Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 3 of 4

If Jonathan Edwards is wrong—as I am claiming—about God perpetually holding sinners in anger like “loathsome insects” “over the pit of hell,” then why does Scripture contain stories of God’s wrath burning, followed by fire from heaven (Num. 11:1), or intending to destroy the entire Israelite people (Ex. 32:10)?  Don’t these stories prove Edwards’ point?

First, let’s look at who Edwards was talking to.  His sermon was addressed to “sinners” being held “over the pit of hell.”  His goal in preaching was for these people to be saved from hell, meaning that if they were, they would no longer be in danger of the “pit of hell” because they would become part of the people of God, subsequently destined for Heaven upon death.  I guess the assumption would then be that God no longer “abhors” them and would not be holding them “over the pit of hell” anymore.

We’ve already seen how God feels about the worst of the worst, which effectively causes Edwards’ argument to crumble.  But what do we make of God’s angry acts of judgment in the Old Testament?  This brings us to an interesting observation about God’s displays of anger in the Old Testament, which is that they are often directed at His chosen people, Israel.  Before we get to why, let’s first understand how God felt about Israel.

“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

Exodus 4:22-23 ESV

“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 ESV

God chose Israel because He loved Israel, so much so that He called Israel His Son.  Sound familiar?  In part 1, we saw that Adam was called the “son of God,” a title associated with rulership and connected to the idea of being created in the image of God.  The way God looked at Israel was not so different from how He viewed Adam and Eve prior to the Fall.

It’s almost time to leave Jonathan Edwards’ view behind.  Before we can do so, we need to briefly address God’s anger toward Israel.  God Himself tells us one of the reasons why He gets angry.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.”

Deuteronomy 7:1-5 ESV

It’s important to note that the reason the LORD hated idols so much is because it demeaned and lowered humanity to be less than what we were called to be.  Mankind was called to rule over the animals, but instead they chose to bow down and serve idols representing the animals.  And in so doing, humanity as the image (the “idol”) of God forgot their place and chose to be ruled by the very things they were created to rule over.

And it is in this context that God’s anger first burns against Israel in the midst of the Golden Calf debacle.  Israel had screwed up many times prior to this (6 to be exact), but each time God simply provided for their needs and moved on.  In addition to the Golden Calf incident being the first idol worship Israel partook in after the Exodus, it was also their first sin after committing themselves to the LORD to be His people.

Then [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”  And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Exodus 24:7-8 ESV

Many of the stories of God’s anger or His judgment (which does not always include anger) in the Old Testament take place against Israel.  And these are often the stories that lead to a caricature of God’s character, similar to the description of God’s view of humanity by Jonathan Edwards.  But where these caricatures fall short is that they depict God as having a low view of humanity.  The Bible actually teaches that God has an incredibly high view of humankind.  The tragedy of the story is that we were all created to be kings and queens but threw it all away.  We are the prodigal son.

The other reason that Edwards and others fall short in their view of God is that they misunderstand the context of God’s anger.  His anger is displayed against Israel only after they have committed to be His people.  Like a husband who is jealous when his wife cheats, it is only fitting that God is angered when His people so readily drop their covenant promises.  Even in the New Testament, Jesus’ display of zeal was against Israel (driving the moneychangers out of the Temple), and His choicest words were reserved for the religious leaders.  Ananias and Sapphira died when they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11).  Others fell ill or died because they participated in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner (1 Cor. 11:30).

The takeaway for those in the church today should be to stand in fear (e.g. 1 Tim. 5:20).  Perhaps the magnifying glass we often direct at the world should be turned inward.  If we profess that we belong to Jesus, then the lesson that Scripture has for us is that God takes that profession very seriously.

So far, we’ve seen that God loves humanity and created humans to be His royal family, rulers of creation.  Throughout the Old Testament, humanity fails miserably.  In our final post in this series, we’ll look at Jesus, the “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).