Verse of the day: Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
God, in this portion of Scripture, now reveals Himself to Moses, not just as Jehovah, but Jehovah-El, or LORD God Almighty. During the burning bush experience, God identified Himself as Jehovah, I AM, in order to communicate His ability, and power, to deliver the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. Here, He identifies Himself with the Name that communicates who He is as the Giver of mercy, forgiveness, goodness, and patience. This is what they now need, as they seek forgiveness and reconciliation for their sin of idolatry. This is where we rob ourselves of the blessing of getting to know our God personally. As He did with the Israelites, God will reveal who He is in our lives as He meets our daily needs, whatever that need might be. When we are too busy trying to take control of our own lives, make our own decisions, and be our own provider of all things, we miss seeing God reveal Himself in so many ways. He already knows our needs before we even ask (Matthew 6:8). If we focus on, and make, the Kingdom of God our priority, He promises to take care of our essential needs (Matthew 6:25-34). Our God is all-sufficient, and not only is He all we need, but He also takes care of all that we will need, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Interestingly, you see a couple of conflicting aspects, which are not conflicting if we truly think about them, in how God describes Himself. He tells Moses that He is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth. Yet, He goes on to say that He will, by no means, clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. How do these two conflicting statements fit together? In comparing Scripture with Scripture, we see in the Book of Joel that God is both merciful, gracious, forgiving, and just in not clearing the guilty. In Joel 2:12-13 we read, “Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.” As in dealing with the Israelites, God is always willing to forgive those who turn to Him in true repentance and confession. He will only hold those guilty who harden their hearts and refuse to turn back to Him. Even though we deserve eternal condemnation, in His goodness, and love for us, God has provided eternal life, and forgiveness of sins, when we turn in repentance to Jesus, and put our faith and trust in Him for eternal salvation (John 3:16). As we walk with Him and have our moments of stumbling in our sins, He has provided an Advocate, and Way of receiving His forgiveness, so that we can continue to walk with Him (1 John 1:8-2:2). Those who harden their hearts, and reject Christ will face the guilty sentence that will not be removed. Hence, God will not clear the guilty if they reject the salvation that is freely being offered in Jesus (John 3:18). When God saw the repentance of the Ninevites, He stayed His anger and chose to forgive them (Jonah 3:10-4:2). Jonah become angry because God was so merciful and gracious toward a people who were wicked and deserved God’s punishment, making reference to Exodus 34:6 in relation to God’s goodness. We must be careful that we not become bitter because God is good toward someone who we think deserves to be punished, as we, if we are to be honest, need God’s forgiveness continually for the things we say and do on a daily basis. Finally, in the Book of Ezekiel, we see that God answers this puzzling question about the sins of the fathers visiting their children. Ezekiel 18:19-20 reads, “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Once again, it is all about the repentant heart. God will not clear those who remain in their sin, or those who follow in the sins of their fathers. In other words, we cannot, and should not, use our parents’ sinful actions, or behavior, as an excuse for not living a life of righteousness before, and obedience to, the LORD. We are not only free, in Christ, from our own sins, but also from the guilt and sins of our parents. Our God is a just God, who is fair in all His judgments, and will show mercy to whomever He chooses as we are told in Romans 9:14-16, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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