“The people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So, the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.” [1]
God delivered His people from slavery. He displayed His might and power in a decisive contest with the gods of Egypt, and each of the pagan gods was in turn bested by the LORD God. God opened a way for Israel when there was no way, bringing His people through the Red Sea on dry land. When the Egyptian forces attempted to pursue them, God destroyed the most powerful army in the world by bringing the waters of the sea back on them. The LORD fed His people with food delivered with the morning dew each day. God brought water out of a rock for the people in the midst of a desert land. He led them with a cloud that flamed brightly throughout the night, standing with imposing majesty in front of them each day.
The people had been on the journey that would lead them to the land God had promised. That land was occupied by pagan nations, but the LORD promised that He would defeat them. Israel had travelled only a short while as the LORD led them toward the land He had promised, and the people complained! They complained! What did they have to complain about? The Word informs us that they complained “about their misfortunes!” Their misfortunes? Delivered from slavery? Delivered from a mighty pursuing army? Fed with the bread of Heaven? Drinking water from a rock? Misfortunes? What misfortunes?
We will discover by reading a little farther in the Word that the complaining began with a group identified as “the rabble.” And the complaint was over food. The Word reveals, “The rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at’” [NUMBERS 11:4-6].
Like the seasoned grumblers that persist among us to this day, the people began to whine, “What has God done for us lately?” It didn’t matter that He had set them at liberty. Liberty meant they had to accept responsibility. It didn’t matter that the LORD had opened a way for them through the sea; they feared new challenges they would soon have to face. It didn’t matter that God had delivered them from a mighty army. From this point they would have to anticipate more battles. It didn’t matter that God had brought them water from a rock. They would be thirsty again. It didn’t matter that the LORD had fed them with manna. They wanted cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! “What has God done for me lately,” was their pathetic cry.
The pathetic cry of the discontented souls sounds suspiciously like the discontent of many ensconced among the churches of Christ’s Zion. “Yes, God has been good in the past, but what has He done for me lately?” Focused on their own comfort and ease, they have no appreciation for what God has promised that He will yet do. So, they complain, whinging and whining because they want something more from God.
COMPLAINING ABOUT OUR “MISFORTUNES” — “The people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes” [NUMBERS 11:1a]. No one should construe this passage as a plea to become stoic, accepting every disappointment without showing emotion or walking through life without revealing any emotion. The strong, silent type is not favoured by what is written here. What the passage does demonstrate is that grumbling about God’s mercies by trying to cling to what is past invites divine censure.
Have you ever considered the blessings we enjoy in this modern world. Here in the west, even the poorest among us enjoy comfort and pleasure that was unimaginable to our parents, and we enjoy richness what would have made Solomon envious. As Solomon begins the Book of Ecclesiastes, he writes of the futility of work. He devoted himself to acquiring knowledge, and he found it unsatisfying. He wrote, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind” [ECCLESIASTES 1:14].
Since work failed to satisfy him, he focused on amusement, on pleasure. He hired comedians [see ECCLESIASTES 2:2a]. All we need do is turn on the television and the Comedy Channel will give us all the mirth we can stand. Truthfully, it doesn’t take much to make us want to turn it off. Solomon gave himself with every imaginable pleasure—houses, singers and musicians, gardens. Yet, he did not have central heating. Seventy years ago, less than fifteen percent of houses had central heating; but today it is well nigh universal. Solomon never had air conditioning; but if you live in warmer climes of North America, even the most impoverished have air conditioners. He had hundreds of concubines to gratify every sexual imagination. None of us have concubines, but pornography is ubiquitous both via the Internet and on television so that few perverse acts are beyond the imagination of modern people. Middle-class Canadians have everything that Solomon had—and more! And yet, we’re not satisfied. Most of us will complain about our misfortunes when we have to call a repairman to keep our conveniences running. We quickly become bored with the programming on television, and though we have two hundred plus channels, we will often complain, “There’s nothing to watch.”
We are marching inexorably toward an end of this life, and though modern medicine has extended our lives, giving us a measure of health that was unimaginable a century ago, we complain about our aches and pains. Those same aches and pains would have sidelined our grandparents, if they didn’t ensure an early demise; and though the pains we experience can be controlled to a great extent by modern medication, we complain because we can’t fully eliminate all discomfort. We are chronic complainers, constantly grousing about our misfortunes.
Now, all that I’ve said to this point is focused on the physical world. However, the tendency to complain spills over into the spiritual world. Without even thinking about what we are doing, we Christians will complain in the hearing of the Lord about the unfairness of life. Some sister in the Faith failed to appreciate the hard work we provide for the congregation, and we complain that she should be more appreciative for all that we do. Some brother in Christ failed to treat us with the seriousness we believe our position demands, and we complained before the Lord that he should be more sensitive to all that we are doing in the congregation.
