So the king paid no attention to the people. This turn of events was the will of the LORD, for it fulfilled the LORD’s message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. [1 Kings 12.15]
Rehoboam turned dictatorial against the people. His response to Jeroboam and all the rest of Israel was harsh and uncalled for. But it was "the will of the LORD"...
Wait, what?
It is here that many folks turn their brains off and just resign to whatever the LORD's will is... as if bad things are just sometimes God's will.
Let's think this all the way through and get it perfectly and completely straight. God's will is that all repent and come to forgiveness. Don't forget that - Jesus taught and lived it.
The reason all this happened with Rehoboam is because Solomon, his father, led Israel into sin:
One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father did. [1 Kings 11. 29-33]
Note my underline in the passage above.
Apart from forgiveness, God's will is indeed punishment. Why? Because God's punishment (the curses for disobedience found in Deuteronomy 28) are designed to bring people to repentance which brings forgiveness.
God's Word - starting back in the Garden of Eden, "If you sin, you die," is as true today as it ever was. God's will then, is that those who sin die. Right? Wait just a minute though! God's will is not that people die! God wants all men to have life in abundance! However, if men persist to resist God, punishment is due (see the curses of Deuteronomy 28), the pain of which is designed to cause people to turn back to God in repentance and be forgiven SO THEY MIGHT ENJOY THE BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE (again, Deuteronomy 28).
John 3.16 teaches us that God's love for the world provided a means of forgiveness. Why? So people might live and not die - so people might enjoy blessings and not curses! Paul supported this completely in his letter to the church in Galatia:
But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13]
God's will is not that people suffer. God's will is that in suffering, people repent and return to Him to enjoy His blessings. That is why Jesus started His ministry off like this:
From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” [Matthew 4.17]
Repentance is absolutely necessary. It was necessary before Jesus and it was necessary during and after Jesus' life on earth. Jesus bore this out in another setting:
It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ [Luke 24.47]
Please understand that this verse above was Jesus talking to His disciples telling them what they were to be doing after His departure from earth. They were to be promoting forgiveness through the avenue of repentance! Their ministry is our ministry!
Forgiveness is great - but no one gets there except through repentance. Period. Not even the blood of Jesus can overcome a man's stubborn and proud refusal to repent. God will not force anyone to be saved.
We should be very thoughtful when we declare "the will of the LORD" in any given situation. God's will is:
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. [2 Peter 3.9]
Let me put it like this: what's so bad about repenting anyway? I will tell you! Repentance is a full-blown assault on the pride of man. Any person who denies the need to repent is in proud deception:
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [Jeremiah 17.9]
Father, forgive me for ever thinking "I am pure and have no need for repentance."
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