The Compassionate God

 

Michelangelo's Last Judgement, Sistine Chapel

'Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression.... You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.' Micah 7:18-19

I was converted to Christianity from a religion of ancestral worship and of praying with joss sticks to very fierce looking gods in the Chinese temples. I remember going to Haw Par Villa and staring in fear at the figurines of souls being tortured in hell. My mum would whisper in my ears this would be the fate of naughty children. My vivid memories when visiting the Chinese temples were the large statues of fearsome Taoist mythical gods down on me. They look merciless. 

My childhood home at Kim Chuan Road was about 200 metres from a neighbour who was a temple medium. Visitors would come to ask the medium to tell their fortune or bring offerings. Then he would performed a ritual in which he would go into a trance, whipped his body and cut his tongue with a sharp sword. I was so afraid each time I heard the clanging of gongs and cymbals; more so when returning home from school I had to pass by the house-temple just a few feet away as the medium went into a trance. 

There is a annual procession of the Nine-Emperor Gods from Lorong Tai Seng near where I lived, to Kusu Island. We were brought to watch the processions which were loud and noisy. The men who carried the palanquins of the gods would go into a trance, move and shake uncontrollably as the palanquins were made to sway from side to side. Firecrackers were lighted and thrown at the feet of the pall bearers. I was always frightened.

So, accompanying our parents to worship in these temples or being made to join the processions of the gods, children became acquainted with good and evil and the reality of hell. We grew up trapped in a fatalistic view of life and its inevitable cycles of naughty deeds and punishment. The only recourse, it seems, was to appease these Gods by offerings, incense, prayer and worship.

How can we can escape the entrapment; the fierce  stares of these idols? How can we escape the gates of hell? How can we atone for our sins? 

Fortunately from this religious background of deeds, rewards and retribution, I found the God of Christianity and discovered that my sins can be forgiven. I no longer need to live in fear of hell and recrimination. I discovered the compassionate God of Christianity whose forgiveness is well extolled in Psalm 103. 

'Praise the Lord, my soul and forget not all His benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pits and crowns you with love and compassion.' Psalm 103:2-4

'The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.' Psalm 103:8

'He will not always accuse nor will he harbour His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.' Psalms 103:9-10

'Praise the Lord, my soul and forget not all His benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.' Psalm 103:3-4

As a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.' Psalms 103:13

However, this forgiveness is not simply dispensed automatically as with modern day ATMs. Instead it is related to the salvation found in Jesus Christ. It starts with the realisation of sin and evil and culminates in the compassionate forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. The truth of John 3:16-17 turned me from living in fear to living in faith.

'For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.' John 3:16-17

This dual and intertwining dispensations of salvation and forgiveness is magnificently portrayed in the painting of The Last Judgement by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine chapel, St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. Michelangelo depicted human characters and their passages to hell or heaven, the consequences of life. At very centre of this human drama is the compelling image of Jesus Christ, whose forgiveness rescued us from condemnation to salvation.  

This same epiphany is also exclaimed in Charles Wesley's hymn  'And Can It Be'. Kindly listen to it, beautifully sung by the 200 voices choir of Chennai India.

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Savior’s blood
Died He for me, who caused His pain
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace
Emptied Himself of all but love
And bled for Adam’s helpless race
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free
For O my God, it found out me!
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light
My chains fell off, my heart was free
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?

No condemnation now I dread
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine
Alive in Him, my living Head
And clothed in righteousness divine
Bold I approach the eternal throne
And claim the crown, through Christ my own
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou my God, shouldst die for me?

And so, rather than cringe under the accusing and condemning eyes of Taoist mythical gods, I seek forgiveness from a compassionate God, the same way that David did in Psalm 51:1-3

'Have mercy on me, O God, according to our Your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know that my transgressions and my sin is always before me' 

Like the Wesleyan hymn this prayer is well articulated by a modern hymn All We Like Sheep by Don Moen

All we like sheep have gone astray

Each of us turning our own separate way

We have all sinned and fallen short of Your glory

But Your glory is what we desire to see

And in Your presence is where we long to be

O Lord show us Your mercy and grace

Take us to Your holy place forgive our sin 

and heal our land we long to live

In Your presence once again

Taking our sickness, taking our pain

Jesus the sacrifice Lamb has been slain

He was despised rejected by men He took our sin

Draw us near to you, Father through Jesus Your Son

Let us worship before You cleansed by Your blood

Have you been to Jesus for this cleansing power? The cleansing of the soul from sin is not just by right or good deeds or making restitution. The cleansing is provided entirely by the grace of God.

Lionel