God's Angry Judgment

And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” [John 3.36]

The default setting for humanity, since the sin of Adam and Eve, is judgment. In other words, our normal existence - being born - places us under a curse.

It is not just 'any' curse humans are born under. It is the specific curse of death. Furthermore, in more general terms, it is the curse of everything on earth that ultimately ends in, or tends toward, death, theft, or destruction - sickness, disease, weakness, poverty, confusion, loss, tragedy, etc.

Most people don't really want to acknowledge "God's angry judgment" but that does not make it go away. Most of us would rather just see the bad things in life as random bad things. We remain most comfortable in ignoring Deuteronomy 28 that explicitly describes "God's angry judgment" upon disobedience and instead consoling ourselves and others that bad things are just normal.

To call bad things normal is to call God a liar! Bad things have one purpose only - to punish sin. What are bad things? Read Deuteronomy 28.15-68. There you will find a list of bad things that are directly tied to disobedience - sin. If God saw fit to provide us a list of bad things, then shouldn't we be savvy enough to check ourselves for bad things and understand that if we find those bad things then not only do we have those bad things, but also we have the underlying reason for those bad things - sin? 

Christians will never walk in the power of God as Jesus did until they (we) can clearly distinguish between righteousness and sin - between blessings and curses! Otherwise, we find it difficult to 'know God's will' or 'discern what is going on' in any given situation!

And, for the record, not "believing" is sin just as much as poking someone in the eye is a sin. Not believing places us under the curses of Deuteronomy 28 as much as murdering someone.

Is it not interesting that John 3.36 does NOT say, "...anyone who lives without sin has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the rules will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” 

NO, John 3.36 makes Jesus our only hope. We cannot escape our sinful nature and so, we remain under God's judgment (the bad things). But, even if we could live sinlessly going forward, it would still not be enough because living sinlessly in only accomplished in Jesus, and living sinlessly in Jesus is only accomplished BY FAITH! 

Oh yes, we can change our actions, but only Jesus can change our heart - and that is where the default sin nature that requires God's angry judgment dwells - in the heart of man. We can even repent and be baptized in water, but, unless we believe and are baptized in the Spirit, our hearts remain unchanged...

Father, I am convicted more deeply than ever before that I need to believe!