I have a concern about the way we talk about God's judgments, especially in America today. What I am hearing people say, is that some well known Christian authorities speak about God doing certain acts of judgment against people who do certain activities. We assume, and many times wrongly, that if a person is doing some type of sin and something bad happens to that person, then it means God has judged that person. Well, maybe, but very possibly not. These authorities would say that because such as such happened, it was because of a sin that those people were doing. There are a lot of fine lines here, and I will attempt to separate them.
Let's go back to the Scriptures and look at God's judgments. The big one was the worldwide flood of Noah's day. You can read about the in Genesis 6. At the beginning of the chapter, the Scriptures tell us that mankind was so wicked that they were inventing ways of evil! This was not too far from the time of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Through each generation, people just got more blatant and creative with sin. By the time Noah came, God decided to destroy the earth by means of a world wide flood. You might think this is cruel, but what would have been cruel was living in a society of people who were wicked like this. These people knew what was coming, yet, they refused to repent. The flood came and went killing everyone, except Noah and his family. God promised to never again destroy the world by means of a world wide flood. He even gave us the rainbow as a sign of His promise to us. But, there will be another judgment like this, only it will be done by means of a fire. Everything will be burned up and destroyed. Again, we have the option to repent and turn to God. We can trust in the Cross of Jesus Christ who died to pay for all our sins and iniquities. Not only that, but we can also become new creatures in Christ. We don't have to live as slaves to sin any more. In spite of that fact, most people will not repent and turn to Christ for salvation. They will suffer under God's judgment. God's desire is for us to repent. Our hearts desire is to stay selfish and get away with it.
There will be a final Judgment on Judgment Day, when all our sins will be revealed. Those who are in Christ will be safe, just like Noah and his family were safe because they were inside the Ark. Those who are outside of Christ will not be safe, and will be thrown in the Lake of Fire for eternity, never having a chance to get out.
But my concern is this; Today, Christians try to make a connection between tragedy and a person's sin. We do this by default, I believe, probably because we tend to have a 'works' mentality when it comes to everything, including our relationship with God. Job's friends did it, when God was testing Job. We do it today, when a disaster happens or when a bomb explodes or a sniper kills a group of people. But the Bible says that God causes the sun to rise on the just as well as the unjust (those who are justified for their sins by the blood of Christ, and those who remain unjustified and are outside of Christ). For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45 ESV
Some people came up to Jesus one time and told Him about a tragedy that had happened. Jesus asked them some questions. Basically, after they informed Him of the tragedy, He asked the people if they thought that the groups of people who suffered in tragedies were worse sinners than others. In other words, was God punishing them because of their sin. Jesus wanted them to look at their own hearts instead. People almost always try to make a connection between tragedy and God's judgment on them. But that isn't how God works in tragedies and difficulties. Job's friends thought the same thing. They were sure that Job had some sin in his life and that was why he was experiencing the trials he was going through. We have got to be so careful as to not make wrong connections with things like that.
So, was the Boston bombings a result of God's judgment? How about the Twin towers? Are all the school shootings a result of someone's sins, maybe the parents of the children who were killed? No, that is not God sending His judgment on these people. We have to keep that in mind because most Christians think that there is a connection between the two, and that kind of thinking will bring dishonor to the Body of Christ, and harm to people who don't know the Lord yet.
But I do want to separate a fine line with this. When a person who is part of a church goes into sin, that person is no longer under God's umbrella of protection. When a society decides it is best to leave God out of its context, there will be consequences. There are natural consequences from our sin. That is not the same as God sending down His judgment upon us. If I were to live a lifestyle where I believed it was ok to have sex with anyone I wanted to, chances are good that I would end up with an STD or maybe even AIDS. If I got pregnant and had an abortion, I would live with the consequence of a guilty conscience the rest of my life. The reason we think we can get away with things and not experience consequences is because we don't fear God. We either put Him out of our minds, or we don't understand how big and powerful God is. He loves us too much to let us get away with our sins. But there are also consequences to our sins, because God is holy, and whether we like it or not, we are subject to Him and His principles.
God's mercy extends to us as long as we are living. Any time His judgments occur, He is communicating to us His hatred for wickedness and sin. Yet, He continues to be merciful to us, so that we will repent of our sins and turn to Him.
Let's be careful next time we try to make a direct connection between a tragedy and sin in that person's life. Tragedies come to all of us in one form or another. The body of Christ is supposed to be there when tragedies occur. Like one Biblical counseling teacher stated, 'Suffering is the entrance to counseling (which could lead to evangelism)'*. How many more people would be reached if we showed love instead of judgment in crisis times?
I don't believe God was punishing families at Newport when their children were killed at school. I don't believe God was punishing the people of Boston when the bombs went off and killed some of the runners. I don't believe God's judgment came down when the Twin Towers were destroyed. But I do believe that difficult things will happen to our nation, if we take ourselves out from under the umbrella of God's protection. We can turn back to Him in repentance and faith. Difficult things will happen, even when many people are Christian, but God's grace is there to sustain us.
God is sovereign over all activities that happen. The Bible tells us that God works all things together for the good of those who know Him. God will take these tragedies and turn them around for the good of His people, but only if we know Him and trust in Him. If we don't know Him, and continue to walk in our sinful ways without repentance and a desire to turn to God, we will live in a world where wickedness will increase. We will see increased shootings and murders. We will see this nation, which is supposedly one of the most powerful nations in the world, crumble. All these things will happen as a consequence of sin more than God's judgment upon us. But, there is hope, and our hope is in God. That is why we 'pray for the church, and pray for the country.'
*Ed Welch
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