Intellectual Defenestration

An Intolerant God

For my own devotions, I just finished reading 2 Chronicles. I think that 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Chronicles are some of the hardest books in the Bible to read. There are so many things I do not understand, but chief among them is how God treats the godly kings.

Look at Uzziah, Hezekiah and Josiah. These kings instituted massive reforms and overhauls of Israel's religious system, in some cases observing aspects of the Mosaic Covenant that had not been observed since David, or even before. But, in each one of their cases, they did something toward the end of their lives that incurred God's wrath upon them. Uzziah attempted to sacrifice in the temple and was struck with leprosy, Hezekiah met with the Babylonian envoys, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, and Josiah attempted to prevent Necho, resulting in his own death and the subsequent enslavement of Israel by Egypt and then Babylon.

I guess that part of my problem is that I view God in the way that the Koran speaks of Allah. At the end of time, Allah will weigh each person's deeds and, if the good outweigh the bad, then they're free to enter paradise and enjoy their raisins. But that is not the picture of the God of the Bible, who, being inflexibly holy and without blemish, requires those who desire fellowship with him to be the same.

Meditating on this more, I don't think this is too far afield of personal experience. How many times must one commit adultery before a marriage can be destroyed? How many times must one commit murder before he/she is guilty of murder and deserving the appropriate punishment? At the geek level, how many bad lines of code are required to destroy an entire program?

The Christian hope then, and what I guess is the ultimate message of Kings and Chronicles, is that even the best of us are unable to do all that is required. Only through the sacrifice by and union with the one who was without blemish can we hope to have true fellowship with God.

August 28, 2003 09:06 AM