Hurricane Florence – Here We Go Again!

Every time there is a natural disaster, the bad news preachers are quick to claim that the storm, hurricane or earthquake is God’s judgement.  As I write this blog, my heart goes out to the those who have lost loved ones and been impacted by this unprecedented flooding in the Carolinas.  These bullies with a Bible claim that God is punishing this area for their sin.  Others say that God is trying to get our attention.  God is not like a mob boss.  He is not drowning a few folks to get our attention.  God is God the Father, not the god-father.

One North Carolina pastor wrote: “God used His sovereignty over His creation to enact His judgment of sin. The flood, Sodom ‘s destruction, the plagues of Egypt and many other scriptural accounts indicate God’s power over His creation to judge sin. In the Gospel accounts, we see Christ’s power over the winds and sea.”  I would like to ask this pastor that is trying to prove that God is the cause of hurricane Florence a couple of questions.  What was Jesus doing in the New Testament regarding the wind and sea?  He was rebuking the wind and commanding the sea to be still.  Why?  Because He nor His Father was behind those storms.  Think about it, if God is the cause behind all storms and Jesus rebuked those storms, then He was rebuking His own Father.  How many storms did Jesus bless in the New Testament?  Not one!

I want you to hear this:  God had a plan in place to redeem man from sin before sin had ever been committed.  Jesus was the lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).  God had a plan to deal with sin before sin was.  What does that tell you about God?  It tells you that sin doesn’t change God, it tells you that God is not afraid of sin, He doesn’t react to sin.  Your sin doesn’t change God, it changes you, but not God.  God is unchanging!  The Cross, NOT hurricanes, is God’s once and for all solution to sin.  Prior to Jesus’ coming, there was wrath from God against mankind for his sins.  Once the Law was given by Moses, the Old Testament writers record a brutal history of God’s wrath upon sin and disobedience.  But all that changed at the cross of Jesus Christ.  Prior to the death of Jesus, people’s sins were held against them.  But when Jesus died, God stopped holding people’s sins against them.  This is exactly what the Bible teaches:

Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV)

12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Hebrews 10:17 (NKJV)

17  then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NKJV)

18  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

19  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

The word “reconciliation” is talking about making peace.  To bring into harmony.  This is what we are doing when we reconcile our checkbook.  We are trying to get our checkbook in agreement/harmony with what the bank shows that we have in our account.  We need to get our theology in harmony with what God says we have through Jesus Christ.

Paul says in Colossians 1:14 that,  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Religion says, “God can reconcile you”, but the Bible says, “God has reconciled you to Himself, that we were reconciled to God”.  Not, will be reconciled, but have been reconciled to God.

How were we reconciled to God?   By God not imputing our trespasses to us.  God is no longer holding our sins against us.  Instead, He imputed our sins to Jesus, on the cross Jesus became sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Someone once said, “Don’t marvel that you have become righteous.  Marvel that Jesus became sin.” This is a great wonder, I can’t explain, I just believe it.  Jesus had no sin of His own; just like I had no righteousness of my own.  Jesus took our sin, so we could have His righteousness.  Jesus was made sin with my sin, so I could be made righteous with His righteousness.  Jesus was made sin without sinning, so that I could be made righteous without doing works of righteousness.

God is Always Good

Whenever I tell people that God is good, I will have someone write me and say He isn’t.  And then they proceed to give me the scriptures to prove it.  They usually say things like, “tell that to Job” or they often quote Isaiah 45:7 where they say it says God is the creator of evil and darkness.

Isaiah 45:7 (NKJV)

7  I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’

I actually enjoy looking at scriptures like this in their context and proving, from scripture, that God is not the destructor they claim Him to be.  I find it interesting that Christians who say God does evil are quick to quote this “His ways are higher than our ways.”   In other words when God does evil, it’s kind of a good evil.  But when we do evil, it’s bad, but when God does evil, it’s good.  Yep, that makes total sense?

I even heard a preacher on social media quote Isaiah 29:6 and said hurricane Florence and the fires in Massachusetts towns were God’s judgement.  I can’t imagine anything more heartbreaking than when people are suffering and confused for someone to tell them God did it.

Isaiah 29:6 (NKJV)

6  You will be punished by the LORD of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire.

The above verse was written to Jerusalem, it was Old Covenant.  Look at verse one:

Isaiah 29:1 (NKJV)

1  “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add year to year; Let feasts come around.

 

Does God Create Evil?

When you go back to Isaiah 45:7 and look in verse 1, you will find that this was not written to us but to Cyrus:

*All scripture is written FOR you, but not all scripture is written TO you.

Isaiah 45:1 (NKJV)

1  “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held– To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut:

When Cyrus arrived at the gates of Babylon in 540BC, he was welcomed by 40,000 Jewish captives as a liberator.  He was handed a letter that had been written 150 years previously by the prophet Isaiah.  In the letter God identifies Cyrus by name and says he will rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  According to the historian Josephus, when Cyrus read these words:

An earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God. – Antiquities of the Jews, 11.1.2

We must remember that Cyrus was not raised with a Judeo-Christian heritage. He was oblivious to the God of Israel.  So how does God introduce himself?  Not as, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” for that would’ve meant nothing to Cyrus.  Instead, he uses words and phrases that would have made sense to someone raised under the Magian religion, which prevailed in Persia in the time of Cyrus.  Cyrus believed that there are two supreme, co-eternal, and independent causes of everything.  One the author of all good, the other of all evil. The good being they called Light; the evil being, Darkness.  Persians believed that the affairs of men were governed by these two opposing forces, good and evil, light and dark.  God says to Cyrus, “NO, It’s just me. I am the Creator of all.”

I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7, NIV)

The Persians brought disaster to the Babylonians and prosperity to the Jewish exiles, but God wanted Cyrus to know who was behind it all:

I will go before you and make the rough places smooth… So that you may know that it is I, The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. (Isaiah 45:2-3, NASB)

If it hadn’t been for this letter, Cyrus might not have let the Jews return and rebuild their city and temple.  The words of Isaiah prompted Cyrus to free the Jews and fund the restoration of Jerusalem.  Don’t let anyone tell you that God is both good and bad, sweet and bitter.  Don’t believe the lie that says He is responsible for the natural disasters or the bad things going on in the world.