Covenant Hearts’ Blog

2 Chronicles 25:4 However, he did not put their children to death, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons be put to death for fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Yet God will “[visit] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation (Deuteronomy 5:9).” Although God does this He does not allow us to judge others in this manner. We are not God. We must judge based solely on the actions of the individual…Similarly Jesus Christ “of thine own mouth will I judge thee (Luke 19:22)”…Remember sin is ethical, not metaphysical.

Note: God imputes sin but I’m not sure if He condemns solely based on imputation alone. That is a tough issue to answer, which I cannot at this moment.

John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

The presence of fruit doesn’t make a tree. This is a fallacy involving confusion between the antecedent and the consequent. You can say however that the presence of fruit proves a tree (id est: under two conditions:

1. Tree “X” bears “X” fruit [universal affirmative].
2. Only tree “X” bears “X” fruit [universal negative; to see the negative more clearly it can be re-phrased as 'No other tree but tree "X" bears "X" fruit.'].)

A logical case could be made to prove a tree by its fruit, but the fruit does not precede the tree. It cannot make the tree from which it came. Likewise morals/ethics do not save. One cannot make himself right with God by repenting, he must first be restored by God (Psalm 80:19) before he can repent.

Are works necessary? Absolutely. How else are you going to prove to be Christ’s disciples?

2 Chronicles 21:11 Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot and led Judah astray.

A government cannot make a nation righteous, but it can lead the people astray. This should be a warning to anyone Christian who may want to get invovled in politics. The state brings only negative sanctions to the nation. The church is to bring the positive sanctions.

Get all the humanitarians out of the government and into the church where they would be more effective (t.i.c.). The Christian in government should have as his priority to prevent/minimize abuses of the tool negative sanctions (a.k.a. “the sword”), but should not be mistaken if he thinks that the state should be used for positive sanctions. Peace will not come by the sword.

2 Chronicles 20:32 [Jehoshaphat] walked in the way of his father Asa and did not depart from it, doing right in the sight of the LORD. 33 The high places, however, were not removed; the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

This was an indictment against Jehoshaphat; he did good but he failed in other areas. He did not tear down the “pagan shrines” (NLT) and the people did not change their hearts towards God. It is interesting to note that the latter was part of the indictment of Jehoshaphat’s reign. No; government cannot save you, but how much influence can the government have on the hearts of a people?

Psalm 78:65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine.

God is not like man…Oftentimes anthropomorphisms are used to characterize God’s actions. But don’t make the mistake in thinking God is like man.

Rather man ought to aspire to be like God. And what is God like? You’ll have to read His Law-Word to find out.

2 Chronicles 16:12 In
the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his
feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not
seek the LORD, but the physicians.

I don’t think that the Bible is here being antogonistic to medicine but the abuse of it. God must be first. All else comes second to Him.

Once the proper order is established, then all things are lawful, though maybe not expedient.

Deuteronomy 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:

23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:

Trees represent life. Especially the tree of life. But in general trees represent life. In the garden which was in Eden God gave man the fruit of every tree to eat as food save one. Trees = life.

What happens when you turn an instrument of life into an instrument of death? You are cursed. This is not some voodoo hex I’m talking about, it is simply the sanctions God imposes upon sin. Blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. If you turn tools of life into tools of death you are cursed and the curse of God is upon you/your nation.

Abortion is an obvious reference. But what about hanging on a tree? If you kill/are killed by hanging on a tree this is the curse of God. The Roman nation was cursed and is no longer around today. Jesus Christ was cursed. (Sounds kind of sacrilegious to say.)

Maj. premise: Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
Min. premise: Christ was hanged on a tree.
Concl: Christ was cursed.

But that is not to say that Christ was paying a penalty for a sin He committed…He was paying the penalty for sin. Again He was cursed.

Isaiah 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

I Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Copied from Blue Letter Bible.

Thanks be to God for His sovereignty and providence without which none could be saved.

God created woman for man, saying “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen 2:18). In fact a man’s true wealth can be seen in his family, for his “wife shall be as a fruitful vine…and [his] children like olive plants” (Psalm 128:3). Additionally, a man that has a family is fulfilling the commission of God to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion…over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:28).

Some say that the Bible teaches that it is better that man should be alone for these days are evil, for Paul the Apostle said “I wish all were as I myself am” that is single. But it is clear when it says that “some will depart from the faith…who forbid marriage” (I Timothy 4:1-3). “But if you do marry, you have not sinned” (I Cor 7:28). And that if you, well, have a sex drive then “each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (I Cor 7:2). The fact is most people have a sex drive that God put there. Without it, the human race would perish on the earth. The reason Paul made such a statement was that in singleness he could devote himself entirely to ministry. But the truth is that God has not called all to be an apostle/missionary church planter. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (I Cor 12:12). Thus, celibacy is not for everyone. In fact, it is not for the majority to be celibate. In response to the statement “It is better not to marry” (Mt 19:10), Jesus said, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given” (Mt 19:11). So the Scripture is clear only some are given by God to be Spiritual Eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom.

Posted by Michaelsei (that’s me!) on Helium.com

God is sovereign. God is Holy, Pure, and Just. God hates sin and evildoers. God created man in His image.

Man erred from conforming to God’s attributes. Thus, sin was brought into the world. From Adam, the sin nature passed from father to son, on and on. All have sinned. God cannot stand sin to be in His presence.

Hell is real, but hell is not a place. It is being without a place. It is being away from the presence of God. Hell may be depicted as a place of fiery torment, but it is usually depicted as a place of outer darkness. A cold, dank morgue where solitude and fear reign over you. You scream and cry out for death to take you, but death has already taken your mortal body. You are experiencing what is called the second death. Your immortal soul is separated from your creator. You have been cut off from your source of life, but again not in the corporeal sense. This death is not a perishing away but an eternal perishing that ceases not. This is hell.

It ought to deter evildoers. The commandments given to the nation of Israel served to conform them to God’s image. In so doing, evil was not allowed to persist. Capital crimes required capital punishments. Lesser crimes required retribution. If I was starving, I may steal to replenish my strength, but I would be required to pay back many times more than I stole. If I took a life in premeditated murder, my blood would be required; however, if I committed manslaughter in the heat of a struggle unpremeditated, then I would have refuge according to the Law. Capital crimes are deterred by capital punishments, this is God’s design. On the contrary, not every individual is unilaterally deterred from doing what they will. They will serve as examples and will be punished.

On deterrence, another example is Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan was an authoritarian ruler who went far beyond God’s perfect justice to his own form of deterrence. I use him only as an example of how punishments are deterrents. He used capital punishment even in cases of lesser crimes. He achieved a peace that would still be seen in his grandson’s lifetime. When Kublai Khan was in power, Marco Polo passed through the region, living the adventure story that he would later bring home.

Ultimately, God determines the number of the elect. However, in a society where God’s justice is utilized, the restraint of the Holy Spirit will be seen at work in that nation against evildoers. Hell can be lauded as the final punishment for evildoers, and for some, I hope and pray that it is a deterrent from evil. The only thing that he would lack is to seek after Jesus Christ and His salvation.