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    To many, the God of the Bible is an intolerant, vengeful god, demanding that His followers destroy their enemies in their entirety and requiring them to follow laws that are the anathema of the secular humanist liberty so many seek after today. Many people decry, ‘How can you follow such a god who demands such things of those who follow Him?’
    Yet, what we know as Christians is that our God is the God of His perfect, holy law. In this light, He is indeed intolerant and vengeful against everyone who breaks His law and denies His perfect, holy will. Indeed, all of us are cursed under that law because of our sin and deserving of the same wrath that God ordered upon the peoples living in the lands God promised to the Israelites.
    But, we also know something else about our God, something that those who revile Him as intolerant and wrathful do not understand. We know that our God is also a God of mercy, and we know that truth through our faith in Jesus Christ our crucified and risen Lord and Savior.
    We know that God hates lawbreakers and that there is no way for anyone to keep from breaking that law. We also know that God knew that too, and that is why He sent Jesus to die on our behalf, having led the perfect, lawful life that we could never live. That is the great mystery of our God, that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us.
    Because we know that Grace, we can confidently respond to our fellow sinners, “You’re right, but did you know that same God gave us all a way out?†Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, for in Him we find our defense against the punishment of sin and against sinners alike.
DLH
