Does God's Mercy Endure Forever?
In light of the current medical, moral, environmental, and political state of the world, we must ask - "Does God's Mercy Endure Forever?" Is His patience with us perhaps running out?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
The prophet Jeremiah wrote - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope for your future. You shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:11-13). This is certainly a very comforting thought: the Lord will always be there if we search for Him with all our heart. But what if we don't?
The context of this chapter tells us about the Israelites being in captivity in Babylon, the false prophets saying that it will all be over soon and they will return to the land of Israel. But Jeremiah told them just the opposite:
"Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit. Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and don't be diminished. Seek the welfare of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you shall have peace. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Don't let your prophets who are in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed" (verses 4-8)..
In other words, be good citizens right where you are: get married, have children, raise them in the fear of the Lord so that they will get married and have children; otherwise, your population will dwindle away to nothing. Don't be like the pagan Babylonians in their temple prostitution and sex orgies of their pagan religion. This is what "Seek the welfare of the city" means: God's people are responsible for the well-being of the society we live in, not just for our own personal pleasure and self-seeking pursuits.
But the remnant of Jewish people remaining in Israel had a problem: the rich and powerful among them had lent money to the poor, but when the poor couldn't pay off their debts, the lenders enslaved them. This was contrary to the Law of Moses because the Lord had freed them from slavery in Egypt. Here's what Jeremiah wrote about this:
"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them; that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that no one should make bondservants of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his manservant, and everyone his maidservant, go free, that none should make bondservants of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go: but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids" (ch. 34:8-11).
This sounds remarkably similar to what happened after the U.S. Civil War and the Emanicpation Proclamation, doesn't it? Although the former slaves were technically freed, they became sharecroppers entangled in bondage to the debts owed to their landlords. And today we've dressed it up just a bit by entangling the average working Joe and Jane in educational, credit card, and mortgage debts for all their working lives and sometimes well into retirement.
But even worse, we've allowed our society to slip back into paganism like in ancient Babylonia and the Greco-Roman Empire, whose gods were notorious for their immorality, so the pagan peoples followed the examples of their gods. The main difference in today's neo-paganism is that people nowadays deny the existence of God or gods or demons, which gives free rein to the demons because people have deceived themselves to believe the supernatural doesn't exist (except at Halloween). The sexual perversions of today are very similar to those in New Testament age and in the ancient world:
"With many other words he [Peter] testified, and exhorted them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this perverted generation!'" (Acts 2:40). And St. Paul wrote: "...that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a twisted and perverted generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15). Many English translations tone it down a bit, using the word "perverse," but in Greek and other languages the word is clearly "perverted." Homosexuality was common in those days and has returned today. Also, St. Paul wrote:
"For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature [lesbianism]. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another [homosexuality], men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers" (Romans 1:26-29).
St. John wrote: "The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. And on her forehead a name was written, 'Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of the prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth'" (Revelation 17:4-5) Also, "There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life" (ch. 21:27).
Again, quoting St. Paul: "Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Also: "Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, gluttony, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21).
Also: "But sexual immorality and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate; but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral or unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God" (Ephesians 5:3-5). These sexual perversions were often called "abominations" in the Old Testament:
"You shall not offer any of your children in sacrifice [abortion and euthanasia] to Molech; neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman [homosexual acts]. That is detestible. You shall not lie with any animal [bestiality] to defile yourself with it; neither shall any woman give herself to an animal, to lie down with it: it is a perversion. Do not defile yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. The land was defiled: therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomitted out her inhabitants. You therefore shall keep My statutes and My ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you" (Leviticus 18:22-26).
Notice that "the land vomitted out her inhabitants": does this remind you of all the people fleeing massive fires, hurricanes, and floods these days? It should! Some say that God is always merciful and would never do such a thing. Really? Have they never read the above Scripture, or about Sodom and Gommorah? I refer you also to Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Ezekiel 22:11; and Ezekiel 33:26 for similar references to "abominations." The point is this: the Lord is merciful and long-suffering, but we must never allow ourselves to think this means we can do whatever we please and God will be obligated to just keep on forgiving and forgetting. His mercy is tempered by His justice. Sin bears its bitter fruits and harvest time is coming. What is the answer? How should we respond to the current situation? Here's what the prophet Joel says -
"'Yet even now,' says the Lord, 'turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.' Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord, your God; for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness [mercy], and relents from sending calamity. ...The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed" (Joel 12-13 & 24-26).
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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