Reward of Iniquity
Text: DEUTERONOMY 13:12-18
KEY VERSE: “When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 13:18).
It is often the lot of man, to turn God into a mould and attempt to manipulate Him to fit entrenched mindsets. Many delude themselves, thinking that God is so merciful that He will always wink at sin and soft-glove unrighteousness.
Before he departed, Moses took it upon himself to reiterate the whole counsel of God to Israel so that they would for ever draw from His benevolence. Any city that capitulated to the abhorrent sins of Belial, Moses emphasized, must be utterly destroyed with all its inhabitants. The cattle must not be spared. Indeed, God expressly commanded that the booties be piled up and burnt in the middle of the streets, while the entire city itself must be razed. There was an added caveat to Israel: “the city will remain lifeless and may never be built.” The booty must not be shared. A breach of these immutable dictates would not be overlooked by God. They will surely attract His dire imprecations. Israel could only continue in God’s abiding mercy and goodwill only on the score that they would keep doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
The Bible is replete with the fact that God is angry with the sinner everyday. When men are set in the way of sin, when sin unrepented of multiplies and becomes dominant, rendering communities created to show forth God’s praise into an abyss of depravity, God is often left with no choice than to rend the heavens and unleash His terror. Sodom and Gomorrah and Nineveh bore the scars of divine judgment after they initially enjoyed the forgiveness of the Lord. Those guilty of sin of commission and omission run the grave risk of being destroyed by the Lord.
Arising from our text today, it is not just enough for a believer to do away with sin. He must warn and admonish perpetrators lest by his negligence, he becomes overwhelmed by sinful trends which will attract God’s fiery indignation. As we see in the scriptures, when God judges the wicked, even some believers are not spared. Beware!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Wise is the man who warns the wicked before the day of judgment”.