(Continued from part five)

We now get to part four of Bob Vincent’s paper on our compassionate God and the suffering of men.

The dominant motif in the nature of God

Scripture tells us that God’s very nature is mercy and that while justice is part of God’s character, his delight is love and mercy. This is seen in one of the most important texts of the Old Testament, Exodus 34:5-7:

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:5-7 is a central passage of the Old Testament and is quoted repeatedly by other Old Testament writers: e.g. Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.  The quotation in Jonah is very revealing in terms of God’s disposition toward the heathen: ‘But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to Yahweh, “O Yahweh, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”’ Jonah hated these northerners, the Assyrians, and he wanted to see their capitol destroyed. His reason for not bringing the message of God’s offered mercy to them was that he knew God’s character; he knew that God is love, quick to forgive all who turn from their sin to him. And Jonah knew this because he knew the message of the Torah, for the Torah is Yahweh’s Direction, not only about how Israel ought to live under covenant with him, but also Direction pointing to him, who he is in his very essence, and that essence is loving kindness and delight in forgiveness. While it does not exclude judgment, even generational judgment, it focuses on mercy, kindness and forgiveness.

That is the message that we must take to those who have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ. For those who have never heard, whatever else may be true at the divine bar, they, too, will admit that their punishment is wholly deserved. But at that bar also stands a Savior who shed his blood for sin and the great Judge is one who is theGod of Exodus 34.