• Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Wall of Support
    • Affiliates
  • Resources
  • Join our team
    • Open Positions
    • Write For Us
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Store
  • Contact
Joshua's Outpost
Support Us
Login
No Result
View All Result
JO
Support Us
Login
No Result
View All Result
Joshua's Outpost
No Result
View All Result

Annilative Love

At the cross, God showed his prodigious love, incalculable, immeasurable, and in this exact instance, he manifested his prodigious hatred - for evil.

Casey Gittleson by Casey Gittleson
November 10, 2021
in Faith
Reading Time: 3min read
0
Annilative Love

Annihilation… perhaps not the first word that comes to your mind when thinking of love?
(Note: I am not referencing the John Stott theory of annihilationism, to which I vehemently reject as dangerously unscriptural…)

If we are to consider God and his character with a pure lens, untainted by human bias or wishful thinking, but truly to consider his character as portrayed in the scriptures, well, we would then have to wrestle with the concept of wrath.

Read: We Are All Not Called To Do But to Be

Many pastors today in the west spend little time on the concept of wrath and make it into something only bullies would talk about… yet, on the other hand, no one in the scriptures spoke more of the concept of hell and everlasting torment than that of Jesus himself.

God, in the scriptures, is described characteristically as a lion and a lamb – all in one. We see this at the cross. Here, the great Emperor God-man, having taken flesh, gives himself over to a humbled state – even taking the weight of eternal punishment due many personally upon himself.

We see the overlapping of grace and wrath, God’s eternal unmitigated destructive power and justice is laid on Jesus’ brow, and in our stead, therefore offering revealing grace. God himself both takes the punishment on himself and relieves us (who would one day come to believe, and those who have believed) of punishment.

God Explained It Beforehand

I dare you to attempt to plumb the bottomless depths of this verse and come out unchanged–I reckon it impossible. But, truly, to let yourself succumb to this idea, you will come out a man having seen 10,000 years:

“But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand” (Isaiah 53:10, NASB 1977).

Long before Jesus, in the flesh, had entered the scene, God told us what would unfold. He said it clear as day, “the LORD was pleased To crush Him.” How could God find pleasure in this? Because His righteous wrath would be vented, and upon himself. 

A Broad Shouldered Savior

This was decisive. We have a broad-shouldered savior who went both obediently, against the will of his flesh, and also, willingly, as it was for God’s good pleasure. As it is written in John 10:17-18,

“For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Love Was Defined By Him

At the cross, God showed his prodigious love, incalculable, immeasurable, and in this exact instance, he manifested his prodigious hatred – for evil. He crushed his son because he crushed evil itself as it was laid upon him. In essence, if you have surrendered, repentant unto belief in the son, then Jesus has drunk your hell sentence, rightfully due you, down to the very last droplet.

At the cross, God showed his prodigious love, incalculable, immeasurable, and in this exact instance, he manifested his prodigious hatred – for evil.

Click To Tweet

To taste some morsel of the breadth of what has been done for you, believer, is to consider that God has had an infinite hatred in his love – and has completely satisfied this toward you in his son.

People who do not preach the realities of hell cannot possibly love. Because love himself preached on them more than anyone else.

Click To Tweet

People who do not preach the realities of hell cannot possibly love. Because love himself preached on them more than anyone else.

Join our mailing list and get a FREE Devotional plus 5% off on our Online Shop
We respect your privacy. No Spam Emails!

Casey Gittleson

Casey is passionate about helping other Christian men in their walk with Jesus Christ. His writings on faith draws from a love of malacology, kinesiology, and quantum physics.

Like what we do? Take a second to support us on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
Tags: GodJesusLove
Previous Post

Doctrine of Demons

Next Post

The Ordeal of Bitter Waters

Next Post
The Ordeal of Bitter Waters

The Ordeal of Bitter Waters

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Follow Us on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 105 other subscribers

The Frontline Podcast

  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
  • Join our team
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Store
  • Contact

© 2021 Joshua's Outpost. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Write For Us
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2021 Joshua's Outpost. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
%d bloggers like this: