The God of the Living
November 28, 2021
Exodus 3 “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” doesn’t technically say anything about resurrection, though Jesus says we should grasp from that statement that “He is God not of the dead, but of the living,” (Mt. 22.32) and thus that the resurrection is real.
Our God is the God of the living. He is the God who gives life to all creatures, and “In him we live and move and have our being,” (Acts 17.28). God breathed life into Adam (Gen. 2.7), and gives life to all creatures (Ps. 104).
Our God is the God of the living. This is why murder and bloodshed are so problematic throughout Scripture. Bloodshed is so contrary to God’s will and God’s order that it has cosmic implications. The Israelite who does not slaughter an animal in the correct way is guilty of bloodshed and should be cast out from the people (Lev. 17.1-7). Whoever eats blood, Israelite or alien in their midst, must be cut off from the people, “for the life of the flesh is in the blood,” (Lev. 17.10-13). Cain murders Abel, and the ground opens its mouth to receive the blood. Abel’s blood, from the mouth of the earth, cries out to God, and Cain is cursed from the ground, which will no longer produce for Cain (Gen. 4.8-12).
Our God is the God of the living. Anyone who commits premeditated murder is to be executed (Ex. 21.12), even as someone who accidentally commits murder has their safety provided for (Ex. 21.13). Death is required to make up for death, but that must not be taken too far. The life of a murderer is given to the family of the murdered, but the life of someone who commits manslaughter is not.
Our God is the God of the living. When he sent his prophets, God criticizes both his people (Isa. 5.7; Ezek. 9.9, 35.6; Hos. 4.1-3), as well as the nations in general (Assyria, Nah. 3.1; Babylon, Hab. 2.12), for bloodshed.
So what, then, will our God of the living say to us? What must we say to the nation in which we dwell? Will we be silent, even though we know our God has a day of judgment against every nation who commits bloodshed, whether Assyria or Babylon, Rome or America?
Our God is the God of the living. What will he say to a nation which thinks it must stand up for the life of an unborn child or a pregnant mother, while doing precious little to care for the life of those already born? What will he say to a nation which spends more money on their military than the next several nations combined, and then uses that military to bomb women and children? What will our God say to his people if they are silent about issues like abortion, women’s health, the military, care for refugees and immigrants, poverty, healthcare, policing, and the disproportionate killing of people who look a certain way? Our God is the God of the living, so we must be people of life.
—John Coffey
