The Mercy of God
The belief in God and that Jesus is the Messiah are declining beliefs for many in today’s world. One of the more common questions we are seeing is “How can anyone justify the violence of the God of the Bible?” “How can someone worship a God who hates humanity so much that He would wipe out entire groups?” “How can you state that your God is a loving God when he condones violence?”
These are all good questions, especially given our current culture of misconstrued love.
Violence wasn’t started by God. After Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, humanity quickly multiplied and violence began.
“Cain spoke to Abel his brother and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
Genesis 4:8-16
Adam and Eve had sons. This is the second generation of humanity listed in the book of Genesis. One of those sons killed his brother out of jealousy. God did not condone or instruct this action. We also see that where God could have used vengeance or justice to allow for Cain’s life to be taken, He instead did the opposite. He marked Cain so that if anyone kills him God would take vengeance upon that person. We don’t profess to know what God was thinking, but rather than be the one who took revenge for Abel’s life God protected Cain from harm.
The violent spiral of humanity didn’t curb itself here though as we see Lamech, a descendent of Cain, become renowned for his violent ways, even boasting of the violence he committed. This violent trend of humanity continued till the time of the flood.
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:1-8
Violence, sexual exploitation, and other forms of wickedness only grew through the multiplication of humanity. Humanity was created for the intention of being pure and reigning as co-heirs with God. Through their freewill they chose a path contrary to the original intentions God had for humanity.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
“11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Genesis 6:9-13
We see that God decided to execute a plan to destroy the evil flesh from the earth. Is it because he was jealous, seeking revenge, or executing justice to the world? Was God angry? No. In Genesis 6:6 He tells us why He would do this. He did it because of grief.
We can understand how grief would not be a justifiable excuse for some people for God to wipe out all of humanity except for one family. Let me ask you a question. If you saw a family member engaging in behavior that caused them harm, would you not intervene? Would you not want to do whatever you could to stop them from harming themselves further? Most of us would answer yes, we would intervene for their protection. Is that not what God was doing for humanity—intervening to stop the evil spiral in which mankind had so quickly become caught up?
The Bible never tells us that God took pleasure in flooding the earth. In fact, it would be logical that the same God who pushed back the waters to create humans and the earth now had to make the decision to allow the waters to flood over the creation He had just made. Genesis tells us that God had created the earth and humanity so that both could flourish, so the fact that the earth and humanity were systematically destroying itself would break the heart of God. It is through that love and grief that God allowed the flood to come to show mercy to those who would become victims of the violence and evil that was overwhelming creation.
The prophet Isaiah referenced the flood many years later.
“This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:9-10
We see that Isaiah refers to the covenant of peace that God made with Noah after the flood, that through the outcome of the flood God’s steadfast love shall not depart from us and the covenant shall not be removed.
Even after the flood, and just like the garden, Noah and his family didn’t spread peace, they spread similar disasters of the evil hearts of humanity. This is also similar to the evil and ungrateful hearts of the Israelites after being led away from slavery. Slavery in our modern culture is a calling card for righting wrongs of the past. We quickly forget all of the men and women that God used throughout history to restore and remove people and nations from the evil of mankind. By not learning from the past mistakes, humanity continues to spiral through the same evils; never learning from the mercy and grace God has bestowed on us through His intervention.
Waters throughout the Bible are used to symbolically cleanse the physical. The flood cleansed the earth and gave humanity an opportunity to adjust their ways. The Red Sea and cleansing before the Israelites came to meet God at the mountain. These are examples of how humanity must cleanse themselves of evil before being able to meet with a Holy God.
The Messiah Himself points to a future cleansing in Luke 12:
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Luke 12:49-53
Messiah had already been baptized. He is teaching about a future cleansing. He would remain in distress until that was accomplished. A future cleansing by water that until that happened there wouldn’t be peace on the earth. Most people who ask questions at the beginning of this article want peace—to live in harmony with people and creation. God wanted the same thing. Through humanity’s defiance of God, we brought violence to this world, not God. The flood was to be an intervention to stop violence. Yet our continued sinful nature after the flood ultimately led to God Himself having to give His life on the cross. Remember that, when given the chance to choose a man of no evil over a convicted murderer, humanity chose to release the murderer and sentence the man of no evil to death.
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
John 19: 1-36
If we assign violence to the flood, how much more violent was God to take on flesh and die one of the most violent of deaths at the hands of the very humanity He so desired to save? God rendered violence on Himself. The violence was not His doing, it was ours, yet just like every other covenant written about in the Bible, God kept both His part and ours. Knowing that we would not uphold our portion, He loved and intervened on our behalf.
Making sense about difficult elements of the Bible can and should lead us to a deeper faith and revelation that the God of the Bible has always put us first, not because we deserve it, but because He believes you are worth it. The goodness of God intervenes when many of us would throw up our hands and walk away. God created humanity and the earth to be a beautiful creation of peace. Humanity turned it into an evil creation. God continues to work in ways to redeem and restore a broken creation. While it might be tempting to skip over and discredit God for difficult passages like the flood, those are the exact places we need to spend more time studying, praying, and exploring, to remind us that our Creator has always wanted good for us.
