|
Written by Chuck Durham
|
 Does God rejoice when He judges the wicked? In 2 Kings 8:1-15 lies an answer to this question. Elisha anoints Hazael to be king over Syria (v.13). When Hazael inquires of Elisha for his master’s health, Elisha tells him that Ben-hadad will die (as it turns out by the murdering hands of Hazael). Verse 11 (ESV) states: “And he [Elisha] fixed his gaze and stared at him [Hazael] , until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept.” Hazael was not only embarrassed by Elisha’s stare, but puzzled as well by the weeping of the prophet. Elisha answered with tear-stained face: “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel…you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women” (v.12).
Elisha faithfully performed the duties of his office, but he did so without any joy. His eyes bore into the soul of God’s instrument of judgment upon His apostate people and Elisha drank the bitter dregs of the horrors of righteous justice. If a man is still human, how could he not be moved to tears by the sight of a baby’s head dashed to pieces against a wall? How could a man belonging to God not cry at the atrocity of a pregnant woman being ripped open, her and her baby’s blood being spilled upon the earth?
Mark well this passage to any who would presume to preach His word—You may well bear words that are bitter to your heart and cause you to stare in utter dismay at the consequences of sin. You will weep in the long hours of the night because of the sins of God’s people. And in those dark days you will pray earnestly that this cup pass from you. Preaching the LORD reflects both His goodness and severity (Romans 11:22).
So, does God cry like His prophet? This question matters infinitely more than Elisha’s tears. When God judges His apostate people, does He weep inconsolably for them (cf. Jacob, Genesis 37:35)? The Scriptures answer with a resounding “Yes!” In Luke 19:41, the text says: “Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over it.” Leon Morris says the Greek word may rightly be rendered “wailed.” He burst into outward, audible sobbing when he saw Jerusalem (Tyndale NT Commentaries, 280). Why did he “audibly” weep? Because His people had exhausted the long-suffering mercy of their God; His people had forsaken Him for the last time. They had rejected the day of peace for the judgment of war. And thus their Great Father (cf. Isaiah 9:6) wept inconsolably, knowing the fullness of judgment: Rome will “level you, and your children within you, to the ground” (v.44). God never rejoices in judgment. Never! He carries it forth in righteousness, tears staining His face to the end. Don’t ever forget this. God does not want to judge. It is His last resort at all times. A British journalist once commended the patience and good-will of the United States by stating the obvious: were we Hitler or Stalin with no conscience, we would have long ago made the earth a parking lot (our nuclear arsenal). When we nailed His Son to the tree, and the heavens darkened at midday and the earth quaked in fear—no one but One knew how close we came to being the parking lot! But mercy triumphed over judgment (James 2:13).
The scene of Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem is immediately followed by His cleansing the Temple of those who bought and sold in it (v.45). He physically drove them from the Temple. The zeal of his righteous indignation was stained with the tears of his love. It is an amazing contrast in the heart of God. It both consoles and terrifies all at once. It is real. It matters, this business of living here below. It really matters in the great scheme of things, how we behave each day of our lives. Mark this passage in your heart: God does cry when He judges His people. Mark it well.
“I think He will weep over the lost as He did over Jerusalem. It will be something to be said forever in heaven, ‘Jesus wept as He said, Depart ye cursed. I think that the shower of fire and brimstone was wet with the tears of God as it fell, for God has ‘no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.” (Andrew Bonar as quoted in Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Kings: The Power And The Fury, 135). |
Articles