I just woke up a few minutes ago and recall a very small portion of a dream. This is all i remember. I am posting this just to get your thoughts and feedback, and because i haven't posted anything in a while.
The dream: 'Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church and he said "I treated you this way because i wanted you to know the balance between God's mercy and God's wrath"'
Now just to clarify how i interpret this dream: I believe what his point was, was how in the individual Christian Life, there is a balance of understanding how God is very merciful, but also, very severe and wrathful with regard to our sin. I believe he was refering to the fact that in our Christian lives we seem to continue to move from one place to another and back again with regard to feeling amazing about the mercy of God and the joy and peace that also comes, but on the flip side, the wrath of God and the mighty conviction and guilt of sin, the fear and terror of eternally being cut off for breaking one command. One thing that comes to mind is when Leonard Ravenhill in one of his sermons talked about how old Nicholson of Ireland(W.P. Nicholson) preached one day on John 3:16 and there was no response, so the next day he preached on hell and said "get to hell the whole 1200 of you", and he prayed that they would have nightmares. Also Ravenhill in another sermon talked about how preachers and other Christians would counsel people and if they saw a conviction of sin or guilt they would be real quick to tell people "don't worry dear Jesus paid it all". They wouldn't allow people to feel the wrath of God bearing upon their shoulders. He also has talked about the fact that if people feel like they are in hell with this guilt they are sure going to be glad when they get out after hearing about the mercy of God in Christ. It seems in this generation as i see it, but of course not really knowing other generations, it appears people are constantly getting mercy, mercy, mercy, preached to them without judgment, judgment, judgment. I love the parable that illustrates this point how we need both mercy and judgment preached to the n'th degree;
Luke 7:41-48 (KJV)
41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
Without feeling the burden of sin, one knows not the weight of His forgiveness. Anyway i think this is for the most part what is on my mind. I feel a little like i kind of went off track with the interpretation of the dream by talking a lot about the wrath of God, because that wasn't the main point.
Anyway, again please feel free to actually tell me what you think of the dream and how you would interpret it. Not that there is a right answer or anything, but i am more curious as far as your thoughts and encouragements with regards to not only understanding God's mercy and wrath biblically, but the way in which its truth actually affects our lives and the way we have to deal with it daily.
Also one quick thing i realized i didn't interpret yet was the fact that Paul said "i treated you this way". Treated what way? He didn't just tell them about God's mercy and wrath but he must of done something the express these truths so they would have a further understanding. I guess we could ask ourselves, is there a way to treat someone in a "biblical manner" that shows forth God's judgment for their edification? I can easily see how showing God's mercy can be done, just not so much wrath, but i believe somehow there is a way just not gong to think about it now.
Hope and pray that someone gets encouraged by this thread in any way. Time to go back to sleep.
Regards,
Brian.
