One could almost feel sorry for Commander Jerjerrod in the opening scene of Return of the Jedi.
He is told by Darth Vader that the Emperor will soon be arriving at the second Death Star and that he is displeased with the lack of progress. The Commander stutters out that they will double their efforts.
Vader replied, “I hope so, Commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.”
Vader’s reply is chilling and somewhat humorous, based on what Vader has done in A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.
We know that Vader does not forgive in the least. He had force-choked and killed many high-ranking officers for their mistakes. Yet he is more forgiving than the Emperor?
Since Jonathan Edwards’ 1741 sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” many view God like that, an angry God that is looking to smack the snot out of sinners.
While that is not the point of that sermon, the title sticks in people’s minds. If they read 1 John 4:8, it tells us, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
What is love?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a tells us, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
2 Peter 3:9 shows God’s patience.
And John 3:16-17 shows us how much God loves us.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
God is holy, and God is love.
We must embrace His love and gift of salvation before facing His divine justice after our death.
