Thursday: The Vindication of God’s Name
Daily Lesson for Thursday 13th of March 2025
Ultimately, God’s name is vindicated in every way. Through the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption, the perfect righteousness and love of God is manifested beyond any reasonable doubt (see Romans 3:25-26; Romans 5:8).
Read Romans 3:1-4 in light of Isaiah 5:3-4. What does this teach about God Himself being vindicated in the cosmic conflict? What more could He do than what He has done?
Image © Stan Myers Goodsalt.com
In Romans 3:1-31 and Isaiah 5:1-30, we see that God (in some limited sense) invites mere creatures to judge His character, even though we have no right or standing to do so. In the end, when all the “books” are opened, we will see the evidence that God is perfectly just and righteous. God will vindicate Himself before all intelligent creation.
Read Revelation 15:3 and Revelation 19:1-6. What do these passages teach about the vindication of God’s name in the end? What more could He do than what He has done?
Throughout Scripture, God shows concern for His name. Why? You cannot have a deep love relationship with someone whose character you detest or do not trust. If someone told your spouse or spouse-to-be horrible lies about your character, you would do what you could to counter any such claims, for if such claims are believed, they would fracture your love relationship.
In the end, God is vindicated at the cross and through the entire plan of redemption. In the pre-Advent judgment, God is vindicated before the onlooking universe.
Then, in the post-Advent judgment, during which the redeemed will even “judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3), God is vindicated, as the redeemed have been given the opportunity to review the records and see for themselves why God has acted as He has, and that all of God’s judgments have always and only been perfectly righteous and loving. Who among us doesn’t have a lot of questions that need answering? Before it’s all done, we will have those questions answered (see 1 Corinthians 4:5).
Finally, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). This is all part of the vindication of the character of God.
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The Bible says, God will ultimately destroy Satan and sin. Why did God not destroy Satan and sin in the first instance? God has allowed Satan and sin to run wild for a while causing great havoc on his creation, only to destroy them finally! Why? What does the Bible say about this costly “delay”? Did God mind so much about vindicating his name at the expense of human suffering?
The Bible submit that God’s ways are not our ways, and his ways are so deep for human mind to fathom (Isaiah 55:8-9). However, the Bible provides valuable information about the costly “delay”.
1. God’s justice and mercy must be revealed to demonstrate his nature as opposed to the nature of Satan. The universe must witness that God operates on the principle of love. Even the destruction Satan and sin will be accepted as an act of love.
2. God want the whole universe the witness the true nature of sin. All created beings must see the consequences of sin and when Satan and sin are finally destroyed, no one will doubt God’s love and justice.
3. God is not “delaying” destroying Satan and sin out of indecisiveness but out of love and justice. God is patient, not wanting anyone to be lost (2 Peter 3:9).
“And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvellous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations” – Revelation 15:3, NLT
A small group of nerds gather at my house once a fortnight to discuss our Raspberry Pi computers. We immerse ourselves in the world of Python code, general-purpose input output (GPIO) interfaces, breadboards, stepper motors, Pi-cameras, ultra-sound detectors and so on. Most people would not understand a word of what we say and are not even interested. Our wives think it is a great idea because it keeps us out of harm's way while they do the important stuff. When I tell my non-nerd friends that I am going to a Raspberry Pi meeting they look at me quizzically and wonder why we have to have a meeting about raspberry pies!
For a conversation about Raspberry Pi computers, you need to have a fair background in computers and technology to make sense of what is going on,
In many respects, our discussion about the vindication of God's name only makes sense when you have a lot of knowledge about what is going on. It makes sense to us because we read the Bible and look at the lessons and go to meetings about God and Satan where we become steeped in the knowledge and terminology. It frightens me sometimes that we become so knowledge oriented. This came to a head in my mind as I was reading one of books that others have mentioned in this study. It is a really great book, interesting to read, develops the theme logically, and uses Biblical references properly to give a big-picture relationship between God the Father, and Jesus. It appeals to me and my sense of theology. But someone without a Christian background would find the book about as interesting as one hundred pages of python code.
Which brings me to two points:
My point is that if we have the idea that our beliefs are going to be vindicated, it is probably not a very good starting point for sharing the Gospel with the secular mind. Christianity is not a nerd club where we talk nerd talk to one another but rather a sharing group.
