Evil for Evil Isn't the Way
This is the beginning of another series.
What's prompting this is the fact that far too many souls seem consumed by the idea that events of the Old Testament justify wrongdoing today.
Never mind that even Jesus tells us "woe" to cities that refuse to repent.
It's true that there was widespread sodomy in Old Testament times. A simple study in Jeremiah makes that plain.
But Jeremiah also makes it clear, with a little study, that Heaven does not like evil for evil.
... Babylon was a very flawed kingdom that brought Israel out of extreme bondage to sin by taking Israel captive.
In captivity to Babylon, much of Israel was killed. Israel's last king, Zedekiah, was forced to see his sons killed, and Israel suffered other terrors under Babylon's rule. But, then, Jeremiah says some of Babylon's residents would suffer as if women, meaning they eventually suffered rape.
Babylon had apparently punished Lebanon for the "adultery" of committing sodomy with "priests" and other men of Judah (Jeremiah 22:22-23); but, ultimately, Babylon wound up being punished, partly in the same way Babylon had punished others (50:37).
And there are many other Old Testament accounts of those who punished tersely being likewise punished.
Indeed, the New Testament tells us it's better to suffer for doing well than for evildoing, better to suffer for believing in Jesus than for sinning against Him.
So, punishment should never be evil, not when we're in Christ.
There's mercy and grace in Jesus.
Although sin does sometimes, even today, cause sickness and grief, we're just not supposed to be living like in Old Testament times.
Men, today, should be wise enough, in Jesus, to just repent.
Even Isaiah, without the benefit of having received new life in Jesus, had sense enough to lament one night's ungodly "pleasure."
The Berean Study Bible puts it this way: "My heart staggers; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror." (Isaiah 21:4)
And the King James Version clarifies: "My heart panted; the horror frightened me; the night of my pleasure he has turned into fear unto me." (21:4)
Isaiah became ill, apparently with an STD that eventually took so much of his mind that he wondered naked and barefoot for years (Isaiah 20:3).
The Old Testament isn't about how there's any glory in sin at all.
It's about the dark past that deliverance in Jesus helps us to overcome.
What's prompting this is the fact that far too many souls seem consumed by the idea that events of the Old Testament justify wrongdoing today.
Never mind that even Jesus tells us "woe" to cities that refuse to repent.
It's true that there was widespread sodomy in Old Testament times. A simple study in Jeremiah makes that plain.
But Jeremiah also makes it clear, with a little study, that Heaven does not like evil for evil.
... Babylon was a very flawed kingdom that brought Israel out of extreme bondage to sin by taking Israel captive.
In captivity to Babylon, much of Israel was killed. Israel's last king, Zedekiah, was forced to see his sons killed, and Israel suffered other terrors under Babylon's rule. But, then, Jeremiah says some of Babylon's residents would suffer as if women, meaning they eventually suffered rape.
Babylon had apparently punished Lebanon for the "adultery" of committing sodomy with "priests" and other men of Judah (Jeremiah 22:22-23); but, ultimately, Babylon wound up being punished, partly in the same way Babylon had punished others (50:37).
And there are many other Old Testament accounts of those who punished tersely being likewise punished.
Indeed, the New Testament tells us it's better to suffer for doing well than for evildoing, better to suffer for believing in Jesus than for sinning against Him.
So, punishment should never be evil, not when we're in Christ.
There's mercy and grace in Jesus.
Although sin does sometimes, even today, cause sickness and grief, we're just not supposed to be living like in Old Testament times.
Men, today, should be wise enough, in Jesus, to just repent.
Even Isaiah, without the benefit of having received new life in Jesus, had sense enough to lament one night's ungodly "pleasure."
The Berean Study Bible puts it this way: "My heart staggers; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror." (Isaiah 21:4)
And the King James Version clarifies: "My heart panted; the horror frightened me; the night of my pleasure he has turned into fear unto me." (21:4)
Isaiah became ill, apparently with an STD that eventually took so much of his mind that he wondered naked and barefoot for years (Isaiah 20:3).
The Old Testament isn't about how there's any glory in sin at all.
It's about the dark past that deliverance in Jesus helps us to overcome.
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