Are we talking about the same God?
Image: Christ at Heart’s Door, Warner Sallman. Courtesy of the Warner Sallman Collection.
“As I bring today’s sermon to a close, I want to remind you of the famous painting of Jesus knocking at the door. He’s knocking right now, on the door of your heart as you’ve heard this message. But when we look at that painting closely, we see something very important. There is no door handle on the outside. Jesus can’t open the door from the outside without forcing his way in. And Jesus is a gentlemen. He won’t force his way into your life. He won’t violate your free will.
No, you must open the door from the inside. The handle to the door of your heart is on the inside, and if Jesus is going to come into your life this morning- come in and change you from the inside- then you need to open that door. Your relationship with Jesus comes down to this: will you, right now, accept Jesus and answer the knocking at the door of your life, allow Jesus to come in and take over? Will you? I want to pray that you do.”
Source: What’s Wrong With “Christ Knocking at the Door of Your Heart.”
Yahweh is an avenger,
a passionate God;
Yahweh is an avenger,
expert in wrath.
Yahweh is an avenger against his foes,
he seethes in anger against his enemies.
Yahweh is slow to anger,
but massive in strength:
he will not remit punishment.
Yahweh is in the whirlwind,
his path is in the storm,
clouds are the dust on his feet.
Source: 22 Lines of Awesome Power: The Poetry and Prosody of Nahum 1:2-13
There is an equally if not more famous painting by William Holman Hunt 19th century http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/replete/P16.html
What is your question? Are they the same God? Do you want to hear yes or no?
I find YHWH’s vengeance more sensible than sentiment. The closed door is better in Hunt since it is overgrown with weeds: read the detailed discussion – an insight into recent understanding of imagery: The closed door was the obstinately shut mind, the weeds the cumber of daily neglect, the accumulated hindrances of sloth; the orchard the garden of delectable fruit for the dainty feast of the soul. The music of the still small voice was the summons to the sluggard to awaken and become a zealous labourer under the Divine Master; the bat flitting about only in darkness was a natural symbol of ignorance …
Hello,
It’s pretty easy to explain how God can be loving and wrathful at the same time. He loves people, so He hates murder. If someone raped a woman, and killed her, we can all agree that that is evil, and God would also be angry. A lot of people readily admit that God should send the murderer to hell. If He left it up to humans, a lot of us would send all murderers, child molestors and rapists to hell right now. But God is so merciful that He wants even those people to come to repentance.
The other thing is that while a lot of people would get rid of child molestors, they tend to dismiss lying and lust and blasphemy as no big deal (because they’re guilty of those things). But God is so holy that He’s also going to punish liars and theives in hell. Yet, He’s so merciful that He made a way for us to get to heaven even though all we deserve is to be crushed and sent to hell.
Thanks,
Bill
Interesting. I find truth in both. Jesus came across hard on some who were not open. But others welcomed him in, like Zaccheus. Their hearts were ready and open.
Of course Jesus stands at the door and knocks to a church, the one in Laodicea, and to other churches as well. Is there anyone there who really wants fellowship with me, who really wants the true riches?
For me, the two “images” of God say more about the perspective of the viewer than the subject. Sallman and Nahum both saw God in a certain light, colored by their respective environments.
If you read a bit farther in Nahum, you find, “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Ninevah; he will pursue his foes into darkness.”
This isn’t mere tribalism. Just this morning I was reading Isaiah 5 with my family. In that passage God’s wrath is just as violent against his “chosen people” because of their wickedness.
Having tried to be balanced, I have to say that I prefer Nahum’s awesome avenger to Sallman’s wimpy gentleman.