For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Psalm 5:4-6

These words from Psalm 5 do not fit with many people’s ideas about God—including a great many who call themselves Christians. There are those who believe all people are basically good. Why would God say this about Himself if that were true. Others believe that though we are not perfect, God forgives everybody of everything. If that were so, why would Jesus have spoken so much about Hell, and why the word picture of an eternal lake of fire in Revelation 20? Still others think God will take the people who are better than most, or those whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds to Heaven—and certainly these imagine themselves among the good people.

Yet God’s Word, the Bible, says God hates the wicked and the bloodthirsty. Most are okay with that. But what about the boastful (proud)? And those who lie? Which of us hasn’t? Well, God sees all of us in these few verses because elsewhere He says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

There is only One who is good: Jesus, because He is God. And yet on the cross, “He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Think of that in light of the words of Psalm 5.

While on the cross, as our sins were poured out on Jesus, God took no pleasure in Him. He was not allowed to dwell with His Father. God hated Him. He was destroyed as a liar. God abhorred Him.

Jesus willingly endure all that for those who trust in Him so that we may be embraced by the Father as only Jesus deserves to be embraced.

Glory!