Osama Bin Laden is dead.
The man most notoriously remembered as the one who orchestrated the brutal attacks of 9/11, killing so many people out of hatred. Millions of Americans today broke out in impromptu celebrations and rejoiced over the death of a murderer.
But do you know what Jesus was doing today?
Jesus Wept.
For every sinner who remains in their wicked ways, Jesus weeps. As they stand before him before the Throne of Grace, Jesus weeps as he embraces each of them one last time before they are never to be seen again. He watches as his beloved chooses not to come with him out of the depths of Hell.
"Why will you die? Come with me and Live!", He says. But they make their choice.
How can we rejoice while our Savior weeps over every unrepentant sinner? Rather, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous. Let us sing for the saved and work with renewed vigor for the lost. God does not enjoy death but loves life.
The LORD takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rejoices over every saint who has repented. Shall we not follow our LORD's example? Enough of this wickedness!
Amen to this post. Just put a link to this post on my blog. More people need to see this.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a lot of unfounded biblical interpretation here.
ReplyDeleteWhere you see anything about Jesus embracing sinners before sending them to their destruction? OR him weeping over them for that matter?
I'm not making Biblical interpretation so much as recounting a vision I've had in which the only reason a sinner is made to stand before Christ himself is so that they might see each other just once before being separated for eternity. I used the image of Jesus weeping over the lost to convey a point; It was a stylistic expression.
ReplyDeleteI only assume that because the Lord loves life, he must have adverse feelings to death. If he rejoices over one sinner who repents, its not so unreasonable to say he weeps over sinners who remain in wickedness. And we both know Jesus can weep and not only embraces but eats with sinners.
But suppose the shepherd never found that one sheep. Suppose the woman never found that silver coin. Suppose the Prodigal Son never returned. Has the Father no reason to be upset or worried?
Jesus describes Hell as a place where there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Weeping due to eternal separation from Christ, Gnashing of teeth due to agony. It would not surprise me one bit if Jesus wept for them too. Maybe not in the manner I described, but regardless of whether Jesus weeps or not, he does not enjoy death and I assume he isn't neutral or cold about death either.
That only left me one option; He hates it. From the very beginning God didn't want us to die. God hates sin because it separates us from him, from true life unto death, and hurts each other. The only death he ever enjoyed was that of Christ on the Cross because by his wounds we are healed; Through his Spirit we might live. No longer can sin separate us from the Father if we believe in the new righteousness that has been revealed to which the Scriptures testify. Though it still hurts others, nothing can separate us from the love of God if we are in Christ.
http://www.dennyburk.com/some-thoughts-on-the-death-of-bin-laden/
ReplyDeletehttp://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/05/02/grieving-rejoicing-that-osama-bin-laden-is-dead/
John, your first line concerns me
ReplyDelete"I'm not making Biblical interpretation so much as recounting a vision I've had in which the only reason a sinner is made to stand before Christ himself is so that they might see each other just once before being separated for eternity."
As someone who (I assume) is going to be in Church Leadership someday... when you proclaim something about God, it should be founded on the Bible. You presented this as though it were fact... and to the untrained eye, it could easily be seen that way. Especially if you were in a position of spiritual authority over them. However, with no biblical support for this eschatological perspective (other than a loose logical inference) I think it's probably risky to present this without some disclaimers.
I agree with you. I should possibly put a disclaimer up somewhere on my blog that these thoughts I post daily are my own interpretations.
ReplyDeleteMost of these blog posts aren't academic in nature, just my daily reflections as I spend time in God's word. I trust my intuitions and usually they are right. I often know scriptural truths before I even read them.
However, I am not the first with this idea. Spurgeon has used this language and it is contained within our Hymns(http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/d/i/didchris.htm) as well. Jesus also is shown weeping multiple times (over Jerusalem, over Lazarus, in Gethsemane) and makes the exclamation of how he longs to gather Jerusalem in his arms but cannot because of their stubbornness and disobedience.
So in the end, maybe he does or he does not weep over sinners. It hardly matters much, but I should be more careful with my words next time. Thank you.