273 Six Ways We Held God Hostage

While we believe that God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient, (all powerful, everywhere, and all knowing) we may be surprised that we can hold God hostage at all. Yet we have to remember He is also a God that loves His created beings and as a result has had to make several accommodations in His efforts to keep us on the road of recovery. In this episode we discuss six of those issues like divorce, slavery, polygamy and others. Come and join us as we discover all six of these where God has accommodated us so He can reach us where we are at.

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SHOW NOTES

Six ways we held God hostage.

Alternative titles: The Accommodation of God’s Love. God Settles for Second

Best. Discover how we have Held God Hostage. Can we Hold God hostage?

One of the most startling caveats of love is the following.

1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT Love is not rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not

irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

Any relationship in which one party always gets their own way is an abusive relationship. We are going to give six examples of God accommodating to our short sighted, evil desires which have brought only suffering and misery to our planet.

1. Divorce

Divorce was not difficult in the Olt Testament.

Deuteronomy 24:1NLT “Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house.

According to Jesus divorce is a relational aberration caused by the failure to forgive the other which is hardness of the heart.

Matthew 19:3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard.

But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

For the disciples the possibility of a harmonious marriage is so remote they respond with

isolation or loneliness as the solution. This is a tragic conclusion. It implies they had not yet understood who Jesus was and the possibility of the supernatural changes he could accomplish inthe human heart. They could see the material miracles but the emotional miracles still escaped them at this point.

2. Polygamy

There is no overt injunction in the Bible that polygamy is wrong. However, we have discovered this is not wise through our history. Some argue that since the bride of Christ consists of many people it is legal to have more than one wife. Pragmatism has disproved this claim. It is an unfair practice for women and God’s Kingdom is based on mercy and compassion which includes mercy and compassion for a spouse.

Exodus 33:19 NLT The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh,[a] before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.

Exodus 34:6 NLT The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,

“Yahweh![a] The Lord!

The God of compassion and mercy!

I am slow to anger

and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

3. War

God is not a violent forceful supernatural tyrant

Genesis 4:10-12 NLT But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

This passage is a description of PTSD which we can now describe.

Exodus 20:13 NLT “You must not murder.”

Exodus 23:23, 27-28 NLT For my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, so you may live there. And I will destroy them completely. 27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run. 28 I will send terror ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites.

Deuteronomy 1:30 NLT The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 3:22 NLT Do not be afraid of the nations there, for the Lord your God will fight for you.’

Deuteronomy 20:4 NLT For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!’

Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Why did the Israelites fight? Because they wanted to. Where did they get the weapons? Perhaps when the Egyptian army was drowned, they picked up their weapons. What we can be certain of is that it was not God’s will for them in cruel warfare. At the same time God helped them when they fought. Is this not amazing of God. His love and care is not dependent on our goodness but on his mercy and compassion.

3. Slavery

It is incredulous that it took Christians 1800 years to realized and repent from slavery. As with polygamy there is no outright enunciation of slavery in the Bible. The ten commandments have nothing to say about the abolition of this heinous practice. Love has a lot to say about this relationship between human beings.

When Jesus gives his new commandment,

John 13:34-35 NLT “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

He is redefining the love relationship Moses had written.

Leviticus 19:18 NLT “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Moses restricts the love relationship to neighbour and to self-love. Thus slaves were excluded as they were not brothers. Jesus expands the definition to include all people and raises the bar from self-love to Godly love. Self-love is a foundation of sand since our self-images are fickle and inadequate. It was because the definition by Jesus was ignored that slavery continued in Christian nations for almost 2 millennia .

4. Monarchy

God’s plan was to be their king and lead them to the Promised Land and eventually to a new earth where they were the rulers of the whole earth. Israel prevented this happening but God loved them unconditionally.

1 Samuel 8:6-7 NLT 6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for

guidance. 7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.

5. Sacrificial rites

It was never God’s plan that any person sacrifice their children in obedience or worship to God. Israel was surrounded by nations who believe that god had to be persuaded to care for them by child sacrifice. God accommodated their pagan ideas by giving them animals sacrifices rather than human sacrifices.

Jeremiah 7:31 NLT They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!

Animal sacrifices were not what God wanted. He wanted a love relationship with each Israelite.

We know this from the following evidence.

1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied,

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:

your burnt offerings and sacrifices

or your obedience to his voice?

Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,

and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offerings you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

Psalm 51:16-17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.

Proverbs 21:3 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Isaiah 1:11-15 “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?”

says the Lord.

“I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of fattened cattle.

I get no pleasure from the blood

of bulls and lambs and goats.

12 When you come to worship me,

who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony?

13 Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts;

the incense of your offerings disgusts me!

As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath

and your special days for fasting—

they are all sinful and false.

I want no more of your pious meetings.

14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.

They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!

15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look.Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen,

for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.”

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6-8 With what shall I come before the Lord

and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Matthew 9:13 Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Matthew 12:7 But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’

Hebrews 10:1-11 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,[a] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. 3 And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. 4 If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. 5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” 6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. 7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said:

Jesus when asked for his authority to forgive sin never refers to the sanctuary sacrifices but calls on the story of Jonah for credibility (Matthew 12:38-42). Jesus point, apart from the 3 day parallel of their trauma, is that Jonah’s return from what all expected to be a permanent death gave him credibility with the Ninevites. In the same way, Jesus return from the grave in 3 days gave him the credibility for his power to forgive sin.

6. Cross

The cross was the most definitive accommodation to our evil desires. Jesus came to love and serve us as a fellow human being. His ministry of mass healings and numerous exorcisms and a few resurrections are proof enough. He did not come to die. His death was our desire and Jesus’ acquest to us once again. It is the greatest evidence of his love for us. His love did not demand his own way with us (1 Corinthians 13:5). Any relationship in which one party always gets their own way is an abusive relationship. God is not into abuse. God is vulnerable because love is vulnerable.

Jesus recognized the hardness of hearts and knew what the result would be and says the

following.

John 15:13 NLT There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

If Jesus had been acclaimed by his people there would have been no need for his death. It was not to be. And so Jesus goes the “final mile” to win our love. He does it willingly despite his fear of betrayal, abandonment, rejection, torture and death by his own people.

The best was yet to come. When Jesus emerged triumphant from the grave having defeated death and the devil (Hebrews 2:14) he has no retributive feelings in his heart. He repeatedly says to his guilt ridden, revenge expecting followers, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid.”

Conclusion

Through all the accommodations by God as a result of our hostage taking of his vulnerability God has been faithful in his love towards us. It is unconditional and eternal. It is not based on our performance but on his heart. How blessed we are to be inspired by this revelation. It makes all the difference in our relationships with him and those around us.

Ian Hartley, October 2026