October 3, 2020

This passage gave me cold chills… Here is why.

1. The Israelites deserved this punishment. As we read in the passage, God says, “she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statues more than the nations that are all around you.” The Israelites were supposed to be God’s people! God had given them blessing after blessing and yet they turned their backs on Him. They deserved this punishment, and their punishment was severe.
2. God is against them. I cannot imagine God being against me. God says in verse 8, “Behold, I, even I, am against you.” If there is one side I want to be on, it is going to be God’s side. But the Israelites, they were supposed to be God’s people and yet they turned away. 
3. The wrath of God is nothing to underestimate. Our world will often use Hell as a joke or as an example of a bad place, but in all honesty, we cannot even imagine the suffering that is going on. The people of Israel were about to meet famine, the sword, and separation. That is light suffering compared to Hell. 

And this ultimately gave me cold chills because this was my destiny before I came into a relationship with God. When we truly understand that Jesus took the wrath of God on Himself, we can really begin to appreciate our salvation. God’s wrath is nothing to joke about, instead, we need to realize that everyone who does not have a relationship with God is going to experience His wrath. And they will experience it because they deserve it. They turned away from God. They rejected Him. It was their doing. 

As believers, this is why sharing the Gospel is so important. We should not want anyone to experience God’s wrath. Instead, we should desire for people to have a relationship with God, to be saved from their sins, and never have to experience His wrath. 

Tomorrow is never promised, who do you need to share with?