Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy?

1. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • There were some that could rightly be called “children of wrath.” They like Pharaoh, hardened their hearts and had only expectation of wrath. (Jer 15:2)

2. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • Jeremiah 15:2 - "And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Such as are for death, to death; And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity."

3. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • God had a long term plan for Israel and all men.

4. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • The nation of Israel had yet to fulfill its purpose of the promised Messiah coming from the descendants of Abraham. (Gen 12:1-3)

5. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • Genesis 12:1-3 – “Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

6. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • God was mercifully fulfilling a plan to purify Israel and thus extend its existence as a nation until the coming of Christ. (Ezk 14:22-23)

7. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • Ezekiel 14:22-23 - "Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it.

8. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • 23 "And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it," says the LORD GOD.

9. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • Israel’s apostasy and the wrath of God serve to remind Christians today of how to have a relationship with God. (1 Cor 10:11)

10. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • 1 Corinthians 10:11– Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

11. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • Whatever doctrinal system men come up with that provides “security” and “peace” that does not produce a teachable, reverent people that obey God, is in vain. (Jer 6:13-14)

12. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • Jeremiah 6:13-14- "Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely. 14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.

13. Was the wrath of God poured out on Israel an act of mercy? • God’s people will always have certain characteristics. Do you know them?

14. God wants a people for Him • God wants a relationship with a people that He likens to a marriage relationship.

15. God wants a people for Him • God wants a relationship with a people that He likens to a marriage relationship. • God will not share! In that He is a jealous God.

16. God wants a people for Him • God wants a relationship with a people that He likens to a marriage relationship. • God will not share! In that He is a jealous God. • The coming wrath was designed to teach Israel that very point. (Ezk 39:25-26)

17. God wants a people for Him • Ezekiel 39:25-26 - " Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name -- 26 'after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.

18. God wants a people for Him • God’s purpose with His people is a tender and beautiful one. (Ezk 16:1-14)

19. God wants a people for Him • Ezekiel 16:1-14 - Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 "and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

20. God wants a people for Him • 4 "As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 "No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.

21. God wants a people for Him • 6 " And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' 7 "I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

22. God wants a people for Him • 8 "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine," says the Lord GOD. 9 "Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.

23. God wants a people for Him • 10 "I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 "I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 "And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

24. God wants a people for Him • 13 "Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 "Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says the Lord GOD.

25. God wants a people for Him • Because of the blessings of God, Israel became proud and committed adultery with other gods. (Ezk 16:15-24)

26. God wants a people for Him • Ezekiel 16:15-24- " But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16 "You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.

27. God wants a people for Him • 17 "You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. 18 "You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them.

28. God wants a people for Him • 19 "Also My food which I gave you -- the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you -- you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was," says the Lord GOD. 20 "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,

29. God wants a people for Him • 21 "that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire? 22 "And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood. 23 " Then it was so, after all your wickedness -- 'Woe, woe to you!' says the Lord GOD --

30. God wants a people for Him • 24 "that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.

31. God wants a people for Him • How many of you would be willing to occasionally “share” your mate with another?

32. God wants a people for Him • God has always wanted all of our hearts! (Jer 3:10; 4:14)

33. God wants a people for Him • Jeremiah 3:10 - "And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense," says the LORD.

34. God wants a people for Him • Jeremiah 4:14 - O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

35. God wants a people for Him • What did the “non-traditional” service to idols involve? How might the Israelites have framed this new enlighten approach to God?

36. God wants a people for Him • God called it adultery. (Jer 3:8-9; 5:7; 7:9-10)

37. God wants a people for Him • Jeremiah 3:8-9 - "Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 "So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

38. God wants a people for Him • Jeremiah 5:7 - " How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me And sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, Then they committed adultery And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

39. God wants a people for Him • Jeremiah 7:9-10 - "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 "and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?

40. God wants a people for Him • We serve a God that wants a personal relationship with us! Think about this.

41. God wants a people for Him • This relationship (fellowship) with God is personal.

42. God wants a people for Him • This relationship (fellowship) with God is personal. • Israel thought that their nationality or the location of the temple would save them.

43. God wants a people for Him • God pointed out to them that each individual would stand by faith. (Ezk 14:14-16, 20)

44. God wants a people for Him • Ezekiel 14:14-16 - "Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness," says the Lord GOD. 15 " If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts,

45. God wants a people for Him • 16 "even though these three men were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.

46. God wants a people for Him • Ezekiel 14:20- "even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

47. God wants a people for Him • This is the very point of the book of Habakkuk. (Hab 2:3-4)

48. God wants a people for Him • Habakkuk 2:3-4 - For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 " Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

49. God wants His people to be separate from the world • God will have a people!

50. God wants His people to be separate from the world • God will have a people! • He was about to purge most of Israel but in the end there was a “remnant.” (Jer 31:1-9)