In Romans 11:22 we are told to “Behold then the kindness and severity of God”. We are ultimately deceived when we only know the kindness of God, and so are we equally deceived when we only know the severity of God. God is perfect in His nature, and He is both perfectly kind and perfectly severe. He does not need the help of any one to be kind, neither does He need the devil to help Him be severe. According to the Bible, which side of God we will ultimately experience is totally dependent on us: “Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in…” (Romans 11:20-23). Here we are told that faith and obedience bring us into the experience of God’s kindness, whereas unbelief and disobedience towards God make us objects of His severity and wrath (see also Roman 1:18-32; Psalm 18:25-26). To have faith in God and be obedient to Him does not mean you never sin; for the Bible says we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). Rather the faithful and obedient responds to God’s goodness when they err and repent – for the goodness of God leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). But the unbelieving and disobedient rejects God’s kindness and discipline by their refusal to repent, and thereby choose to make a practice of sin (Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5,8-9). This includes unrepentant sinners as well as Christians, who choose to embrace sin and refuse to turn away from them (Matthew 7:21-23; Galatians 5:19-21).
In Revelation this is what Jesus says He will do to those accept to live in sin and not repent: “I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed (of sickness or suffering), and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children… and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds (Revelation 2:21-23). This is not an old Testament Scripture. Neither is it an attack on God’s people by the devil. This is a message Jesus, after His death and resurrection, gave to His church in Thyatira about what He was going to do to the unrepentant both outside and inside His church. He said He will Himself throw them on the bed of affliction and into distress and great trouble, and “kill their children” – a phrase that must be Scripturally understood”. In Ezekiel 18: 19-20, God says “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them”. Therefore, when Jesus says He will kill the children of the unrepentant, He is not saying the innocent and blameless offspring of unrepentant parents will be punished with death. Rather, the children of the unrepentant who are visited with vengeance are those who follow the example of those who rebel against God (e.g. John 8:44). Even so, if the Lord will Himself take away the blameless from this earth, a reason for doing so is to save them from evil and calamity (see Isiah 57:1).
Again, this is what God tells us He Himself will do to the unrepentant: But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done… But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:5-11). Ultimately, we are warned that God will cast into eternal lake of fire everyone who makes a practice of sin and chooses not to turn away from it (see Revelation 20:13-15; Matthew 25:31-46). God’s severity in destroying Sodom and Gomorrah with fire has been given us as an example of His severity to be revealed in these last days towards the unrepentant: “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7; see also 2 Peter 2:6).
Therefore, seeing both the kindness and severity of God, may we not be foolish to presume on His kindness, and indulge in sin without repentance. Let us fear God and turn away from evil. Let us be wise and heed the words of Jesus: “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him (Luke 12:5)! For it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).
Kwadwo Omari, PhD
© November 18, 2018