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Please open a Bible to the place where it is written, "Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." Little understood, largely disdained, the concept of biblical hatred languishes in deserted wastes of
Christian thought. It is ignored, defamed and denied most everywhere now but in God and in His Word. This text in Psalms 139:21 rises in mysterious, unsettling contrast with the dissonant commotion of the more commonly
emphasized doctrine of divine love. Yet, without a deep comprehension of the hatred of God, it is nearly impossible to rightly comprehend His love. What is perfect hatred? Who and what should we hate?
Why should we hate? What is the nature of wholesome, perfect hatred? Do we have it? How do we cultivate it? The psalmist claimed a hatred of those that hate the LORD, and even sought commendation from
the LORD while in this state of hatred. He claimed that his hatred was perfect! He followed this bold statement with a request for God to reveal to him any trace of wickedness yet remaining in him: "Search me, O God,
and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." What an unspeakable contrast to modern prayer, that one should boast to God of a wholesome
hatred, and then sincerely request that any wickedness yet resident in the heart or mind might be discovered and purged! Is hatred only in the psalmist? God Himself claims to hate the wicked, "
Certainly such concepts are foreign to the God of the New Testament! Or are they? Does not God commend hatred in the early church? "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate." (Rev 2:6,15) God hates the deeds and the doctrine of the wicked, certainly. Does He hate still the doer of the deeds? Has He really changed that much in the last few thousand years? I don't
think so, with Him there "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17) He still hates His enemies, and encourages us to do the same. He also commands us to hate the sinfulness of this
world. When evangelizing the lost He says, "Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."
(Jude 23) Every vestige of the wickedness of this world is to be an abomination to us. We are to hate, yet we are to love. We are to love the enemies of God: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matt 5:44) We are to love and also to hate our enemies… at least the enemies of the Lord, which should ideally
be the same as our enemies. Is there a type of hatred that is bad, that we should avoid? There most certainly is, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him." (1 John 3:15) Hatred is also listed as a work of the flesh and is not good. (Gal 5:20) Are there are two types of hatred? one promoted and the other cursed? We must clearly
understand what hatred is, and understand when it is righteous and when it is wicked. We must discern both wholesome, perfect hatred and carnal selfish hatred. We must carefully cultivate a healthy hatred, and cleanse
ourselves of all unhealthy hatred. Perhaps the best way to understand hatred is to consider its companion: love. There is a righteous love, and there is a wicked love. Love for God and righteousness is godly,
and love of the world is ungodly: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2:15) Notice
that if one loves the world, then one does not love God. If one loves the Lord, then one hates evil: "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." (Ps 97:10) "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and
the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." (Pr 8:13) Hate and love are the intrinsic expressions of every godly heart. What we love, its opposite we hate. The two emotions spring from the very
same heart with the very same motive. If we love humility, then we hate arrogance, as God hates pride and loves humility. If we love the world we cannot love the kingdom of God, and if we love God we will hate the god of this
world. If we love righteousness and goodness we will hate wickedness and evil… and visa versa. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt 6:24) See how hate and love go together... and cannot be separated. The opposite of love is not hate… the opposite of both
hate and love is apathy. Caring intensely is both love and hate: the opposite of caring intensely is not caring at all. If you have no hatred, then you have no love. If you do not care… to hate or love… you serve
nothing… you are dysfunctional, immobile, sick, broken. To study perfect hatred is to study perfect love. To have the one is to have the other. To lack either is to to be empty of both. How is it
that we are to love and hate at the same time? How does God love and hate? God loves by caring and He hates by caring. God loves men by providing for their eternal welfare and promoting their good; God seeks
our spiritual and earthly good and waits for us to repent. He has compassion on us when we are sick and heals us, when we are hungry He feeds us, when we are thirsty He leads us to water; when we are cold He provides a means
of shelter. God mercifully sends both rain and sunshine to the wicked, makes their crops to grow and sustains their livestock with health and strength. He gives them jobs, wealth, family, pleasure. He cares deeply for
the wicked, and in His goodness God patiently and persistently leads them to repentance. Yet God hates the nature of sinners because He cares about obedience and holiness; He hates the way they are, the very
fabric of their frame and constitution, what they do, why they do it, and how they think. God hates what sinners love and loves what sinners hate. "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight
of God." (Luke 16:15b) There is absolutely nothing about a sinner that God admires, understands, appreciates, or accepts. Every sinner is altogether loathsome to God, abhorrent to Him, despicable, detestable, vile. God
hates absolutely everything about a sinner, because He passionately loves holiness and there is absolutely nothing holy about a wretched sinner: every sinner is altogether and intensely unholy. "The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer 17:9) "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away." (Is 64:6) "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are
swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes." (Rom 3:10-18) The same heart that finds passionate love for
Jesus Christ will likewise find passionate hatred for satan. What draws forth unspeakable adoration for the holiness and purity of Jesus Christ will likewise draw forth violent revulsion for the corruption and filthiness of
the devil. The two responses are identical in nature, both springing from the same source and having the same intrinsic qualities and properties, being consistently appropriate responses to opposite stimuli. What creates love
likewise creates hatred. A selfish and wicked heart hates a man and seeks to destroy him. A righteous heart hates a man and seeks his welfare. A wicked man loves darkness, hates light, and avoids the light
because his deeds are evil. (John 3:19) A righteous heart loves the light (1 John 5:1). The wicked take pleasure in the wickedness of others (Rom 1:32) and love them (John 15:19a). A child of the light grieves over sin and rejoices
in the truth (1 Cor 13:6). The saint hates and abhors lying, vain thoughts and every false way (Ps 119:128,163), but loves the law of God, His testimonies, and His statutes (Ps 119:127,159). Consistently, the wicked also hate the
children of God (John 15:19b) and seek to destroy them (John 16:2), and as we have seen, the righteous hate the wicked and seek to bless them. In either state, the source of the love and hate is the same. What makes hatred right or wrong is the heart it springs from, not the hatred or love itself. So what are the things you should hate with perfect hatred?
"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me." (Ps 101:3) "Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way
." (Ps119:104) "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love." (Ps119:113) "I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love." (Ps119:163) "Do not I hate them
, O LORD, that hate thee?" (Ps 139:21) "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." (Pr 8:13) The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The wicked have no fear of God, hence they have no hatred of evil. If you have no hatred for evil, then you have no fear of God, and you have no love for God: "Ye
that love the LORD, hate evil." (Ps 97:10a) As you love, you hate. Cultivate love for God and hatred for satan, love for truth and hatred for lying and falsehood and deceit. Love others by seeking their welfare, but hate
everything about the wicked that comprises them and makes them tick, counting them your enemies and hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. (Jude 23) Seek not the lukewarm, "middle ground" of apathy lest God spew you
out, (Rev 3:16) but rather return to your first love… and your first hatred. "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do
the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
" (Rev 2:4-6) |
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