Love Letters From God

I frequent a Theology social-networking site called Theologica.  It’s a great place to bounce ideas off of individuals, some of whom have a lot more knowledge than I do about the world of theology.  Recently, a young man named Rey wrote a beautiful post called Love Letters.  At the end of his post, he made the statement:  “The books of the Bible are God’s love letters to Mankind.”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was a lot of truth in his statement.  He started his post comparing the letters he received from his now wife (then girlfriend) and went on to explain how in his response to her letters, “each word was carefully chosen, each sentence painfully crafted, each paragraph built to convey meaning and the letter functioning as a whole within the context of that specific letter.   I never wanted her to read too much into what she shouldn’t and always wanted her to read what I was saying and come to terms with it.   I wanted to convey meaning and never misunderstanding.”

Rey painted a beautiful word picture of the love letters God has sent to us….collected in a book we call The Bible.  For serious Christians, there is great intrinsic value in seriously studying these words which we profess to believe.  These words, meticulously crafted by the very God who created us, express the most exact and true meaning of the word love.  Each word was precisely chosen for the revealing message it would send to us.  Each word was given substantial meaning and relevance by their very own Creator — God Himself.  Yet, if all were laid bare before the very feet of Christ Himself, how many could stand up and say that they know these words well?

God, who is both holy and just, would never desire for us to read too much or too little into His words.  They are after all, His Words.  He would want us to read His words in the manner that He gave them instead of creating and crafting our own interpretations of them.  I believe with all my heart that God desires to convey meaning and never misunderstanding, just as Rey commented.

Within His own words, God has expressed His personal love for his creation….for us.  However, it may not be a love we can thoroughly understand.  Because of what we see around us (war, death, thievery and poverty), as human beings we often doubt the holiness and sovereignty of God.  We choose to believe that some of His words are unjust and unfair….. but perhaps this is because we cannot fathom nor understand justice and pure love from God’s point of view.  If we are to believe Him for what He has stated He is, then He is both just in His actions and filled with pure love….even when we can’t see or understand it.

R.C. Sproul has taught me volumes about biblical theology.  Whenever I have one of those nagging, difficult questions pounding through my brain, I can usually go to Sproul for a reasoned, balanced answer.  He’s at the top of my podcast list.  In a paper he wrote called Double Predestination, I found this wonderful quote:  “We rejoice in the biblical clarity which reveals God’s sovereignty in majestic terms. We rejoice in the knowledge of divine mercy and grace that go to such extremes to redeem the elect. We rejoice that God’s glory and honor are manifested both in His mercy and in His justice.”

In a different paper, (God in the Hands of Angry Sinners) Sproul makes further states:  “ Are we feeling like a multitude of people who have nothing but scorn for any ideas about hell and everlasting punishment? Do we consider the wrath of God as a primitive or obscene concept?  Is the very notion of hell an insult to us?  If so, it is clear that the God we worship is not a holy God: Indeed He is not a God at all.  If we despise the justice of God, we are not Christians. We stand in a position which is every bit as precarious as the one which Edwards so graphically described.  If we hate the wrath of God, it is because we hate God Himself.  We may protest vehemently against these charges but our vehemence only confirms our hostility toward God.  We may say emphatically, “No, it is not God I hate; it is Edwards that I hate.  God is altogether sweet to me.  My God is a God of love.”  But a God of love who has no wrath is no God.  He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved Him out of stone.”

That statement seems the antithesis of what I have been speaking about in this post concerning God’s love….but it is not!  With assurance, we know that God is indeed a God of pure love.  However, too often, our society picks and chooses the things it likes to believe, usually those things which fill our minds and hearts with nice, cozy feelings.  Let us not be guilty of seeing God in His entirety.  Our Holy God is a God of justice and mercy.  We may not understand how these concepts fit together — that He is both a God of wrath and a God of love, but this understanding is accurate to our Bible — and after all, they are His Words.

There is, however, assurance for our crafty minds and doubting hearts.  Jesus Christ has borne the brunt of God’s wrath for us…in our place.  This is the good news of the Bible.

You can read Rey’s entire post here.  I’m reformed and he’s not….but he write some nice stuff.  Rey, thanks for some great thoughts today.    NOTE:  Rey just posted another great one called Words are Special.