“For this is like the
waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no
longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor
rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness
shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the
Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah
54:9–10
A warning is issued in 1
Peter 5:8—“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I know that
a lion roars to intimidate and to bring fear, but I used to wonder what kind of
fear the devil tries to instill in the believer. We must let the Bible
interpret the Bible. We can’t base our interpretations on our denominational
backgrounds or our experiences.
One day, I was reading
Proverbs 19 when I came across verse 12: “The king’s wrath is like the roaring
of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.” Who is the king that
this verse refers to? It is our Lord Jesus! So when the devil goes about like
a roaring lion, he is trying to impersonate the King. He is trying to make
you feel as if God is angry with you. Every time you hear preaching that leaves
you with a sense that God is angry with you, guess what? You have just been
roared at! But know this, beloved: God will NEVER be angry with you ever again.
He only has to tell us this, but He wanted us to be so sure that He swore in
His Word that He would never be angry with us again.
Today’s verses are from
Isaiah 54, which is right after the famous messianic chapter of the sufferings
of Christ in Isaiah 53. Therefore, Isaiah 54 is spelling out the triumphs and
spoils of His sufferings.
Do you know why God will
never be angry with us again? It is because of what Christ has accomplished for
us! On the cross, God poured out all His anger on the body of His Son. Jesus
exhausted all the fiery indignation of a holy God against all our sins, and
when all of God’s judgment of our sins had been completely exhausted, He shouted,
“It is finished!” (John 19:30). And because our sins have already been
punished, God, who is a holy and just God, will not punish us today when we
believe in what Christ has done. God’s holiness is now on your side. His
righteousness is now for you, not against you. You are His beloved, in whom He
is well pleased because of Jesus’ finished work!
The next time the devil tries to rob you of your sense of being beloved by making you think that God is angry with you, just ignore him. Ignore him when he says, “How can you call yourself a Christian?” You are a righteous, accepted, and beloved child of God! When you believe this, you will have the confidence to face every challenge with boldness, knowing that you have God’s unmerited favor on your side! (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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