RESTORING WHAT YEARS OF SIN TOOK AWAY
Joel 2:25a I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten -
It never was nor will it ever be God’s desire to punish or bring sorrow to his creation for entertainment. God is a good God, and in this his character will never change. We can always count on God being a good God not only to us, but to everything. But God is also righteous. God must punish sin, because without punishment for sin there would be no incentive to repent and stop sinning. Sinning is not good for us, nor is it good for everything else that has to deal with the effects of our sinfulness. Sin will always have its effect, and it is never good. This is why God doesn’t want us to do it. God wants us to be happy and everything else too.
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, they believed the lie that Satan had told them. He told them that they couldn’t trust God because he really didn’t have their best interest in mind for them. God didn’t want them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because then they would be like God. We know that this is not true, because God created them and us in his image. God had the tree there for them to have free will. What good is a free will if there is not choice to be made? The tree of knowledge of good and evil was not bad in itself. What it did do was to bring accountability to humanity. Now Adam, Eve and everyone that would follow would know right from wrong and with this would come consequences. It wasn’t that God wanted humanity to sin and not know better. It was that with accountability would also come the need to discipline.
When our children are very small and they pull over mom’s plant and gets dirt on the floor, we excuse their action, because they really didn’t understand the results of their actions. But after we explain to them that it is wrong to do this, and then they go over and deliberately tip over the plant getting dirt on the floor and laughing about doing it causes the action to change entirely. A good parent will discipline the child in an appropriate way to help their child to see that they should not do this. If the child is not disciplined then the child will not only assume that it is alright to pull all flower pots over onto the floor making a mess, but that the parents warnings mean very little and can be disregarded.
God loves us too much to see us ruin our lives, because he is afraid that if he corrects us we will no longer love him. God’s punishment is never about getting even. God’s punishment is all about get things right. God want us and all the rest of creation happy and blessed, but it nor we will be that way if rebellion from God is left unchecked. To take away our free will and that of creation will also take away our ability to love, and that is why God created us to begin with. God wanted to love us and for us to love him. It is really just that simple. If we really love someone we will try to be a blessing to them and not a curse. The same is true concerning God. If we love him we will not want to sin against him. So why is there eternity in hell. Well, hell was created for Satan and the other fallen angels. (Matt 25:41) It became a place where those that didn’t want to be with God could go. Hell really became a place of their own doing in that God respected their free will to reject him. It became a place of torment, because there free will to do evil and sin will be stopped. It would be like taking the child that keeps tipping over mom’s flower on the floor and keeping them from doing it. The more they are bound, and the tighter the binding has to become the more outraged they get. Satan, the powers of darkness and all who reject Jesus will find themselves in hell kept from doing their will, but still wanting to do their will. There torment will come from their own rebellion and hate for God keeping them from their free will. This is why so few people in prison change. They just have their free taken from them, and really don’t have any intention of changing their heart. They simply become more outraged that they can’t have the freedom to sin as they desire. So going to hell is not so much that God is sending them there, but their desire to rebel and hate God.
It was never God’s desire to punish Israel as he did. For years and years God had his prophets tell the Jews to stop their idol worship, seek forgiveness from the Lord and worship the Lord alone. But they would not obey the Lord. They had become a disobedient child that was determined to use their free will against God by purposely pulling over the flower pot so to speak. They could have avoided their punishment all together but they didn’t. Their punishment was their own fault, and so will it be for all who spend eternity in hell. They won’t blame God for being there, they will just continue to hate God for being there. The same was true with Israel. They couldn't blame God for his punishment, they just hated him for punishing them.
Without true repentance, there can be no true reconciliation. This is why God told them to rend their heart and not just their garments. God wanted a change of their heart. He didn’t just want them to no longer stop pulling over the flower pot, he wanted them to not to want to pull over the flowerpot because it was wrong. That’s what he wants from from all of us including Satan and the powers of darkness. He wants us to want to do what is right. Sin is that terrible rebellion against God’s will. As long as we continue to want to rebel and sin against God, God can not bless us. But when we have a change of heart and seek God’s forgiveness turning from our sin, God will not only start blessing us regarding our future but regarding our past. God will repay the blessings the years sin kept us from.
All that the Jews had to do then was to do God’s will and return to him. He will also do it for them today and everyone else that seeks to do his will now. That will is to receive his Son Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior having him come into their heart so they can have a change of heart. God wants us to rend our heart for Jesus to come in. God wants us to become born again. He wants us to not just sin, but to desire not to sin. He wants not just our worship and our presence, but he wants us to want to worship him and be in his presence.
Would you like to have restored the years of blessing that your sin robbed you of? It all begins with asking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. It is not by your will power of efforts, but what he did for you on Calvary’s cross. He gave his life that you might have eternal life even here and now and for all eternity.
Someday when Jesus returns the Jews will recognize Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. We have no idea how long that might be, but I know you don’t have to wait another minute. Right now where you are, you can receive Jesus into your heart to be your Lord and Savior. All you have to do is engage your free will and ask him. He wants to do this for you. No sin is too great that Jesus will not forgive you of. The only sin he can not forgive is the one we refuse to seek forgiveness for.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank your for providing for our forgiveness and eternal life with you in heaven. Thank you also for giving us the blessings that our sins kept from us. Please bless us as you did Job with more than we ever had before when we were in our sin and rebellion. We ask this in your holy name.
