Our View of God Challenged

“Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

Job 2:10

Job had lost all his possessions. His ten children had been murdered. While in this destitute state he also had his health taken from him. His view of God was challenged to its core even further when his wife abandoned any notion that God was good or loved him and told him to “curse God and die.”

It is not uncommon to hear unbelievers challenge the goodness and love of God by pointing to the many tragedies and the horrendous suffering occurring around the world. We are particularly challenged when it is close to home. The years of severe drought in vast areas of eastern Australia, bush fires and floods in other places have served to bring a lot of pain and suffering to many people. What is particularly overpowering in emotional pain is when crops are near harvest and they are wiped out by flood, fire or frost. Months of hard work, financial expense and high expectations wiped out in a moment. Christians who experience this would have a strong sense of how Job felt.

In such a situation our view of God is severely challenged. We may be inclined to doubt God’s goodness and His love in such times but the remedy and response is readily available when we reflect on the cross of Jesus. John wrote, “By this we know [God’s kind of] love, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). Paul wrote, “God demonstrates His own [kind of] love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Job did not understand why he was enduring such pain and loss. His friends made matters even worse and more confusing. But even though he was at a loss as to why he was in this situation he was not at a loss as to the nature of God. “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (Job 1:22) and “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).

Paul wrote, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” And, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:18, 28). God’s aim is to conform us to the image of His Son (v 29). What we experience is the expression of God’s goodness and love to achieve that end even though it may be painful at times.

When He Comes

Jesus said to His disciples, “You shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Matthew 23:39

Jesus told His disciples on at least three occasions that He would die and rise again. He now says to them that this will be His last Passover with them until He returns. John also records Jesus telling His disciples that He is going away but that He would return for them (John 14:2-3). Now that His departure is imminent the disciples have a couple of questions for Him: When will He return and what sign will accompany His return?

Matthew 24 and 25 record Jesus’ response. He doesn’t give a date but He does describe conditions in Israel and the world more generally. The only date He relates is that which Daniel informs us is mid-tribulation (24:15 cf. Daniel 9:27).

The conditions during the first half of the tribulation are recorded in 24:5-8. They are similar to what we are experiencing now but during the tribulation they will be more intense and more frequent. It is possible that we are observing the prelude and build up to these conditions. Just as Noah warned people, we have God’s faithful messengers today warning people. Sadly most people reject the warning, as they did Noah’s warning, and carry on in ignorance (Matthew 24:37-44). Fortunately God is still rescuing people who will receive His word. They will be delivered just like Noah and his family.

At the mid-point of the tribulation the Antichrist will stand in the newly built temple in Jerusalem and declare himself to be the Christ (24:15). From that day Israel will suffer unprecedented persecution (24:16-21). The world will be at war and Jesus says that war would end in annihilation of all mankind if He did not intervene (24:22). In order for God to fulfil His covenant with Abraham and King David, Israel must survive. This is why Satan has repeatedly attempted to destroy Israel. This last attempt will also fail.

The only sign that will precede Christ’s return is given to us in 24:27 & 30. This will be at the end of the tribulation and reminds us of Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul saw his experience as foreshadowing Israel’s experience when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 15:8).

Why the Rainbow?

“And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Genesis 9:12-17
rainbow

The sign of the rainbow was given to remind us of the Great Flood. This flood was God’s means to destroy all men – except for those who trusted Him for salvation by entering the ark. After saving Noah and his family in the ark, God instituted the rainbow as a sign to remind all mankind that the Flood was a real historical event, that Noah and his family were saved via the ark, and that such a Flood would never happen again.

So the rainbow is a reminder of the flood judgment; and a symbol, or picture, of God’s covenant promise not to flood the world again. The ark is a picture of the salvation offered to us through Jesus Christ. The rainbow is a reminder of God’s judgment and His grace. In God’s Word we are warned of the coming judgment of fire, which will be the second worldwide judgment of all who refuse to accept God’s free gift of salvation.

Rainbow

Whenever you see the colours of the rainbow, remember that it is only through Jesus Christ that you can have eternal life free from sin!