Sabbath School

The Language of Love and Justice

How God balances compassion and righteousness

René Gehring

Share
Comments
The Language of Love and Justice
Midjourney.com

Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250 AD), the former emperor of the Roman-German Empire, is said to have carried out a terrible experiment for supposedly scientific reasons. He wanted to know what the original language of mankind was. He assumed that Hebrew was the language of Adam and Eve in paradise. So that would probably be the language that children would speak if they were allowed to grow up without any linguistic influence. Or would it perhaps be the language of their parents after all—or Latin, Greek or Arabic? Without parents or educators speaking to them, their natural language would emerge. That was the king’s calculation.

He had some newborn babies taken away from their mothers and handed over to wet nurses, who were under strict orders not to talk to them or caress them tenderly. They were only to be given milk, bathed, and washed. That was all the care they were given. It wasn’t long before all the children died. None survived, and none spoke any language. They could not survive without the loving care of smiles, caresses, and friendly words. Satisfying their physical needs alone was far too little.

Even if this barbarism, now referred to as a “forbidden experiment,” did not reveal any primal language, another fact was proven even more clearly: humans require relationships and affection. We need the warmth of a smile, a hug, and compassionate conversation.

God’s unfailing care

Our heavenly Father, who created us like this, not only knows this—He also wants to meet us on precisely this level. As important as it is not to be guided by feelings, it is equally important not to overlook our basic human emotional needs. He therefore promises us a closeness and loyalty that far surpasses the care of parents: “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you” (Isa. 49:15, NASB).

This becomes particularly clear in the statements of the prophet Hosea. He tenderly describes how God takes His people in His arms and touchingly cares for them: “It is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms” (Hosea 11:3, NASB).

Presumably, no one has ever experienced God literally taking them in His arms and carrying them, as nice as that would be. God expresses His care in other ways. It is described in very practical prophetic descriptions in a very human and intimate way: “Raise your eyes and look around; all of them gather together, they come to you … For your ruins and deserted places and your destroyed land – now you will certainly be too cramped for the inhabitants. The children you lost will yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me; make room for me that I may live here'” (Isa. 49:18-20, NASB).

God’s closeness is shown first and foremost through the people He gives us. This applies most of all to our family. But He also shows His love and care through those we meet outside of it, especially through the community in His church. That is why it is so important to Him that His people, in particular, are always there for others as a channel of this care (Matt. 25:40).

But it is not only these people who serve as God’s “arm” to carry us. Even the mighty of the nations are called by God: “Kings will be your guardians, and their princesses your nurses” (Isa. 49:23, NASB). These are unique moments when even the great ones of the earth stand up for a little child of God. It is often during these times that people recognize God’s supernatural intervention (verse 26).

Have we accepted God’s love and mercy for us—and passed it on in the same way to other people for whom God has provided us as their caregivers?

The limits of grace

We are given special insight into the emotional world of God and His inner struggle as Hosea continues: “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled. I will not carry out My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath” (Hosea 11:8-9, NASB).

Now it becomes even more personal. God has not only created us with feelings; He himself feels very strongly. The fact that He created us in His image affects not only our body and our mind but also our feelings. In this, too, we resemble Him, and in this, too, we should emulate Him and become more and more like Him. Just as He restrains His own (naturally righteous) anger and allows love to prevail instead, we, too, should emerge victorious from our inner battles and not allow ourselves to be dominated by negative emotions.

The comparison with the fall of the daughter cities of Sodom makes one wonder. Did they not deserve to be destroyed by God? It is interesting that neither Sodom nor Gomorrah are mentioned, only the cities closely associated with them. Presumably, He wants to tell us that there is a degree of sin where He must intervene with severity—as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. He has mercy until the end, however, on all those who are closely associated with sin but for whom there is still hope.

This is also expressed in Jesus’ heartbreaking lament over Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37, NASB). It was still a time of grace for Jerusalem, her fate could still be averted. God’s love and grace still triumphed over judgment.

But at some point, all the sin of this world also exceeds the endless forbearance of God, who feels all the suffering on this planet: “As the ‘whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together’ (Rom. 8:22-26, NASB), the heart of the infinite Father is pained in sympathy. Our world is a vast lazar house, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. Did we realize it as it is, the burden would be too terrible. Yet God feels it all.”[1]

God feels all the pain in this world. How long will He hold back His anger at all the injustice and suffering caused by sin? In Jerusalem and Sodom and Gomorrah, there came a time when God’s heartfelt love turned to anger and righteous judgment. Bible prophecy shows us that this will also affect our entire planet in the near future. The important question for us then is: Have we accepted God’s love and mercy for us—and passed it on in the same way to other people for whom God has provided us as their caregivers, as nurses, as parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances? Have we done this even when they did not seem to deserve our attention and help?


Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.


[1] Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), 263-4.

René Gehring

Dr. René Gehring, MA, is president of Bogenhofen Seminary and a theology teacher.

Advertisement blank