As I’ve been working my way through Revelation in my quiet times, one of the most jarring things I’ve encountered is the scenes where heaven celebrates God’s judgment of the world. To choose just one example, in chapter 11 the elders that surround God’s throne sing:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.
The nations were angry,
and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your people who revere your name,
both great and small – and for destroying those who destroy the earth”
(Revelation 11:17-18).
They praise God because he reigns, but also because he is pouring out his wrath on the nations, and destroying the wicked. They celebrate God’s justice and his punishment of sin, and I think that in doing so, these heavenly beings are remembering something that we often try very hard to forget: that sin always has victims. And those victims deserve justice.
This celebration definitely goes against the grain of 21st century American culture. In our churches we rarely even warn anybody about God’s judgment anymore. We certainly don’t often praise him for it.
As I consider this, one thought that occurs to me is that, although God is very, very patient, he is not tolerant. Our society likes to preach tolerance as the supreme virtue (although some of those who preach it the loudest are notably intolerant of anyone who disagrees with them.). But when I look into Scripture, it seems to me that tolerance is not actually a virtue at all. Often it can be the lesser evil, but the lesser evil is still an evil; it never becomes good. And if we mistake God’s patience for tolerance we’re making a deadly error. As the Apostle Paul wrote:
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4).
The Greek word translated “forbearance” here is anochē, which Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines as “a holding back,” and “a delay of punishment.” This is very much not tolerance. The Cambridge Dictionary defines tolerance as “willingness to accept behaviour and beliefs that are different from your own, although you might not agree with or approve of them.” And the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines it as “willingness to allow people to do, say, or believe what they want without criticizing or punishing them.” Nowhere in Scripture do we see God acting this way. In fact, a common criticism of the Bible is that statements like: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) are intolerant. And you know what? That’s right. It is intolerant, because God is not tolerant of sin, or of chasing after false gods of any kind. What he is, is patient. And for those who abuse his patience he is, in the end, just.
So what does this mean for us? Are we supposed to get in our neighbors’ faces and call out their sins? Probably not. In Scripture that’s generally the role of only a few select prophets. For most of us, we should rather follow Peter’s instructions:
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (1 Peter 2:11-12).
Godly intolerance begins with refusing to tolerate sin in my own life, not with looking at others. With my neighbors, godly intolerance is always paired with godly patience. And with speaking, when appropriate, not only about sin, but also about forgiveness. Remember that it was specifically because God does not tolerate sin that he made a way for sinners to be reconciled with him forever. And that is worth celebrating.