Jesus' Love - Judgment

After the premortal council, we enter a period of time we can collectively call Old Testament Times, a time period from the creation of the world to a short while before the birth of Christ. During this time, Jesus, then known by the name Jehovah, acted as "the God of the Old Testament." He was the One to whom the ancient prophets prayed. He was the One who delivered the Children of Israel out of Egypt. And He was the One who led His people, both physically and spiritually, to the Promised Land. During this time, Jesus was known for His acts of judgment against the wicked and salvation for the righteous. He issued commandments, caused  and saved people from natural and supernatural disasters, and caused several plagues and miracles among mortals.

And all of these acts were done out of love. When we think of just the plagues and the curses and the destruction in the Old Testament, it's easy to imagine Jesus as an angry, vengeful God, yet that's not the kind of God He is. Jesus is just and fair and perhaps a bit frustrated at times, but as far as I can tell, he always tries to be kind and generous and merciful, to the extent that we allow Him to be. He cannot deny the demands of justice. He must be just. But He gives us as many warnings and second chances as are good for us. He sends us prophets to teach us how to be righteous and why righteousness is so important, then He hopes and prays that we listen so His judgments can reward us with blessings instead of punishing us with curses. And even when He curses us, He does so out of love, either to encourage us to repent so He can bless us or, in the case of fatal curses, to forestall us from getting ourselves into even worse trouble and hurting others along the way.

So, Jesus' judgments are a manifestation of His love. Both by blessing us and by cursing us, Jesus encourages us to follow the path that leads to happiness. I am grateful for the blessings and the curses that He has placed in my life and for the lessons they all taught me. I'm glad that I am on the path of happiness, and I'm grateful for all the nudging and prodding Jesus did to help me get here.