God of Love and Government
By Ivan Ho 25 Dec 2016
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV
“My job is to love people, not judge them” thus say some pastors and leaders today.
If one only talks about the love of God in churches, everyone seems to be happy about it.
“Love is all that there is” is the motto of one of my friends, and he doesn’t believe in God. The fact is: we don’t have to believe in God to love. Buddhists talk a lot about love and forgiveness, and they don’t believe in God.
Some preachers and leaders only eant to emphasis “love” but leave out “the law” ie the law of Moses, saying that “we don’t live under law anymore since Jesus is all about love and grace….”. Sadly, the God these people portray isn’t the God we know from the Bible. If we only talk about a person’s happy times, and leave out all his struggles and pain, he isn’t the real person in life at all. That is the problem with some “grace and love” preachers today who only want to talk about the “love” of God. “Love God, and love everyone” is their motto and their form of love is to embrace everyone, being supportive of everything, and never raise any objections. Otherwise, you are being judgemental and insensitive. People who follow these leaders only want love and hugs, not correction and government. So they tend to do whatever they like and feel no need to change their ungodly ways.
The truth is: God is both a God of love and a God of justice, but if one only talks about love and leaves out the laws of God, the person’s teachings totally ignore the role of God being a righteous judge. Jesus is and will always be a God of love, and a God who carries out government and justice throughout eternity.
Satan was judged before man was created. Adam and Eve were judged due to their disobedience. Many people were judged by God before Jesus came, and many people will be judged unless we repent and turn to Jesus for forgiveness. Jesus pursues the one sinner and tries to bring him back under His love, care and government. Notice the Bible says that “heaven rejoices over one sinner who REPENTS” !
The prophet Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Jesus more than 500 years before the historical event happened. “And the GOVERNMENT will be upon His shoulder” (Isaiah 9:6) meaning that Jesus not only brings grace and love but also law and order to individuals. Those who live outside of God’s laws and government, unless they repent, accept and follow Jesus, will be judged.
Jesus said to the woman who committed adultery: “Neither will I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
If Jesus only said to the woman “neither will I condemn you” and left out the second part of His message “go and sin no more”, He would be like the hyper grace teachers today who would only make the woman happy but no need for her to change.
Thanks to our heavenly Father who sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross to redeem us from our sins. Not only that, Jesus was raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit and in so doing, destroyed the power of sin and death, so that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will also help us who follow Jesus to overcome the power of sin and death upon our lives!
“Of the increase of His government there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). When we receive Jesus and become born again into His kingdom, we receive the whole counsel and attributes of God into our lives, so that His kingdom rule and government will increase, not eliminated, in our lives.
Unless God’s words abides in us and His government is established in our lives, there will be no lasting peace and joy. Let peace of Christ “rule” in our hearts and His love and government increase on earth!
PS. I was talking to a friend on Christmas day who told me how a pastor and teacher at Fuller Bible College wrote a book saying there is no literal hell, that God being a loving God, would not send anyone to hell, that hell Jesus mentioned only described the bad experiences we go through on earth and so forth. The alarming thing is that some pastors and leaders are actually subscribing to such garbage coming from within the church!
If you think you are “going through hell” right now, let me tell you that hell in the after life is 10 thousand times more horrible, something you wouldn’t want your worse enemy to go through!
That is exactly why “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son Jesus (to die on the cross for us sinners), so that whosoever believe in Him may not perish but have everlasting life“ (John 3:16). The greatest gift from heaven is Jesus who offers us the only way to eternal life, not through our good deeds on earth, but through faith in Jesus Christ alone!
You can receive the gift of salvation today by inviting Jesus into your life, that He will become your Saviour and Lord!