The Full Measure of Sin

…sin… has not yet reached its full measure.  Genesis 15:16

When God made his covenant with Abraham and promised to give his descendants the land of Canaan, he explained why he was not doing it immediately in Genesis 15.  God told Abraham that he would become a great nation, that his descendants would be enslaved for many years, but would come out of that situation with great possessions and be given a large area of land currently inhabited by the Amorites.  That time was four generations in the future. 

This passage answers two questions for me.

Why did God wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan and give the land to the descendants of Abraham?  

Those who look on this as a terribly unfair act on God’s part ask that question.  God gives the answer in this passage in advance of the question.  Abraham was a righteous man who followed God’s leading.  Although his descendants were not perfect, there was always at least a remnant who followed God also.  Meanwhile the inhabitants of the land Abraham would inherit were becoming increasingly wicked.  They were doing things totally abhorrent to God.  Child sacrifice being one particularly egregious act.  God, who is both just and merciful, was withholding his wrath, giving these people a chance to change their behavior, since their sin had not yet reached its full measure.

We can certainly see that this is how God behaves in the story of Jonah.  God had pronounced judgment on the city of Nineveh, but when they repented, He changed course.  The people of Canaan were also being given adequate time to repent…. four generations of time according to these verses.  

When it comes time for judgment to fall, God saves those who trust in him.  A few chapters later in Genesis, God’s judgment falls on Sodom and Gomorrah, but Lot and some of his family are saved.  When Canaan is taken over by the descendants of Abraham, Rahab is saved.  God is always both just and merciful.

Why does God not act now when there is so much evil in the world?

I am regularly grieved by things I see happening.  I am abhorred by man’s cruelty to his fellow man.  I am especially distraught over the horrible things that happen to children.  I ask God why he is allowing these terrible things to continue.  I think that question is also answered here.  “Sin has not yet reached its full measure.”  As bad as things are, as much suffering as we see in our world, the full extent of sin has not yet been reached.  There is a point, known only to God himself, when he will say “ENOUGH!”  Additionally, I believe he alone knows when everyone who is willing to accept him will have done so, and he can act in both justice and mercy.

How many generations will we be given?  How close are we to the time God has had quite enough of our ability as a nation to flaunt our disrespect for him and his laws?  Is there still time to repent like Nineveh?  When will our sin as a society have reached its full measure?