“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
All of the prophets, including Moses in Midian and at Mount Sinai, experienced some kind of “trauma” when they came close to the manifestation of God. It was a frightening and overwhelming time for each of them. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.” This was what happened to Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. They came face to face with the holiness of God, and in doing so they came face to face with themselves.
Most of us go through life living on a horizontal plane. We make the fatal mistake of judging ourselves in comparison to others. We indulge in self-flattery, considering ourselves only less than demigods until our gaze is turned toward heaven. And just as it is impossible for us to look unveiled into the brightness of the sun without our eyes being injured, it is a damaging experience to look at God’s holiness. It is devastating to consider God’s holiness and our own sinfulness. This is one reason that people don’t like to read the Scriptures. It’s one reason that they don’t like being around Christians. It’s why they don’t want to think about Christ and His pure and sinless life.
The cry for tolerance in our society is a cry against holiness. It is a plea for everyone to accept sinful behavior, and even to encourage it. People who love their sin, who live in the “darkness,” do not want to be judged. They don’t want a preacher, a friend, or a book to expose their sin for what it is. They want to continue their love affair with darkness, imagining themselves in marital bliss and surrounding themselves with false securities and comforts.
When we talk about the Gospel, it is imperative for us to talk about sin and holiness. If we only talk about acceptance, peace, and unconditional love, we fail to bring the whole truth to bear on a person’s conscience. It is difficult to tell someone the truth, to risk coming across as judgmental and intolerant, to watch someone go through the trauma of facing God’s holiness, but it is necessary if that person is ever going to be convicted of his sin. Until a person comes to this point, he is denying the real God. He is suppressing the truth about God’s holiness and about his own sinfulness.
Do you want to make unbelievers feel comfortable around you? Do you find that to do so you need to make compromises in what you say about God or even in how you live? It helps in such situations to remember that the world hates God. Only He can change that fact with His truth and the power of His Spirit.
