(052) – THE WAY OF GOD

 

God the Father has one only way, and Jesus declares that he this way. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6). This declaration of Jesus means to say that religion does not lead to God, that is, it is not the way. The Law of Moses is not the way to God (Rom. 3:20; Heb. 7:18,19). Charity or good works are not the way to the Father either (Eph. 2:8-10). Our righteousness does not amount to anything (Titus 3:4-7). ONLY JESUS TAKES MAN TO GOD, THAT IS WHY HE IS THE WAY. There are no other ways.

What may leave the reader a little bit confused is that Jehovah says that there are many ways. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares Jehovah” (Is. 55:8). “And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion’” (Is. 2:3). “Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to know My ways” (Is. 58:2).

If Jesus said that there is only one way, why did Jehovah declare them to be many? Moses said: “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just” (Deut. 32:4).

Job, unjustly deprived of everything, and also of his children, tells us in his lament: “Know then that God has wronged me, and has closed His net around me. Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass; and He has put darkness on my paths, he has stripped my honor from me, and removed the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree. He has also kindled His anger against me, and considered me as His enemy. His troops come together, and build up their way against me” (Job 19:6-12). If Job, whom Jehovah considered righteous and sincere, fearing God, was taken in Jehovah’s net, suffered violence, walked in darkness, dishonored, all broken up, without hope, etc, we are all lost and disgraced. Someone will say, “This was all in the Old Testament. Now is the time of the grace of Jesus.” We must think, “Has God changed? Was He indifferent before, and today is love? (Job 1:1; John 4:7-8).

Let us analyze the way of Jehovah in the life of David. This man, even though he had a heart like Jehovah’s heart, committed some serious sins. He seduced the wife of one of his thirty valiant men.  He devised a diabolical plan in order to kill the husband, a faithful soldier. In the end, he sent a letter to Joab, the captain of the army, with the plan for the death of Uriah. Who took the letter? Uriah himself. What a hideous crime! The crime accomplished, he went to bed with Uriah’s wife. David deserved to die, just as Jehovah did to other sinners (1 Sam. 13:14; 2 Sam. 11:1-17).

The way that Jehovah took was, instead of chastising David, to torture him; he revealed to David that he, Jehovah, would be the author of a series of calamities upon David’s family “Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house” (2 Sam. 12:10). Jehovah set Absalom against his father David, and David ran so that he would not have to kill his son. Absalom, while reigning, practiced incest with his father’s wives, in public (2 Sam. 16:22). This impudent act was the way Jehovah chose to punish David “Thus says Jehovah, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight’” (2 Sam. 12:11). Jehovah aroused the covetousness of Amnon, David’s first-born, for his daughter Tamar. This man, maddened by desire, violated his own sister, who was also Absalom’s sister. Absalom, offended with this, killed Amnon, and later took the throne from his own father. Finally, Joab, captain of David, killed Absalom. David, just as Job did, accused Jehovah of having abandoned him, for Solomon, chosen of Jehovah, was the cause of the destruction of the kingdom. It was part, therefore, of Jehovah’s vengeance against David. We will transcribe David’s declaration: “But Thou hast cast off the dejected, Thou hast been full of wrath against Thine anointed. Thou hast spurned the covenant of Thy servant; Thou hast profaned his crown in the dust. Thou hast broken down all his walls; Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin. All who pass along the way plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors. Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries; Thou hast made all his enemies rejoice. Thou dost also turn back the edge of his sword, and hast not made him stand in battle. Thou hast made his splendor to cease, and cast his throne to the ground” (Ps. 89:38-44).

We will number here a few of the ways of Jehovah:

  1. Fear, which according Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10; 14:27). Jehovah terrorizes in order to awaken fear. He terrorized David (1 Chr. 21:30). He terrorized Aaron when he killed his two sons before his eyes (Lev. 10:1-3). Moses was terrorized with the terrible sight of Mount Sinai (Heb. 12:20,21).
  2. Darkness was one of the favorite ways of Jehovah. God is light, and there is no darkness in him (1 John 1:5). Jehovah lived among his people (Num. 5:3). How could Jehovah live among his people and the people still be in darkness? (Is. 9:2; Ps 107:6-10). If God is light and Jehovah is god, how could he hide himself in darkness? (Ps. 18:11). Jehovah brought darkness to Job’s way (Job 19:8). He made Jeremiah to walk in darkness and not in the light (Lam. 3:1,2). Jehovah blinded his people so that they would walk in darkness (Is. 6:10; Is. 59:9-10).
  3. Jehovah has his ways in the whirlwind and the storm (Nah. 1:3). He showed himself to Job in a whirlwind (Job. 38:1). Jehovah descended from the Mount Sinai. The Sinai fumed, in fire. The fume went up as a furnace (Ex. 19:18). From his nostrils comes out smoke, from his mouth comes out fire, coals come out of him (Ps. 18:8; 50:3; Jer. 25:32,33).
  4. Jehovah has his ways in the evil. “And Jehovah, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you” (Jer. 11:17). “Thus says Jehovah, ‘Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you’” (Jer. 18:11). “‘For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good,’ declares Jehovah” (Jer. 21:10). “Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword and by famine until they are completely gone” (Jer. 44:27).
  5. Jehovah has his ways in the curses (Deut. 28:15-68).
  6. Jehovah has his ways in the lack of love and charity. He rebuked Samuel for pitying Saul (1 Sam. 16:1). He forbade Jeremiah to pray for his people (Jer. 11:14). In another occasion, he forbade the prophet to pray for the good (Jer. 14:11,12). As Jehovah abhorred his people, he demanded of poor Jeremiah that he also became disgusted with them (Ps. 78:58,59). There are many other ways of Jehovah, all evil.

The Father is all made of love (1 John 4:7,8). He demands that we love as he loved (Matt. 5:43-48). Every perfect thing and every good gift come from the Father of lights, where there is no variation and no shadow of shifting (James 1:17). The Father loves the lost so much, the sinners, the captives of Satan, that he sent his only-begotten Son. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him” (John 3:17).

This is the infallible way to God: Jesus.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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