Life is unfair, but death is fair.
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore, ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:19-21).
Let us call a spade a spade. This scripture is absolutely ridiculous. Whoever came up with this scripture must be from heaven. He probably has no understanding of what it is like to live here on earth.
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How can I bless someone who persecutes me? Why should I bless him? Why should I allow someone to get away with murder?
Imagine a situation in which some religious fanatics attack a man’s house and burn it to the ground. In the process, they kill his wife and children. And then during the burial ceremony, a pastor reads the scripture above. “Give place to wrath.” “Leave the matter to God.” So, the attackers of the man’s family go scot-free.
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To add insult to injury, when the man dies he meets his attackers in heaven. They have all become heirs of salvation. I ask you, is this fair?
What kind of discussion do you think David would have had with Uriah in heaven? How do you think Uriah would feel meeting, in heaven of all places, the man who slept with his wife, got her pregnant, and had him killed to cover his tracks?
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. But does the Lord really repay? Can the Lord give a man true satisfaction?
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You have been used and abused; you have been spitefully treated, and you take the matter to the Lord. What type of satisfaction are you likely to get?
The Lord would preach the gospel to you. He would tell you to forgive and forget. And if you do not, the Lord Himself would deliver you, the aggrieved person, to tormentors who will torment you until you forgive the offender. (Matthew 18:34).
But what about the offender? What would the Lord do to him? How would the Lord take vengeance on him? The Lord might just ask someone to go and preach the gospel to him. Is that acceptable?
Of all people to ask to go and preach to Nineveh, God chose Jonah. The Assyrians had oppressed the Jews for a long time. Now God decided to send a Jew to them, not to destroy them, but to preach to them the gospel of repentance and salvation.
Jonah would have none of it. He took a boat and headed instead for Tarshish, the exact opposite direction from Nineveh. God would have none of that and decided to take him to Nineveh against his will by a “submarine.”
God arranged it for Jonah’s shipmates to throw him into the sea and then had him swallowed by a big fish. The fish just happened to dock at Nineveh harbour, where it vomited passenger Jonah.
Jonah did not need persuading after that. He had no choice but to preach salvation to his enemies. His preaching was so powerful and so impressive that everybody in Nineveh repented, and God’s judgment on Nineveh was revoked.
Take a look at the Bible’s description of Jonah’s reaction to this elaborate divine conspiracy: Jonah 4:1-4
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore, I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore, now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!’” (Jonah 4:1-3).
Why should Jonah not be angry? Despite all the crimes of the people of Nineveh, they received a free pardon. God is totally unfair. You simply cannot get retributive justice from a God who is gracious and loving, and whose mercies endure forever.
But is there not something strange about being upset with God because He is gracious and forgiving? Is this not like the case of those Pharisees who persecuted Jesus because He healed a man on the Sabbath?
Since we are being frank, let us pull no punches. Do you know the greatest injustice of all? It is that you yourself should be the heir of salvation. The greatest injustice of all is that you should be saved. The greatest injustice of all is that you, of all people, should be heaven-bound.
You, who were a crook, a liar and a cheat. You were a fornicator and an adulterer. You were an idol worshipper. You were a drunkard and a drug addict. You were proud, vain and riddled with deceitful lusts. Why in heaven’s name should God forgive someone like you?
It is absolutely unfair that you should go to heaven. In the name of justice, you should go to hell and fry there. And it is not fair that Jesus, who never sinned and never told a lie, never answered back when insulted, had to die on your behalf.
So let’s call a spade a spade. If we are going to insist on justice, let there be justice for all. Since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, justice without mercy means that all of us would end up in hell. Therefore, I would rather have a merciful God than a God of judgment. Even if this means that I have to spend eternity in heaven with Bin Laden or Mobutu Sese Seko, so be it. Heavenly Father, let Your judgment rejoice over Your mercy in my case.
What is the meaning of the singular act of God’s magnanimity, which found profound expression in the salvation of Jesus Christ?
Yes, life is so unfair. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Some die young, and some live to a ripe old age. Some are handicapped, and others are bedridden with sickness. Some are handsome and some are ugly. Some are smart and some are stupid. Some are fast and some are slow. Some are successful and some are failures.
Solomon says:
“I returned and saw under the sun that– the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).
But life is unfair because what we call life is not what God intended. What we call life is precisely what Jesus came to redeem us from. He redeemed us from a life of injustice, a life of sickness, a life of sin, a life of death, a life of misery and failure and affliction and calamity.
Life is unfair, but death is fair. The poor die, and the rich also die. Moreover, when the rich die, they lose all their wealth. When the poor die, they lose all their poverty. When the sick die, they lose their sickness. When the disadvantaged die, they lose all their disadvantages, and the advantaged lose all their advantages.
Every valley is exalted and every mountain is made low. The crooked places are made straight and the rough places made smooth. And then the glory of the Lord is revealed. Therefore, the fairness of God is revealed, not in life, but in death. CONTINUED.
[email protected]; www.femiaribisala.com
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