Daniel Unlocked #73. A Short Story for Reflection.
We discussed yesterday the meaning of the title Micheal, which means “who is like God.” and how it depicts God as a divine warrior. Reflect the on the following story.
Imagine this scene: as you visit a photo gallery, you see an awkward picture of a middle-aged man. His face is contorted. His lips are contracted. His fists are clenched. His face is full of wrinkles, not because of age but because of anger. As you look at that picture, you become absolutely convinced that whomever it may portray, it is someone you could never wish to be friends with. You just feel happy because that man is no more than a lifeless picture on display.
Then a guide approaches you, identifies that person, and explains the context of the picture. Actually, the picture shows a close-up of an attorney. He was in a court session defending an old widow. The woman was about to lose her only piece of land to a big company. By means of legal maneuvers, the lawyers of that company were attempting to take over her land. And the picture was taken at the very moment the attorney was using verbal and nonverbal arguments to convince the judge to decide in favor of that woman.
How does the information about the context change your view of the man in the picture? Would you now feel comfortable in having him as a friend? In what ways does the information about the great conflict between good and evil help you better appreciate the picture of the warrior that God presents in the Scriptures?
If the Lord were not a “warrior God,” could we have any assurance that evil would be forever eliminated? We noted that whenever the name Micheal appears in the Bible, it is always in the context of conflict. The book of Daniel will conclude with his “standing up for His people.”
There are two pictures of God in the Bible. There is the God of justice and vengeance against sin and evil. This is the God who washes the world clean with a flood because “the imagination of man’s mind is only evil continually.” This is the God who rains fire on Sodom and Gomorrah because of their extreme violence and sexual immorality. This is the God who electrifies someone who violates the command to not touch the ark. But then there is the God of patience and love. His unfailing, or steadfast love, are terms repeatedly used in the Old Testament . The equivalent term in the New Testament is grace. This is the God who gently leads His people in the way everlasting. The God who sends prophet after prophet with messages imploring His people to return to the covenant agreement. The God who pleads.
Our God is He who must be “just and yet the justifier”. In Him “steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” Ps 85:10. He is both the Lion and the Lamb of Revelation.
Who He is to you depends on where you stand. If you are standing in the shadow of the cross where God’s wrath on sin has been satisfied, then to you He is the Lamb who has died in your place. He has paid the price of your sin – “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.“(Rom 6:23). If you stand apart from the cross then, when God eradicates sin from the universe you will experience the penalty for your own sin, and you will “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.” 2 Thessalonians 1:9. Then to you He is the Lion!
The choice is actually yours to make. You are the master of your own destiny! Yours, then, is a story of reflection. The outcome of your narrative is in your own hands. That choice is evident in the most quoted verse in the Bible, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not PERISH but have EVERLASTING LIFE. There are two outcomes but one choice in that oft quoted verse.