail the particulars of this 'sin against God' and one sees very clearly that the recipient of that sin or evil is man himself. Man's lies hurt him, man's greed hurts him, man's lust hurts him, man's anger hurts him.

In the second part of this post we shall investigate the bible’s definition of 'sin' and see what truth lies there. It is however good to say that 'sin' is 'anything' that upsets the natural harmony and order of ANY system. Whether this system be your human body, business, car, family, country, planet or solar system. A 'sin' is something that upsets balance and order. Upsetting balance and order inevitably produces suffering.

Whenever 'a sin' is being spoken of, we always see that the victim of that sin is always man not God. Why then is it written that they sinned against God? Is it God that I killed? Is it God that I stole from? Is it God that I raped? Is it God that I was stingy to or is it myself and my neighbor? The answer is both.

Remember, to the Hebrew mind, creator and creation are not two separate things; they are two halves of ONE thing. That is why Christ is the original Adam who has to subject himself to the suffering of the world for the mistake of his bride; creation; Eve.

As the rib came out of Adam and must reconcile with Adam; so also did creation come out of God and must reconcile with God. God is creation; creation is God. They are two 'distinct' things but are not two 'separate' things. In understanding God, we have to prepare to handle contradictions and paradoxes.

To serve and treat the creation with love is to serve and treat God with love. To serve and treat God with love is to serve and treat creation with love. Because God and creation are one and the same thing, to sin against creation, your brother or sister, oak tree or antelope, is to sin against God. That is why Jesus said:

'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ' Matthew 25:42-45

In the name of Jesus I would request for us to pause and meditate for a moment on this scripture. You can't love God without loving creation, you can't hurt God without hurting creation. You can't love creation without loving God, you can't hurt creation without hurting God.

To sin against creation is to sin against God, to sin against God is to sin against creation. They are not two separate things but two halves of the same thing. You cannot love God without loving yourself, you cannot love yourself without loving God. You cannot love God and yourself without loving your neighbor because you, God, and your neighbor are all ONE THING; even if you don't realize it yet. This is why Jesus prayed:

'“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ' John 17:20-21

What we do to our neighbors, we do to ourselves because our neighbor is ourselves. If Nigeria treats Benin Republic cruelly, if Nigeria plants seed of hatred and greed in their hearts. Would it be strange if Nigeria needs help tomorrow and greed and hatred is what they receive as harvest? This also applies in the inverse, what we do our neighbors we do to ourselves.

If I don't tell my children 'thank you' when they do things, if I don't 'forgive them' for their errors, if I only communicate to them by anger and shouting, won't they also reciprocate the same to me?

If I always hold deep grudges against my friends, if I always seek to hurt them in the same way I feel hurt, would I not be planting that seed in them? Except Jesus intervenes in that person’s heart and that person carries the burden of your sin, would he/she not reciprocate the same evil you did and more?

Can I plant an orange seed and expect an apple tree? Can a donkey give birth to porcupine? Certainly not.

What I give to others, I also give to myself; sooner or later it will come back. One can't just wake up to burn down forests and kill animals for no reason without hurting themselves in the long run. One also can't treat the environment with love and compassion without blessing themselves in the long run.

There is a popular proverb that goes: "Do not defecate in the place where you eat".

When one hurts their environment, their neighbor, themselves, one also hurts themselves, their neighbor, their environment; one also hurts God. Because everything is interdependent on everything, we can't just say 'Let me do what I like, it's my life'. That statement is actually false. Corona virus has proven that.

You being sick as an individual is not exclusive to you. Someway somehow, the poor treatment you place upon yourself will ultimately hurt your neighbor and your environment; it will ultimately hurt God. No one sees a small cancer tumor in their body and says "Awww, leave that cute cancer alone, it's just a baby on its own. It's living its best life, it doesn't affect me.".

If we, in our little human intelligence, know enough to take aggressive action against something so 'seemingly small', how much more the omniscient and almighty God? If one observes, the way God designed the human body to handle bacteria is the way he also handles sin in the world.

Whenever a person or a people begin to sin against themselves, their neighbors, God, just like the build up of bacteria in the body attracts the attention of brain, so also do excessive imbalances or disturbances in nature attract the attention of God.

As the brain issues white blood cells to neutralize and 'transform' the bacteria, so also does God issue his wrath, his passion, to transform a person and a people.

White blood cells don't 'kill' bacteria in the way we understand it. They simply 'break them down', absorb them, and transform them to useful energy in the body. White blood cells ‘baptize bacteria with fire’.

They 'end' the bacteria's life as a destroyer and help the bacteria 'begin' a new life as builders. They make the bacteria ‘born again’.

They don't END them in the way it is commonly understood. In this universe God has made, nothing 'dies' in the way we generally understand death; that is, a thing ceasing to exist. This is not so. Nothing ceases to exist, things are only converted from one substance to another. (See: The Passion of The Christ pt 1.)

