The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him. The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.
Nahum 1:3-7 NKJV
He “WILL NOT AT ALL ACQUIT THE WICKED”.
And…
He is “GOOD”… “A STRONGHOLD”… “KNOWS THOSE WHO TRUST IN HIM”.
Without the cross, without the Good News of Jesus Christ, wouldn’t this be a death sentence for you, sinner? Or do you insist in believing that you are “a good person” or that this is “just the way you’re made”? Can’t you remember the lies, the selfishness, the pridefulness, the lack of compassion, and your lack of praise and worship towards your creator, your rebellion against the ways that are written that are best?
But He doesn’t change His mind about us. No, you see, He has a purpose in mind for us, for those who believe and trust in Him. That plan is that we might be changed by His grace, by our faith, so that others might know that we have seen the power of sin and death overcome in our lives. And this He does as a testimony of His mercy, His love, and yes, of His righteousness. This has been His plan since the beginning for us.
He has a new name for us, and it is no longer a label of sinner, it is a confirmation that we are newly created as a saint – as a child of God.
His plan is not just about forgiveness, but about transformation, about change, about a demonstration of the power of the blood of the Lamb that becomes evident in the testimony of a life touched by grace and alive in faith, trusting in the Lord.
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Revelation 12:7-12 NKJV
Harold J. Ballinger 