‘The day you look at my face, you will surely die.’
That was what God told Moses. Sounds scary huh? Like those ninjas in the movies, or the assassins and spies that kill and infiltrate as their bread and butter. Not exactly what you what to hear from your God eh? Its as if he portrays himself as this almighty being, ready to strip you of your land. He wields powers beyond our imagination. It almost sounds as if God wants us to obied by his rules that are set, which, in real life just pisses people off.
Take the ten commandments for example. Step into a church and you’ll hear churches, mostly conservative ones, saying that we must obied by the commandments. Doesn’t go down does it? What happened to the God that proclaims himself to be love? Did John, after following Jesus for twenty of his years not write one of boldest statements that ‘God is love’? The church makes the ten commandment sound like rigid laws that needs to be followed strictly. But was that really God’s intention? Many people view with disdain how churches can make people follow these ‘rules’. Well, this is not what the bible says. Our God is not that almighty smiter that many people have come to expect. The impressions that churches seem to be giving people justify their thinking. However, these images which we lay down of our God is not true. People remember the ten commandments, but they do not remember what comes BEFORE it. God stated that he is the God of Abraham, of Issac, the God who guided the Israelites out of Egypt. Does it make any difference? I does. Can you not see that God isn’t forcing you? God is trying to CONVINCE you to not do stupid things. He is trying to assure his people: That he is a God that loves them, that blesses them as he did Abraham and Issac, who protected them from the Egyptians when they called out for help. Therefore, he wants the people to not do those stupid things and face the consequences of them. You know what? He may be right. What’s murder going to do to you? When has adultery ever done any good? Those instance of pleasure or wraith would lead to consequences that must be put up for the entire life of whoever commits it. So WHY DO IT? THAT is what the ten commandments is there for. It is advanced warning that God has given to his people cause he LOVES.
All the smack about God being constrictive, law enforcing, etc is just what it should be. Smack. Jesus himself proves that. His leadership was not forceful. He was gentle and calm, and none of his actions were set to punish people. Instead, didn’t he let the woman who slept with someone that was not her husband live? ‘God is love.’ This message has been lost in many many churches, who always seem to portray God as the guy with power. Even a whole nation (America) prays to the lord for victory in battle. Is the lord really a war God? The title surely shows he might be. ‘The day you look at my face, you will surely die.’ God said this to Moses. Is this finally prove that our God is the power guy who sits on the throne, baring divine weapons, really to thrash up the people who opposes him? That sounds like Zeus, but not Jesus, and definitely not the God that created this world. Then why did he tell Moses those words?
I can only chip in my own opinion. However, I what to show you that this sentence does not make God the enforcer. This sentence only emphasizes how much more God loves his people.
How much pain is it when you lose someone beloved to you? How much more pain do you feel when they betray you, turn their back on you, or just plainly hurt you? Whenever someone you love falls, cries, dies? How much suffering is it for you to have to keep living with loved ones who don’t love you no more? People who curses you, even though when they need you, they come calling? What about the heart-wrenching feeling of giving your all to the ones you love but getting nothing in return? I’m sure there’s even more pain and suffering then this. One Jesus was enough to prove how much God have suffered. Imagine the pain and suffering every single one of us put on our God. Multiply by the amount of people that have come and gone on this Earth. Dare you look at the face of someone whose eyes reflect that pain and suffering? Isaiah saw God in front of him. Could this the reason why when he saw God, all he could do was fall and cry out, telling God about how sinful he was? Was it not reflected in the image that Isaiah saw? That pain, that suffering… and how he our Father, can take it all in, everything we have thrown at him, and LOVE US? Isaiah could say nothing except praises to a Lord who loves.
Indeed, maybe we have gotten it all wrong. Perhaps this is what lies behind the message that Jesus Christ brought to the world that took the world by storm. That ‘God SO LOVED the world, he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall never perish but have eternal life.’
