I feel compelled to write this in response to those proclaiming the earthquake in Japan as well as other “natural” disasters as God’s judgement on sin. I ask that you study scripture and our New Covenant with God through Jesus Christ to back these things up. Please open your heart, wipe out “tradition” and let the Holy Spirit Himself, operating from a position of Love guide your heart in these things.
First, I would like us to take a really good look at the New Covenant that God has made with mankind through Jesus Christ’s shed blood for ALL of mankind. Jesus forever changed the way God relates to us. Sure, there are scriptural examples of God’s catastrophic judgment on sin in the Old Covenant (Testament). But God’s greatest act of judgment was when He placed ALL of His wrath for our sins upon Jesus. This forever satisfied God’s wrath. Since that time, God hasn’t been judging our sins but is now in the business of reconciliation. ( 2 Cor. 5:19)
There is a “day of judgment” coming at the end of the age and His wrath is reserved for that time. (Matt 10:15, 11:22, 11:24, 12:36, Mark 6:22, 2Pet. 2:9, 3:7, 1John 4:17, Jude 1:6, 1:14-15) We also see reference to the Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom 14:10, 2Cor. 5:10) and, of course, all the end of the age references to the judgments of Revelation.
Jesus Himself said He was not sent to bring peace on the earth among people. The peace that the angels of Luke 2:13-14 were praising God for was peace BETWEEN God and man. They were announcing the end of God’s war on sin. Peace now reigns between God and man.
Prior to Jesus’ coming, there was wrath from God against mankind for his sins. It wasn’t total wrath. Even in the Old Testament, we see God’s mercy and grace. Yet the Old Testament Law was a ministry of wrath (Rom. 4:15 with 2 Cor. 3:7 and 9), and people’s sins were held against them. But when Jesus came, God quit holding people’s sins against them. In John 12:47 He says “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
Rom 2:4 says “the GOODNESS of God leads you to repentance”. Its the goodness and the love of God that brings one to the place of wanting a true relationship with Him, not the fear of judgment or hell. As far as God’s correction to believers, 2Timothy 3:16 says that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2 Cor. 5:19 (AMP) “It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).”
The word “reconciliation” is talking about making peace. God was no longer holding us accountable. Instead, He imputed our sins to Jesus, making Jesus accountable for our sins. Jesus became what we were so we could become what He was—the righteousness of God. Jesus was like a lightning rod that drew all the judgment of God unto Himself. He not only bore our sins; He actually became sin (2 Cor. 5:21 KJV) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God the Father forsook Jesus so you and I would never be forsaken. All that you and I would have suffered, through billions of years in eternity—the grief, the pain and, worst of all, the complete separation from the presence of God—Jesus experienced. And He experienced all of this for us. When we say God is judging our sins as individuals or corporately as a nation, we are voiding what Jesus did. That would be “double jeopardy.” I personally believe this doctrine to be an offense to the Cross of Christ.
We live in a corrupted world where bad things happen, but God isn’t the cause of them. If He were, why would He stop at New Orleans or Haiti or Japan? Natural disasters are just that. NATURAL. Don’t forget that natural disasters also occur on a regular basis in places of the world were there are no people. Surely all of us deserve the judgment of God. But, praise God, don’t get what we deserve because Jesus took it ALL on the Cross. It is FINISHED!
I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying and I’ve even said it myself in the past, “If God doesn’t judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Now I say, “If God judges America, He will have to apologize to Jesus.”
