God\'s Wrath and Grace

God displays his justice and grace.
Judges 2:11-23
“The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them…Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them” (vs. 12-14).

The book of Judges seems like a sitcom that is continually in rerun mode. Over and over again, the story remained the same. While the names and circumstances change, the storyline repeats itself. Israel rejected God and embraced the idolatrous worship of the surrounding nations. God would bring judgment upon the people for their sins. They would cry out to God for deliverance, and God would send a judge (a military, political, and religious leader) who would lead the nation in battle and deliver them from their oppressors. The people would then enjoy a time of peace and prosperity. Hit repeat.
          No matter how often the story would repeat, the people would not learn their lesson. The lure of idolatry and the desire to be independent of God would be too much. But the stories are more than just the narrative of the religious and political cycles that would characterize the nation of Israel. The stories are a revelation into the character and nature of God.  
First, the cycles of sin, judgment, repentance, deliverance, and peace are a reminder of God’s justice. God does not leave sin unpunished. Throughout the book, we repeatedly find that the people would forsake the worship of God and do evil in the sight of God by worshiping Baal. But God does not tolerate any competition or divided loyalties. God is a God of justice and holiness, and he will bring discipline and judgment upon those who sin against him. For God to leave sin unpunished would mean that he is accepting and approving of evil. However, God is holy, untainted by sin. Consequently, he cannot be associated with anything polluted with sin. Furthermore, his rightness and justice demand that when his moral law is broken, the violator must be punished. Therefore, when Israel rebelled, retribution was required.
          Second, the cycles reveal the mercy of God. Even though his righteousness demanded punishment, his mercy offered forgiveness if there was genuine repentance. The remarkable part of the story is that God readily forgave them time and time again. No matter how often the people failed, there was still the offer of grace when people returned to God.
        The cycles of Judges serve as a reminder of the importance of keeping grace and judgment, forgiveness and divine wrath in perfect balance. To overemphasize one to the exclusion of the other distorts the character of God, which is ultimately at the heart of idolatry. Idolatry is not just worshiping a different god (little g); it is also distorting God to conform to our thinking and our image. Throughout the book of Judges, we are reminded that God is God, and he does not tolerate any competitors, either from other religions or from our own distortion. On the one hand, to embrace or tolerate any other god is to face his divine wrath. On the other hand,  we are to love and accept him for who he is and who he claims to be. Then we can enjoy the blessing of his grace.
          In our Christian life, we cannot gloss over sin. We cannot excuse it as a “simple mistake.”  To do so is to place ourselves at the peril of divine judgment. That is the reason we are to fear God. However, with the threat of judgment comes the offer of grace and forgiveness. If we ask God’s forgiveness, he responds with grace no matter how severe the sin or frequent our failure. This is the reason we can discover peace and rest in God.