Tag: Punishment

Who can Endure

“How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”

Malachi 3:2  But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

Zechariah 13:9    And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Malachi 3:5  “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Matthew 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Amos 5:18  Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light,  as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.  Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

We need to be very conscious of our commitment to God.  Note the words of prophets who declared the coming of the Lord.  When the Lord returns He comes with judgment.  Everyone will face Him for what they have done in their life and for the commitment, desire, and purpose they have lived it.  I wonder if we claim the love, mercy and grace of God but do not give thought to what it means to live in knowledge of this.  If we have basic understanding of His holiness and our sinfulness we see this love, mercy and grace from God with thankfulness and a desire to live our life worthy of humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying Him.  Any other response or demonstration from our life is lacking in service to God.  Keep God first and subject all in life to understanding what it means to fully live for Him.

This night your soul is required of you

 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

“or we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”

Psalms 49:16  Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light.  Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Job 27:19   He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

Ecclesiastes 5:15   As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

Luke 12:20  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Isaiah 5:14    Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure

Isaiah 10:3    What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?

Luke 16:19  “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—  for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

“To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?” It is a great question isn’t it.  Everything we see around us will have an end.  All we collect, all we save, all the things we strive for come to an end.  If it all comes to end and none of it comes with us why do we work so hard to have  and own it like it does?  Oh the our eyes and hearts would be ever open to understand that our purpose this short side of eternity is to humbly serve, honor, glory, follow, and obey God.  All other is distraction and must be seen in light of this sole purpose.  We are nothing more than stewards of what God has given us.  As faithful followers we need to be mindful of the responsibility that comes humbly serving Him.  Give more, take less, be thankful more, content more, and rest in God’s sovereign plan.  Know we will be judged for this.

Mind set on the Flesh

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”

Psalms 34:21  Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

Psalms 35  I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.  But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psalms 94:23   He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

Isaiah 3:11   Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

Luke 19:41  And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,  saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side  and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

John 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

2 Thessalonians 1:9   They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Job 22:17  They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

Job 21:14  They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

Psalms 10:4   In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

Psalms 10:11  He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

There are many reasons man can come up with that leave no room for God.  Do any of these sound familiar; “He does not exist.  If He does exist I am good enough.  There are multiple ways to God/heaven. I am too busy.  I will focus on God when I am older.  I have plenty of time to get right with Him.  When I compare myself against others I am much better than most…….”  Man can find host of reasons but none hold true.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  There is no other work man can do to be right in the eyes of God than to believe in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, acknowledge their sin, repent, and humbly serve, honor and obey God.  Believing in Jesus Christ is relying on, clinging to, and trusting in Him.  How are we to grow in our understanding of Him and His purpose for us each day if we are not culturing a heart deep desire each day?  Spend time in His word each day.

Do not refuse Him

“Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem?”

“Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.”

“See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”

 

Psalms 21:8  Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man. Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.  For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.

Amos 9:2-3   “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.  If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

1 Corinthians 15:25     For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet

Hebrews 10:28-29   How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Revelation 19:15    From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

Psalms 89:22-23  The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

Micah 7:10   Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

Hebrews 12:25   See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

Scripture speaks much of God’s mercy, grace, blessings, and love – eternal heaven.  It also speaks warnings of punishment, wrath, and judgement – eternal hell. Proverbs says: “There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way to death”.  Today in psalms David speaks again on how nothing is hidden from God.  You can not hide from God.  The way that seems right to man that says: there is no God, or there is no single God, or there is no Judgement, or there is no punishment, or they can earn favor with God by being good. Many will seek after those who speak in line with these thoughts, but in the end these all lead to judgement, punishment and eternal hell.  I read something a few weeks back that said about this life “we are not going to make it out of this life alive”.  How true this is.  The length of our life is but a vapor and is gone in comparison to eternity.  If our eyes are only on this life we lose sight of God and eternity.  We see no need for humbly serving, honoring, and glorifying Him. We reject Him, His offer of salvation through believing  in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, and through this reject of His mercy, grace, and love are destine to judgement, punishment, and eternity in hell.  We must remember to speak not only of God’s grace, mercy and love but also His wrath, fury and punishment.

god or God

“and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it”

Judges 6:28
When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.

Psalms 43:1
Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
For you are the God in whom I take refuge

Jeremiah 30:13
“For thus says the Lord:
Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound is grievous.
There is none to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant.
Why do you cry out over your hurt.

There are couple of points today the interest me.  The first is the response of the people -” Who broke down our altar and Asherah pole – they must be put to death”.  These Israelites had fallen so far that they no longer served God.  Remember the commandment “Thou shall have no other god but Me”.  When God’s word is left idle in our lives other thoughts from the culture we live in will most likely plant themselves as truth and at the very least we follow them blindly.  We need to know God’s word so that we are not blind to the ways that seem right by the culture are adopted into our everyday lives.  The second thing that stood out to me was how Gideon’s father responded to the accusers.  “Will you contend for Baal?  If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.”  I have to think Gideon’s father knew following after this false worship was wrong but did not do a thing about it.  He or his wife had to have brought up Gideon with knowledge of God because Gideon talked of all the stories he had been told about how God had delivered His people and done great and wondrous acts on their behalf.  It is one thing to know of God and another to live with a deep heart desire to humbly serve Him so that all you do is a reflection of His love, mercy, and grace.  We can only do this with knowledge of His word abiding in our hearts and minds.