I killed an ant.
I just killed an ant. It was guilty of intruding. However, I slightly missed, and instead of immediately killing him, I wounded him to the point of immobility. In pity, I observed this for a moment. He tossed back and forth, unable to move.
This ant, a tiny creature, run by chemicals with a brain too simple to have cognition in any meaningful way – I felt a hint of compassion for it. I regretted its circumstance, yet I caused it. In some, very faint way, I looked at it and saw a tiny hint of humanity, though there was none. In justice, I completed the act of killing the ant – after all, it was against me and in my very own house.
Reflecting on this, I must wonder if this is somewhat like how God looks upon us:
We were enemies against him, not just in his creation, but part of his creation.
Although God’s law is good, our God-hating flesh is set against it, causing us to miss the mark and be wounded fatally.
God, having created mankind in his image, looks upon us with compassion, even as his holy justice commands our destruction.
Finally, in his choosing, God will deliver the death blow against humanity, victoriously finishing the “war” that we waged against him. (As if such a war could even be fought. The ant had more chance of defeating me.)
Yet, thankfully, God shows some mercy. In holy passion that we most closely understand as love (although our understanding is tainted and incomplete), God not only spared some of us “ants,” he healed us with the most intimate of precision. He healed us in such a way that we look up towards him and in faith marvel at his very nature.
Of course, there my analogy breaks down. For it wasn’t merely that God healed us. I had two choices: maintain the integrity of my dwelling place and kill the ant, or sully the nature of my dwelling place with the infestation of insects.
God, praise his holy plan!, willed a third option in our human parallel. The atoning death of Christ Jesus. For those whom he demonstrates his mercy towards, God neither destroys the sinner nor sullies his dwelling place. Instead, he carried out holy justice against the only human who could withstand it – God in human flesh, Y’shua, Jesus the Messiah. Sin is punished satisfying justice, Christ is crucified demonstrating compassion, and the elect are saved, demonstrating mercy!
What an awesome God, indeed!
Has God demonstrated himself to you in such a way that you realize you’re an ant, deserving to be squashed by his hand of justice? Praise God that he has revealed this to you. Repent of your inequality and beg for mercy, for he is willing and he is able to save.
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