Thoughts on Christ and His Word

During the prophet Malachi's time the Israelites had developed an incredibly pathetic attitude. In Malachi 1:2 they questioned God's love. They asked God "in what way have you loved us?" In vs. 7 and 8 God rebukes them for not bringing Him their best. They would bring to God blind, lame and sick animals for the offering instead of bringing their best. In verses 13 and 14 they spoke about the weariness of having to come and serve God and bring offerings. So they brought stolen, lame and sick animals for the offering. They would steal someone else's stuff in order to bring it to God and avoid giving their own stuff to God. At times they would make a vow to offer God the right sacrifices but then would make a switch and give the blemished, sick, and lame animals to God. But God rebuked them and proclaimed "I am the great King" and "my name is to be feared among the nation's. We need to give God our best materially and in service and give him 1

In this debate Calvinism sees God’s Sovereignty as the supreme Controlling principle in all things,  while Armenians view God’s love as the supreme controlling principle. Here lies the crux of the matter. No doubt that God is Sovereign. But that is not his driving force. It's Love. This Love which gives holiness it's parameters,  makes God limit the use of His power --- God cannot lie, not because He is powerless to do it, but lying is unloving and therefore unholy. God cannot sin, because all sin is unloving and therefore a violation of God's character. So while we see that God limits his power because of Love,  He never violates love because of his power. Love trumps sovereign power without diminishing it.

The prophet Jonah had an unforgiving heart, which lead to an irrational stubbornness and hard-heartedness towards God. He had been angry with the people of Nineveh for their mistreatment of the Israelites, perhaps even his own family. So when God sent him to preach to the Ninevites he fled in the opposite direction. Finally after a great ordeal in the high seas he went and preached. The Ninevites did what was unfathomable in his heart - they repented and turned to God. So he sat on top of a mountain top looking down to see if they would return to their Wicked Ways and God would destroy them, which is what he wanted. In his anger he wanted to die. He would rather die than see his enemies be blessed by God. God lovingly and gently tried to persuade him to be merciful and compassionate on the ninevites just like He was. But the prophet would have not none of it. He remained angry and stubborn until The Bitter End.