Hate is good…

…when you hate the right things.

This post title is intended to direct your attention to the obvious: hate is in the air. Enmity pollutes our current toxic social climate and pressurizes our relationship atmosphere. Let’s get to the intended question: What’s the right thing to hate? Ezekiel 35:5 is a helpful barometer of hate. Enmity in the eyes of God is our gauge:

⁵"Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end, ⁶therefore as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "I will give you over to bloodshed…since you have not hated bloodshed… bloodshed will pursue you. Ezekiel 35:5

EPOSITION: Enmity—eybah in Hebrew (אֵיבָה)—means hostility, hatred. When you have enmity, you have a strong disdain for someone (or thing), so much so, you treat your brother as the enemy.

Backstory: In God’s view, Edom was against Him and His people. They had a history of enmity. It goes back to the hatred of Esau and Jacob, twin brothers who were against each other from the womb. Esau’s descendants became Edom. Jacob’s offsprings became biblical Israel. Edom was against Israel: they refused Israel passage through their land during the exodus journey. Edom conspired with Babylon in the exile of Israel and celebrated Jerusalem’s fall. So, God prophesied against Edom through Ezekiel: Edom, you hated my people, I will hate you. Because of your bloodshed, bloodshed will visit you.

Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that God hates unjustified violence against your brother. And if God hates violence, you should hate this kind of violence. God has other enmities.

God hates sin. We see His hatred of sin in his enmity against sin’s chief agent—Satan—in Genesis 3:15. God forecast there will be a hatred between Satan who will be against the future offspring (seed) of a woman—Christ.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Gen:3:15

God hates spiritual rebellion.  When human will is against God’s will there is   spiritual enmity. When you disobey God’s law and side with your self-centered law, there is rebellion. We see that opposition in Romans 8:7-8: For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God...those in the flesh cannot please God.

God hates walls to reconciliation.  Barriers of unforgiveness separate brother to brother, and man to God. Reconciliation through Christ that restores relationships according to Ephesians 2:6:  …reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

God hates the values of the world. Pride, greed, selfishness etc.—when you value the world’s values over the values of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness etc., God’s not happy. You’re his enemy according to James 4:4:  4Ye adulterers… know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

ILLUSTRATION: How does good hate look today?  A 19-year-old Walmart worker in Princeton, Texas, found himself in a strange situation when a customer in his checkout line did not have enough money.  The cashier took out his own money and paid the rest of the customer’s bill. Laci Simms was in the line and took a photo of John Lopez Jr. extending an act of kindness to a stranger. Her Facebook post went viral, Brandon Weddle wanted to do something nice for John. He paid for his college tuition. God hates missed opportunities to show brotherly kindness.

APPLICATION: Be a hater—a good hater. Hate is good when you hate the right things—the things God hates.