Gods patience waited in the days of Noah.[1]
Noah’s generation was so wicked and unrepentant that God literally drowned the entire planet to ensure not one person survived apart from Noah’s family.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.[2]
This generation deserved to be drowned for a hundred years before God actually drowned them. [3]
Why would He do that? Why wouldn’t He destroy them the first moment they refused to repent of their wickedness? Why would He wait a full century before giving them what they deserved?
There is no possible way to exaggerate the gut-wrenching atrocities being committed over the face of the earth. When you see these unspeakable evils and irrational hatred for the “Apple of God’s eye,” the Jewish people, it causes you to groan and grieve with those who are suffering and it provokes an irrefutable, undeniable, demand for justice.
God, how could You let this go on another millisecond? Why would You wait? Come and make this end. Maranatha!
Unquestionably, there is no heart on earth that is more pierced than God’s. There is no entity in existence whose anger is more enraged, or whose passion for justice is more enflamed than Jesus Himself.
So how could He not act immediately and bring swift judgment on His adversaries?
God is giving evil, undeserving people an opportunity to come to their senses and come to repentance.[4]
But how could He have mercy on people like that!?
It’s who He is. It’s His very nature to love those who hate Him.[5] That’s what makes Him so unfathomably Holy and attractive. There is no one and nothing like Him in all existence.
But make no mistake, when YHWH proclaimed His nature to Moses on Mt. Sinai, His very Name assures us that “He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”[6]
There is no sin on earth that escapes judgment. Every single sin is punished, either in the one who committed the sin, or in the innocent Son of God in their place. In every case, justice is upheld. Jesus is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Him.[7]
If anyone, and I mean anyone, Jew, Gentile, or Jihadi, refuses to bow the knee to the Son of the God, there is a day of vengeance in the heart of God, a day of recompense for the cause of Zion.[8] All will pay.
And yet, it’s His preference that all come to repentance.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [9]
What seems like an agonizing, incomprehensible delay of justice is not. God is not slow as some count slowness. Do not mistake His patience for indifference or His mercy for weakness. The Day of Vengeance in the heart of God is mere moments away! We cannot dare to think of accusing God of waiting too long or being too patient.
His patience with wicked, undeserving sinners is the express reason you belong to the Lord today. And here’s the kicker, the bloodthirsty, satanic death cult called Hamas does not deserve Hell any more than you did. And they don’t deserve mercy any less than you do.
Consider the Apostle Paul. What greater justice is there than God taking a violent persecutor of the Church and making him it’s foremost advocate? Is that not much more glorious than simply destroying him?
But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.[10]
God’s patience is waiting, not only for Hamas, but for unbelieving Israel as well. Every person who comes to the Lord after these horrific terror attacks on Israel, will be, as Paul said, a display of God’s perfect patience as an example to those who will believe in Him for eternal life.
When we look around the throne of God in the age to come and see countless more souls because God’s patience waited in the days of Hamas, we will experience firsthand wisdom being justified by her children.[11]
Let’s pray for the Day of Vengeance. Let’s pray for the justice of God. Let’s pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Because one day His patience will run out and there will be no hiding from the wrath of the Lamb.[12] May those who know Him rest assured and be comforted by the fact that the Day is coming when Jesus will return to personally fight His enemies on the day of battle.[13]
Until then, may the Lord transform as many enemies into advocates as possible, and turn genocidal maniacs into beloved brothers. How that would serve to lovingly provoke Israel to covenantal fidelity![14]
Maranatha!
Jordan Scott lives in the Muslim world with his wife and children. He is the host of THE WAY podcast and author of A Call to Compel: The Simplicity, Urgency, and Joy of Making Disciples, available now from FAI Publishing. Jordan can be reached by email at jordan@faimission.org.
