“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!
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