#DailyDevotion What Is Left When You Reject God’s Love?
July 3rd
Read Josh 8:1–28
Jos 8:22-28 And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped. (23) But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua. (24) When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. (25) And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. (26) But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. (27) Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the LORD that he commanded Joshua. (28) So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.
A lot of people have a problem with these sections of the Old Testament. It’s all blood and gore. “How can a loving God do this?” Is the question often asked. But who is God the Lord being loving to here? Isn’t he being loving to Israel, his chosen people, the people whom he promised this land through Abraham? Well as a matter of fact he is. More than that, he is fulfilling his promise to Abraham and to Israel.
On the other hand we must remember that God the Lord is a God of wrath. Evil will not sit with him. It cannot stand before his face forever. As we read through these bloody stories we might recall Jesus on the day he died. What did he go through? Indeed the bloody gore we read here in the Old Testament he is taking upon himself, in his own flesh, in his own soul. He is owning it.
We should also recall that this account is representative of the end. Rev 14:14-20 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. (15) And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” (16) So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. (17) Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. (18) And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” (19) So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. (20) And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
There is a day of wrath and the Old Testament testifies to what it will be like on that day for all who reject God’s Love in Christ Jesus.
Lord God, Heavenly Father, grant us your grace that we may remain faithful and your holy people until the end when you come from us that we may escape from the wrath suffered by your Son Jesus Christ on the cross. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.