Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone,
lest they should hear the law,
and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent
in his spirit
by the former prophets:
therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
Therefore it is come to pass,
that as he cried,
and they would not hear;
so they cried,
and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
Zechariah 7:12-13
There is a bad picture of God as being angry and constantly ready to strike, smite or destroy wayward humans. This picture is promoted by the bad religious works of preachers like Jonathan Edwards and the corrupt imagination of John Calvin (Calvin wrote that the Holy Spirit toys with humans before He damns them to hell). The worst result of their ideas is that they promote a picture of God as one person instead of the biblical picture of the Trinity.
Jesus is God. The gospels do not show a picture of God (= Jesus) as being an angry scourge upon sinners. Jesus loved sinners so much that He united Himself with us in our condition (2 Corinthians 5:21) and set a standard within the created realm that the Father can use as He looks upon all of humanity. Jesus is the wrath of God because He establishes that fixed reference (the cross) by which godly servanthood is measured.
It is reasonable for God the Father to refuse to hear the hearts of those who refuse Jesus. He sent everything He had - Himself - to lead humble hearts home. He has nothing else to offer. Those that remain full of themselves and unable to live as servants (elect = servant) must imagine "God" accepting them by beating and shredding what they call sinners.
Jesus will hear and respond to the heart's cry of any sinner who aches for God and knows his own pain of lostness. The sick need a doctor. The anaesthetic miasma of "Do Good/Be Good" legalism that results in a self-absorbed focus on someone else's evil (Zechariah 7:10b) can temporarily relieve the hard hearted of that need. Jesus offers the fully awake solution of the cross. Confess what you are and join sides with Him against evil -- even against your own evil stupidity and imagination! There is room at the cross for broken-hearted sinners.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
lest they should hear the law,
and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent
in his spirit
by the former prophets:
therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
Therefore it is come to pass,
that as he cried,
and they would not hear;
so they cried,
and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
Zechariah 7:12-13
There is a bad picture of God as being angry and constantly ready to strike, smite or destroy wayward humans. This picture is promoted by the bad religious works of preachers like Jonathan Edwards and the corrupt imagination of John Calvin (Calvin wrote that the Holy Spirit toys with humans before He damns them to hell). The worst result of their ideas is that they promote a picture of God as one person instead of the biblical picture of the Trinity.
Jesus is God. The gospels do not show a picture of God (= Jesus) as being an angry scourge upon sinners. Jesus loved sinners so much that He united Himself with us in our condition (2 Corinthians 5:21) and set a standard within the created realm that the Father can use as He looks upon all of humanity. Jesus is the wrath of God because He establishes that fixed reference (the cross) by which godly servanthood is measured.
It is reasonable for God the Father to refuse to hear the hearts of those who refuse Jesus. He sent everything He had - Himself - to lead humble hearts home. He has nothing else to offer. Those that remain full of themselves and unable to live as servants (elect = servant) must imagine "God" accepting them by beating and shredding what they call sinners.
Jesus will hear and respond to the heart's cry of any sinner who aches for God and knows his own pain of lostness. The sick need a doctor. The anaesthetic miasma of "Do Good/Be Good" legalism that results in a self-absorbed focus on someone else's evil (Zechariah 7:10b) can temporarily relieve the hard hearted of that need. Jesus offers the fully awake solution of the cross. Confess what you are and join sides with Him against evil -- even against your own evil stupidity and imagination! There is room at the cross for broken-hearted sinners.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
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