So often we take the burning, hot wrath of God for granted. We conveniently praise God for his Grace and Mercy while ignoring his perfect judgment. Perhaps this is what scares people away from the stories of the Old Testament. We are quick to judge God’s harsh treatment of those who walk in disobedience because we are ourselves are disobedient. I see so much of myself in these verses. Achan was guilty of the sin of covetousness. He looked upon the spoils of their victory and rather than obey Joshua’s God-ordained command to devote the plunder to the house of the Lord, he removed a cloak and some precious gold and silver. God sees all and knows all. Achan’s sin against God earned him a fate of death by blunt force and fire. His name became a byword and a warning to all who might dare to sin against the Holy God of the Universe.
And the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel
Joshua 7:1
Why do we presume that our disobedience will not go unpunished? Why do we attend church, speak the name of the Lord in prayer; yet, we continue to sin against him in secret? Moses laid upon us a blessing and a curse in the final passages of Deuteronomy. We are incapable of walking in that blessing “for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” But before we see God as a monster to be reckoned with, he suddenly and unexplainably reveals the infinite depth and flavor of his love for us when a little over 2000 years ago a boy is born to a young virgin in a barn smelling of manure. This boy, Jesus, became the spotless lamb on whom our guilt would be imputed.
While Achan’s fate earned him a death in the most hideous fashion, our future is so much bleaker. We will meet God face to face and in that moment, all the sins of our hearts will be exposed. Like the Israelites in Joshua 7:5, our hearts will melt before the presence of God. Every sin committed against this Holy and perfect God will be laid before you and an account will be demanded. Our punishment will be so much worse than that of Achan as we are set not to be cast off from the presence of the Lord, but held in his presence continually in eternal torment, loving the darkness, wanting it, craving it, but being devoured in God’s consuming, fiery wrath.
Yet there is hope! Jesus, this boy, born among the animals, condemned and pre-destined to die for the atonement of all sins, is God’s revelation of perfect love. For he gave his only Son, the only son worthy of walking in his presence, the only human to live a sinless and guiltless life, so that he could have you and me. In comparison to Jesus, our best deeds are but filthy rags. By hoping in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, repenting from sins, and turning toward a life of holiness and righteousness made possible by God’s work on the cross, we are born again to the Spirit. Our flesh, though condemned to die, is made alive in the Spirit and will rise again in the presence of the saints and Savior of the world. In that moment, when we stand before the throne of the almighty wrath of God’s glory, those who put their hope and trust in Jesus will receive forgiveness. Praise be to Jesus! Praise be to the perfect and blameless justice of the Lord!
Cubs of Judah 