A sunset is a sunrise and a sunrise is a sunset. A birth here is a death there and a death here is a birth there. Reality is not linear but circular, reality exists in cycles; everything in nature evidences this. From the shape of the planet, to our sleeping and waking, to the spinning of the earth's axis tell us that an end is a beginning and a beginning is an end.

Whenever God's wrath, judgement, correction is being spoken of, God's healing is also being spoken of. The same thing the white blood cells do to the body is the same thing God does to a person or a whole nation. This is why it is written:

'And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord , and He will be entreated by them and heal them.' Isaiah 19:22

I encourage us all to patiently study the books of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel. They completely opened my eyes to the heart and love of God and the 'purpose' of his judgement, his wrath, his love. In those books, time and time again, we see a people sinning against themselves, their neighbors; sinning against God. 'As a result of that', the love of God becomes unleashed upon them to 'help' them end their lives as destroyers and begin their lives as builders.

Study those books with this pattern in mind: "The people sinned, God sent his wrath, the people repented". Like was said earlier, who did the people sin against if not themselves and their neighbors? God is no tyrant. When he says 'a people have sinned against me', he is also saying 'a people have sinned against themselves'.

He is not some crazy guy up there, feeling all cool with himself to see people do whatever he says. Please, let us do away with such concepts and open ourselves to divine wisdom. God coming in the form of Jesus, and every other messenger who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the truth tells us that God is for us. It is we who are against him; we are against ourselves.

I sincerely do not know how people read those books and see an evil God. The evil seen in those books are the works of man himself and man facing the repercussions of his own evil actions. The fact that it is written that God initiates these repercussions does not mean man is not responsible for those repercussions. Those books are written with profound wisdom, one cannot read it like a newspaper.

Whenever God 'judges' a people, the outcome is always 'deliverance' from their sins; the outcome is always repentance. The hebrew word 'shapat', translated as 'judge', literally means 'to deliver'; 'to set free'.

Is it not interesting that the same thing that God said he was going to do to the Egyptians in the book of Isaiah, is the same thing Jesus said he was going to do the world:

'“I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; Everyone will fight against his brother, And everyone against his neighbor, City against city, kingdom against kingdom.' Isaiah 19:2

'“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ' Matthew 10:21

'“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; ' Matthew 10:34-35

When one does not approach the Bible with a heart of love, one either concludes God to be a monster or makes silly excuses in God defence. God does not need defenders, God needs to be understood.

Let me first of all remind us that this Isaiah 19:2, 'brother against brother', is the beginning of God's wrath. The end is Isaiah 19:22, which says:

'And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord , and He will be entreated by them and heal them.' Isaiah 19:22

Healing is always the point. Transformation is always the point. Reconciliation is always the point. In the bible, 'Egypt', 'Assyria', 'Babylyon' were used as SYMBOLS to describe people who live out of harmony with themselves, their neighbors, their environment, God. Israel was used as a SYMBOL of a people who live in harmony with themselves, their neighbors, their environment, God.

It does not literally speak of those nations which existed many years ago. By wisdom, by divine intelligence, the prophets of old used real historical accounts as a fabric to knit and disguise deep spiritual knowledge. The Bible is not as literal as many people think, I encourage Christians to seek after Jewish Rabbis and witness how they approach the Bible.

For those who would like some study resources, here are 3 podcasts to listen that will help expand our way of looking at the Bible: Rabbi Alan 1, Rabbi Alan 2, Rabbi Alan 3. Remember, Jesus was a rabbi, so was Paul, so was James. Feel free to reach out to me for added assistance and more resources.

If the prophets were speaking about literal Israelites and sons of literal Abraham, why did Jesus appear to people who were direct descendants of Abraham and say:

'They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. ' John 8:39

'You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.. ' John 8:44

This invites us to consider that there is a deeper significance to statements like "son of Abraham","son of David" and "son of the devil" than literal ancestry. Many people have made innocent mistakes and misinterpretations which we all are now paying for. That however is a whole discussion of its own which we shall investigate later. For now, see what God says about Egypt and Assyria:

'In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”' Isaiah 19:24-25

This same Egypt, Assyria and even Israel that God spoke of DESTROYING and making desolate time without number is the same Egypt, Assyria and Israel that God restores and calls his people. Indeed, as the white blood cells, break down, absorb and transform the bacteria, so also does the wrath of God transform a people.

IS IT GOD OR IS IT US?

Nonetheless, for a balanced understanding, it is necessary to know two halves of a coin; two sides of a story. Be afraid of anyone who tells a story only from the perspective of person A and does not tell you from the perspective of person B. Yes, it written that God sends his wrath to heal people who err but that is one half of the story. The other half is that man is corrected by his own errors and mistakes.

The tragedy man gives to the world is the same tragedy the world brings back to him. Let us remember every blessed day that you are your neighbor and your neighbor is you. Whatever you do to your neighbor you also do to your own self.

We shall investigate this further in the second part of this post. Click here.