Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “The Flood”. A global destruction that the world had never seen before or since. Everything, everyone destroyed… all but for eight souls. Only 8 were saved. Only 8 went to the boat. All else scoffed, disbelieved, or tragically delayed. But no matter the reason, all but 8 did not go to the boat. All but 8 were destroyed.
What it is like for our Father of Love (OUR FATHER!) to so destroy? What is it like for a parent to destroy His children… His child? I guess it depends on what kind of Father you think God is. Is He a vindictive and malevolent Father (He’s out to “get” you)? Or is He charitable and benevolent? Is His “justice” retributive (He must have payment for all the wrongs done)? Or is His justice distributive (dispensed rightly, recognizing motive and the intent of the heart)? Does He delight in the destruction of the irreclaimably wicked? Or does He delight when truth and love prevail? Is it possible for anyone to destroy those they love? Is it possible for you to destroy your own child? Is it possible for this kind of destruction to be motivated by love? How best to explain this destruction?
Have you ever had a dog you loved? Most of us have. A dog that meant so much to you. Like one of the family. Yet what if that beloved dog develops cancer? What if, despite the veterinarian’s best efforts, there is no hope for the dog’s recovery? You know how that story must end. You must put the dog down. You must destroy your beloved dog. “Euthanasia” we call it. “Euthanasia” from the Greek word meaning “good death”. Isn’t this what happened to that pre-flood people? For mankind, “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Not a pretty picture. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So, God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12). Evil multiplied upon evil in that long-lived generation. Imagine the evil mankind could do if instead of ~80 years of life, mankind lived 10 times longer! The intensity of evil would be unimaginable.
So, what is a loving God, a loving Father to do? Our God will die to deliver you from your sin. This is love. Yet He will slay you rather than have you remain the servant of sin. This, too, is love. Love that will not leave you in the death-throes of your own sin. But will have you every whit clean from the sin … or put you out of your interminable sin-misery.
How did God feel about the sinfulness of mankind before the flood? He was “sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart (Genesis 6:6). Sorry or sorrowful… and He suffered in His heart. God is not happy about this. He is not vindictive or malevolent. He does not want retribution but would long to be able to distribute righteousness and true justice. That is the difference between retributive justice (to pay-back in-kind) versus distributive justice (to dispense what is right). That is the reason for the destruction of the irreclaimably wicked in the Flood. To do what was right for those hopelessly lost and desperately wicked people in that long-ago time. Destruction was the kind thing to do, the loving thing to do, the right thing to do. And the burden of it all is carried by our God, who still carries mankind and mankind’s sin. Still carries you and me and our sin to this very day. And this “carrying” is to His everlasting glory. Because this is the loving Father we have. A Father who will always do what is right… and praise His name for it.
With brotherly love,
Jim