Trying to Convince the Unconvinced!
Meditation for the week of November 28, 2010
Ezekiel 39:27-28
When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.
Ezekiel prophesied when the children of Israel were in captivity in Babylon. His message was “then shall they know that I am the Lord.” He says this about the nation of Israel, but He also says it about nations that were the enemies of Israel. God intends to use judgments involving wars and natural disasters to make people understand who He is. He also intends to show mercy to Israel as a nation to convince the world that He is the LORD. The LORD (or Jehovah) has tried to convince the people of Israel that He is God and that there is no other down through the nation’s history. Moses met the Lord on the back side of the desert when he saw a bush burning that was not consumed and introduced Him to the nation of Israel and to Egypt. This story starts in Exodus 3.
While Israel should have known that the Lord Jehovah was their God, they constantly turned away from Him to serve the idols of the lands around them. People in the world in general are also ignorant when it comes to Who God is. How can people be convinced to worship the one and only creator God who has provided redemption for them?
Some would like to meet and talk to this God personally. Well, God sent His Son so that they could do that. He tells us that when we have seen the Son, we have seen Him (John 14:9-10). Did this convince the Jews who knew the prophecies of the old testament and who should have recognized the Lord as God when He came? No! Instead they crucified Him.
Some would like to see great miracles in order to believe in the one true God. God gave us the flood. Scientists and geologists find good reason to believe in a world wide flood, but has that convinced the world to worship the one true God? No, they would rather serve gods of their own “vain imaginations (Romans 1:21-25).” Others foolishly deny that the God who has given them breath really exists.
However, God didn’t stop with the flood. He gave us Jonah who was three days and three nights in the belly of a fish. Of course, people who don’t want to believe in God deny the validity of this story. Then God told us that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish’s belly, the Lord would be three days and three nights in the grave (Matthew 12:40). Has the resurrection which was witnessed by many convinced the world that the Lord Jesus is really “the LORD” that should be trusted and worshiped? No!
Some believe that if God is really God, He should judge immorality and sin. He did that time after time in the old testament. However, instead of believing God because of these judgments, we often hear unbelievers say that God is unfair and unjust because of the wars and judgments that took place in the old testament.
What will it take to convince people that Jesus is God and that He is also the One that revealed Himself as Jehovah or the ever existing One in the old testament? Nothing can convince those whose minds are already made up and set in stone. Nothing will convince those who do not want accountability to this God.
I have been convinced, however, that the Lord Jesus is this one true and living God. By faith we understand (Hebrews 11:3). I realize that we all have faith in a lot of things that we probably shouldn’t trust. Most people make promises that they can’t and won’t keep, and yet we try to be trusting rather than suspicious. Most business warranties run out just before their products fail, yet we continue to do business with those companies.
Why do we hold God to a higher standard than we do our friends and our businesses? I personally have great confidence that what God has promised, He is able to perform (Romans 4:21). I KNOW that the Lord Jesus is the LORD my God, and because of that I have every confidence that my sins are forgiven and that one day I will be with Him in heaven for eternity. I am thankful that I am simple enough to just believe God.
Bruce Collins