Month: October 2023

The Wicked

The Wicked

Proverbs 16:4 CSB “The Lord has prepared everything for his purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.”

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The wicked think sin is humorous. That is until the fire comes. They can’t stand the righteous. (Psalm 37:12-13) The righteous show them up. You see the wicked have told his/herself no one can be righteous. The conduct of the upright proves them wrong. (Matthew 5: 43-48) The way God’s people live brings conviction to the wicked. It feels like torture to them.

Proverbs 29:27 KJV “An unjust man is an abomination to the just: And he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.”

Psalm 37:12-13 ESV “The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, 13  but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.”

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!

God is so good and gracious! He appeals to the wicked. He encourages them to repent. He even offers them eternal life and forgiveness for ALL their sins. (John 3:16) He does this often and in various ways. God’s judgment is always fair. More than fair, He is merciful. He warns before he judges. God is patient. So will anyone have a good excuse when being judged by Almighty God? Nahh.

Those who love evil will suffer the consequences now and forever. (Revelation 21:8) In particular those who claim to know God. They cloak themselves in a veneer of righteousness. They lie to others. They lie to themselves. They lie to God. They resent Him. They believe fornication, witchcraft, and other sins are ok. 

People like the prophet Jeremiah are well acquainted with the wicked. Jeremiah had the tremendous task of repeatedly warning folks to repent. He even prayed to God begging Him to turn His anger away from them. They persecuted that poor man in every way possible. One day God told Jeremiah to stop praying for the benefit of these people. (1 John 5:16) Sounds familiar?

GOD’S PATIENCE RUNNING OUT

Jeremiah 11:14 CSB “As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to me at the time of their disaster.”

Jeremiah 17:16-17 ESV “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?“

God told Jeremiah, “STOP PRAYING FOR THESE PEOPLE.”😳 Then Jeremiah’s prayers turned into this:

Jeremiah 17:18 KJV “Let my persecutors be put to shame, ⌊but as for me⌋, do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, ⌊but as for me⌋, do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of disaster, and with DOUBLE DESTRUCTION, destroy them.”

Jeremiah 18:19-23 CSB “Pay attention to me, Lord. Hear what my opponents are saying! 20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your anger from them. 21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet. 23 But you, Lord, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their iniquity; do not blot out their sin before you. Let them be forced to stumble before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.”

The prophet Jeremiah was allowed to feel what God felt. He knew the hate towards him for warning the people was really hatred for God. Again, Jeremiah was motivated by God to pray and prophesy against these people. This was not his own doing. God had patiently warned them again and again and again. Sounds familiar?  Oh, and let’s not forget the folks contending with Jeremiah were religious people. Sounds familiar again?

What the prophet Jeremiah went through reminds me of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. They prophesy in the time of the end, the time we are now in. During the period of their prophecy they don’t turn the other cheek either. Like Jeremiah, they prophesy death, doom, and destruction against God’s enemies. They have the power to strike the earth with all sorts of plagues too. Hmm, I wonder what those might be.🦠 Anyone who wants to harm them must be killed by fire from their mouths God says. (Revelation 11:3-6) God is indeed the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) Unrepentant sin will never go unpunished. It does not go well for the wicked. And your feelings toward them may be inspired by God Himself.

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