Jonah 3:1-10; 4:1-10
Does God punish? The question begs an answer which we must thoroughly research. When humans attribute characteristics to God’s person, we tread on sacred and unexplored ground. I say unexplored because which of us could define the infinite attributes of The Spirit?
Our God, the creator of the heavens and the Earth, has a mysterious character. Mysterious because although the Bible speaks about God in many ways, there are insufficient details to help us define this powerful, all-knowing Spirit. Neither could we decide how God will or will not react in any given situation. At our best, we could search the scriptures and pronounce an educated guess.
The scriptures tell us that God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit and truth. One of the best and simple descriptions of God the Spirit I found in Benson’s Commentary:
“God is a Spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind; an intelligent being, yea, the supreme Intelligence, who by one act sees the thoughts of all other intelligences whatever, and so may be worshipped in every place; he is incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, and incorruptible.”
Of course, while we will agree that the description is brilliant, it is but a speck of dust on the surface of Mars in its effort to describe the creator of the universe.
Bearing all this in mind, how could we get at least some idea of how our God deals with human behavior? My offer is Jesus; He is my idea of the closest human example of God. Jesus did say, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.”
So, for me, it’s quite plain; if you want to get the best human impression of God’s character, check the red letters in the four gospels.
At this point, you might ask, ‘What about the rest of the Bible?’ My response is, “I did say the BEST impression.” In any event, Jesus also said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Okay, let’s do a little summary here in case we’ve lost our way:
We are looking at the character of God. And have accepted that God is a Spirit, and we cannot attribute human qualities to The Spirit. The closest human characteristics to God are found in Jesus and recorded in the four Gospels. Jesus is one with God, who lives within Him. If you accept this summary, then you will also agree that:
His primary purpose was to fulfill the law (not ceremonial law) on this Earth. Jesus achieved this by doing God’s will on Earth, dying on the cross to free humankind from the law; all of which established the coming-in of the New Testament (or The Kingdom of God on the Earth. ) He established the Kingdom of God within us. Jesus didn’t just ‘die for my sins’; He fulfilled the law so God could forgive me and place his Kingdom in me!
Jesus prayed to God, telling God that He “…finished the work you have given me to do.” And His last words on the cross, “It is finished.” Words that signify the law had been fulfilled, and his purpose on this Earth accomplished – Amen!
It would follow then that if we walk in the shoes of Jesus, we are walking with God inside us – right? We have no mandate to punish others in our life on Earth – right? Jesus never punished anyone in his earthly life – right?
Now you are all clear on all the above, we are ready to talk about ‘Does God Punish?’
We will use the scriptures from the book of Jonah Jonah 3:1-10; 4:1-10. As I will not be doing a commentary on the story of Jonah, I have decided to start at the point where Jonah is making his way to Nineveh after his soirée in the belly of a whale.
I chose this scripture because it is an excellent dialogue of how God is ready to forgive and how He deals with the human attitude toward compassion and punishment—lastly, His response to Jonah’s view.
It would be advantageous for the reader to read through this teaching without following the references. After the initial read, read again and follow up on the references.
As a Bible teacher for over 20 years, I provide scriptures to support my teachings and to ease the fear of the wary.
Peter James