Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Are God's hands ever tied so that He cannot do what He wants to do? How could that be if He is omnipotent?
The Bible as a whole makes it quite clear that He cannot force the human will, any more than a man by brute force can make a woman love him. The Old Testament reveals how God tried every way possible to get His people Israel of old to receive the blessings He longed to give them. Jesus said to them: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"(Matt. 23:37).
God tried every method except forcing their will: "The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, ... but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, ... till there was no remedy" (2 Chron. 36:15, 16).
He tried sending calamities, letting them be oppressed by the Philistines, sending famines (no rain for three and a half years in the time of Elijah), the conquest of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians, and finally letting the Babylonians destroy their magnificent Temple and Jerusalem itself, and take them captive to a heathen land (vss. 17-20).
If fear is a valid motivation to produce repentance, how could fear be made more effective? Imagine walking in chains for 500 miles to Babylon, driven like cattle! Princesses and princes alike! No luxury buses.
You may say, "It worked! After those disasters and 70 years of captivity in a pagan land, they never again worshipped idols! God finally found the right method." Yes, that's a mark in favor of using the fear motivation.
But did it truly reconcile Israel to God? After they came back and rebuilt the city and the Second Temple, what did they do? Matthew 26, 27 tells us: they crucified their Messiah. The old covenant had finally run its full course.
Now, can we learn, and find room for the new covenant?
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 9, 2001.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
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