A DESIRE TO SAVE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?”

Jeremiah 4:14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There’s a danger that comes in the study of the Old Testament and the lives of the Israelites.

What is that danger?

It’s simple. For if we’re not careful, we can come away with the impression that God is a God of judgment who will fiercely punish His people when they choose sin and the ways of the world over His ways and righteousness.

Yes, there are accounts that show that God is a God of redemption, rescue, and provision for His people but the greater narrative, and most of the Old Testament’s best known stories, all contain elements of His severe judgment.

Go back to the great flood that filled the earth and wiped out everyone except a remnant of civilization that was on Noah’s ark. It’s a scene of great judgment.

Move ahead a little further in the Book of Genesis to the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah when God sent burning sulfur raining down on the two cities from the heavens. Another scene of great judgment.

Go into the early part of the Book of Exodus and see what happened to the Egyptians as a result of Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to let God’s people go. A series of severe plagues was brought on Egypt, culminating in the once divided great sea crashing down on Pharaoh and his army as they chased after the fleeing Israelites who had crossed over to safety on dry land. Again, a scene of great judgment.

Fast forward from this to the Israelites refusal to cross over the Jordan into the land God had promised them, a decision that cost them 40 more years of wondering in the wilderness, one year for each day it took for them to get to Canaan in the first place. Once more, great judgment from God.

And then there were the great attacks on the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of the divided Israel by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively. There was no dedicated account of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom ever returning unlike the Southern Kingdom Jews who were allowed to return to Judah and Jerusalem to rebuild after 70 years of captivity. Destruction and desolation on one hand (the north), prolonged exile on the other (the people of the south). In both cases, great judgment imparted by God.

Can you see where people could start to see God as only a God of judgment?

That’s why today’s scripture verse is so critical. It’s less than 20 words but it speaks volumes to us about the true desire of God for all His people and that desire is not to punish. Rather, God’s greatest desire is for His people to be saved. Look at this verse again here:

“Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?”  Jeremiah 4:14

  

God could have just gone about correcting His people and doling out consequences for their failures and failings. But He wanted the best for them. He longed for them to turn away from sin and the evil it manifested in their hearts. He yearned for their thoughts to be freed from wickedness, returning to the purity He would bring if they would just place their full trust in Him. He did not wish for any of His people to perish.

Instead, He wanted all His people to be saved.

How do we know this was a greater desire for Him than judgment?

We only need to look to the coming of His only Son, Jesus.

For if God longed for all His people to die from their transgressions, punished to the death by Him for their wrongs, then He would never have offered up His Son to die and pay the penalty for sin in our place. So deep was His love and longing to live with His people forever that He allowed Jesus to die in our place and make the way so we might be saved and have the chance to live with Him forever.

Friends, God is a God of judgment and punishment. There’s no arguing this point. But equally unarguable is the fact that God greatest desire for all His people is for them to accept Jesus as Savior and be saved as a result.

Have you accepted this opportunity for eternal life that God, your heavenly Father, has given you through Jesus?

If so, then revel in the joy of knowing your path to eternity has been set and will never be closed off.

If not, then please change the outcome for yourself today and accept Jesus as your personal Savior, acknowledging your sins and knowing you are incapable of saving yourself. By doing so, you will make God smile because once again, His greatest desire, the desire that all His people be saved, will have been fulfilled.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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