Jesus made this point:
That does not sound like a nerd group to me!
Where in Scripture, not “the Spirit of Prophecy”, do we find these “serious” allegations or accusations of Satan against the character of God that has God spending all His time up to the cross trying to defend against or disprove these allegations.
The accusations are directed towards creating doubts in the minds of his creations. Genesis 3:1 NIV
[1] Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
He was accusing God of being deceitful and selfish
Even in the book of Job, Satan was accusing God of ruling a kingdom where people served him only for rewards and not genuine love.
We should always serve God with the intention of getting to know him genuinely and to love, honor him not being of our earthly desires but because we deserve to seek his face and know him, the desire to do his will, to glorify his name.
Like King David, be a person after God's heart.
I found another passage that clearly addresses the vindication of God's name, which was not in the lesson. It was very helpful in my understanding of today's lesson. It's Ezekiel 36:23, which says: "And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes."
Then what did God do after He told us what He would do to protect His name? He said, "I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean" "I will give you a heart of flesh, replacing your stony heart." Sounds like He not only wants us to be clean on the outside, He wants us to have a passionate, longsuffering heart also, so we can reflect Him. Neet thing is, He does not let us alone to do it ourselves, He does it for us, if we are willing to be made willing(free will,yes!). These are some of the promises He forever keeps. The decision is now on our shoulder. In other words we still have a choice. Do we let God clean us and give us a new heart, or do we reject Him. I prefer the former. I am sure you do too.
Ezekiel 36:23-26.
Catch you next week Courtney. or tomorrow. We welcome your comments.
John
I did not fully comprehend this passage in Isaiah 63:4 until this week. The passage says: "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted". The new insight I have is that many onlookers witnessing his suffering and Crucifixion thought that God was punishing him for sins he had committed (esteemed him stricken…..of God).
Maybe (so they thought) he was being punished for one or more of the following sins that made God furious:
1. Healing on the Sabbath
2. Questioning the authority of the “ministers of God” (Pharisees and Sadducees)
3. Not conforming to some of the sacred religious rituals of the time (like the time he ate with “unwashed hands”)
4. For healing (supposedly) using the power of Beelzebub
5. For saying he could “raise the temple” in three days (from their perspective, how cocky!)
6. Worse of all: For claiming to be the Messiah when everyone knew his parents, siblings and the little town he was from – A place where nothing good ever came out of.
Can you identify any other "sin" that he might have been accused of?
Nobody is perfect. Our character must be hidden in Christ because if it is, He will work on it till it shines like gold or precious stones. God's astonishing plan is to restore anyone to His original image. Right now, we are just a glimpse, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can become valuable instruments.
It appears that aspects of God’s 'persona' shaped how we perceive His 'Name'. But what balances the obvious benevolence of His character with the seemingly destructive aspects we sometimes attribute to Him? I believe the answer lies in the ongoing conflict — a war of ‘ways’ — between our Creator and His created being, lucifer, along with those he entices to follow him. The great controversy - God’s Way of ’Love’ vs. the ways of evil.
Regardless of who opposes the divine order established by our Creator, ultimately, God’s Way of Love prevails. His Spirit alone sustains, recreates, and upholds true Life continuously - John 6:44. Any other way leads to decay and destruction — both spiritually and physically.
For example, despite the many privileges granted to the chosen children of Israel — intended to make them a beacon for the world to know their Creator, it became evident that all people, including them, must follow God’s Way. Every knee must bow before the authority given to Jesus Christ, God’s Son – Phil. 2:10-11.
The ‘vindication of God’s Name’ is fought in the heavenly realms and here on earth. His adversaries wield great powers to distort and resist all that is good - Ephesians 6:12. Yet, we are assured that, in the end, all of creation — both in heaven and on earth — will witness the triumph of those fighting on the side of His Name of Love over those fighting in the adversary's 'name' of evil.
His Name is Life itself - expressed by His Holy Spirit and experienced by man in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - Gal.5:22-23. There is no other way for Life to exist. To prove it, God is willing to go as far as replacing heaven and earth where only His Righteousness and Goodness can dwell. Nothing is too difficult for Him — for He LOVES – 2 Peter 3:13-14; Rev.21:1.