From Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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CONCLUSION
Having now ended our study of the third and last dimension of God’s love for men – that of His conditional love of delight and complacency – we come to consider a final important matter of conclusion for our entire study of the subject of unconditional love.
When we come to the subject of unconditional love – whether we speak of God’s love for men, or our own imitating love for men – we come to a subject of seeming contradiction and apparent tension. We wrestle at how we should put all the pieces together regarding God’s love toward men and our love toward our fellow men.
Furthermore, the apparent tensions are not fully eased for us by recognizing and opening up the various dimensions and degrees of biblical love toward men. In a real sense they are but clarified by such a study. We now know what the various dimensions of God’s love for men are. And we now know what the various dimensions of our love for men should be. We also know that we dare not leave out any one of these dimensions, which means that we still must wrestle with how to put all of these things together in our understanding of God and of our own duty. The apparent tensions still remain. How can God from all eternity set His electing love upon only some men while reprobatingly hating others, and how can He respond to the righteous with a love of delight and to the wicked with a conditional hatred of abhorrence, and yet show love and kindness to all men on earth including the wicked — even offering to the wicked the Gospel in a free and sincere offer flowing from a divine heart which does not desire the death of the wicked? Regarding our own duty, how do we bring together the duty of having an unconditional love for all men based upon a creational delight in them with that of a conditional love of delight for only the righteous while abhorringly hating the wicked. As we conclude, we will consider three important matters regarding this remaining apparent tension as it relates to our duty before God.
First of all, notice with me:
THE BIBLICALLY-BASED REALITY OF THIS APPARENT TENSION ALL THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES UPON THIS PRESENT EARTH.
At this point I want to simply seek to bring to clearer focus the tension we feel by first noting a pair of Scripture passages, and then briefly reviewing the examples of three godly men in the Bible. So first of all, consider:
1. A striking pair of passages. Compare Psalm 58:10-11 with Proverbs 24:17-18:
Psalm 58:10
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 So that men will say,
`Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.’73Proverbs 24:17
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him,
And He turn away His wrath from him.
At first glance, these two verses seem to be saying the opposite of each other. In Psalm 58 we see a righteous rejoicing in God’s judgment of one’s enemies. Then in Proverbs 24 we are told that it is wicked to rejoice when our enemies fall. How are we to understand these two verses which seem to apply to the same situation – God’s judging of our wicked enemies? I believe the only way is to recognize that it is the reason why we are rejoicing over our enemy’s fall – its motivation – which determines whether that rejoicing is godly or wicked.
If we are proudly gloating over the downfall of our foe as those who think we somehow deserve better, or maliciously delighting in the personal human misery and suffering of our enemy (Proverbs 24:17-18), then we are sinning and may bring the rod of God down upon our own backs. For God’s actions in afflicting and destroying His enemies are not acts of arrogance or malice. As we’ve seen before, according to Ezekiel 18:32, He has no pleasure in the death of any lost sinner who dies. According to Lamentations 3:33a, He does not afflict men willingly or from His heart. There is a divine reluctance to use His rod and sword because the Lord has a heart which is tender and kind toward all men, even His enemies, and He therefore does not maliciously delight in their misery.
Yet on the other hand, if we are rejoicing in the destruction of our enemies because it is proof that God is who He says He is, and surely keeps His Word – if we are exulting because it indicates that He as a righteous judge will ultimately sort everything out according to perfect justice, judging the wicked, and rescuing and rewarding the righteous (Psalm 58:10-11) – then our response is godly and righteous. For we are exulting in the glory of our God and Savior, and of His righteousness and faithfulness, which are always appropriate causes for praise and joy.
Thus, all of our days upon the earth we must wrestle with the seeming tension with which these two passages confront us – carefully avoiding rejoicing in the downfall of the wicked for the wrong reasons, and even weeping over their misery, while delightedly rejoicing in the same downfall for the right reasons. Given the fact of the remaining corruption of our own hearts, this is no easy thing to sort out and practice, but do it we must, repenting of our sin when we are wrongly motivated, and responding in obedience with the right motivations.
2. But next, notice this seeming tension in the lives of three godly men in the Bible.
a. First of all, consider King David. We have already noted that he was the inspired human author of the most severe imprecatory language in the Psalms. In Psalm 139:21-2, he had declared:
21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Yet on two occasions when he could have easily snuffed out the life of his greatest enemy, King Saul, he mercifully spared his life, even stopping his friends from what they earnestly wanted to do, because Saul was the Lord’s anointed. And he, at risk to himself, respectfully let Saul know how he had spared him as a call to this king to repentance for his sins (1 Samuel 24 and 26).
However, even in addressing Saul on those occasions, notice how David spoke:
`Let the LORD judge between you and me, and let the LORD avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you. . . Therefore let the LORD be judge, and judge between you and me, and see and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.’ (1 Samuel 24:12 & 15)
Yet when God had avenged David on Saul, and the news of Saul’s death had reached David, David responded with mourning and weeping and fasting; composed a remarkable eulogy of praise for Saul as well as for his godly son Jonathan; and put to death the messenger who claimed to be the murderer of his dead enemy (II Samuel 1). What a seemingly strange combination in one man, and yet what a godly reflection of all the will of God.
(to be continued)