The pastor’s sermon wasn’t as good as that of a preacher posting on YouTube, and we argued before the Lord and in the hearing of our fellow parishioners that maybe it is time to get a new preacher—one that can really preach! After all, we go to church to be fed! We’re busy people, and we don’t have time to read the Bible at home as we know we should, so the preacher needs to make the sermons exciting; he needs to be able to keep our attention. Our children don’t want to come to church because they say it is boring! We need another pastor—a real one!
Complaining is endemic to the human condition. It is easy to complain, and when we compare our situation to others, we seem always to come out on the losing end of the issue. Perhaps you will recall one of the Psalms of Asaph. In the seventy-third Psalm, Asaph groused,
“Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
“For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
And they say, ‘How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.”
[PSALM 73:1-14]
In this Psalm, the Psalmist is complaining that God isn’t fair. He is focused on the lack of accountability from others, especially when he compares himself to them. Like a child when that child’s sibling receives a privilege which that child doesn’t have, Asaph pouts, “It isn’t fair!” That is how we sound when we complain about God’s treatment of others. It could just as easily have been a complaint about a fellow church member. After all, we are the centre of our universe, and when another follower of the Master isn’t held to our standard, we are offended.
However, the end of this story wasn’t recorded. Asaph didn’t know what the relationship might have been between those he watched and the LORD, just like you can’t know the relationship between those you are watching and the Master. Perhaps God was working in their hearts, and Asaph couldn’t see what God was doing. More than that, the Psalmist was focused on the moment and not on what God had promised. Therefore, he wrote,
“But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.”
[PSALM 73:16-17]
The story was not complete; God had not written the final chapter. Asaph admitted that he was only looking on the moment, failing to see what lay ahead. Perhaps it would have been impossible not to focus on what was happening at the moment, but the end of the matter had not yet occurred. Just so, our complaining is focused on the immediate, it is blind to the eternal. We live in the moment, ignoring that we are being prepared for something far greater in God’s plans.
We do well to remember the encouragement Paul has provided to all who follow the Saviour. In 1 CORINTHIANS 2:6-14 Paul has written, “Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
As one who is following the Son of God, as one who knows and worships the Living God, focus on what He has promised. Remember that He will do all that He has promised—and He shall receive the glory, and we shall be those who are blessed because of what He does. We can live for this transient moment we now occupy, but we know very well that there is nothing permanent here. We have each read the words of the Apostle who has taught Christ’s people, “Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” [1 TIMOTHY 6:6-8]. God is gracious, richly providing His people with what is needful. Therefore, be content with what God has provided. Stop complaining, stop grousing and grumbling. Use what you have received to serve the Lord with all your heart.
Complaining about what God is doing denies confidence in what He has planned for us. When we complain in the hearing of the Lord, we are effectively arguing that God is not doing what is right. We are complaining that we have gotten a raw deal. We are boasting that if we ran the universe, we would do a better job. Can we not see that complaining exposes our arrogance? Our pride is writ large in the words expressing our complaint.
We are suffering through a pandemic. Have you considered the goodness God revealed toward you? Were you kept from becoming ill? Isn’t that God’s mercy toward you? Or do you actually believe that “sheltering in place” as demanded by government functionaries actually keeps you safe? The mortality rate was not nearly as high as some models projected. Was that evidence of the Lord’s goodness? Or do you suppose that scientists actually managed to somehow temper the lethality of the virus? And yet, you are already focused on the immediate, complaining that you need rest, complaining that you need to have more of the goods of this world, complaining that you are worried that you may become sick. The church didn’t do enough for you during these days of shelter in place. You didn’t receive as large a Christmas bonus as you were hoping to receive. There is always something to complain about, and most of our complaints amount to grousing, “God is good, but what has He done for me lately?”
THE LORD HEARD IT — “When the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp” [NUMBERS 11:1b]. When the LORD’s anger is kindled, bad things happen. To be certain, God may focus His wrath on the wicked during this life, and at the last He will assuredly reveal His wrath on all who have rejected His Son. There is in the Letter to Hebrew Christians a cautionary warning that is terrifying for each conscientious follower of the Master.
We read in that letter written to people who were then being schooled in persecution, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” [HEBREWS 10:19-31].
Notice how the Spirit of God directed that writer to stress repeatedly what was needed if the people would honour the Lord. They would need to cleanse their lives and draw near to Christ the Lord. They would need to focus on standing firm in the Faith. They would need to seek the encouragement of the saints, refusing any attempt to stand alone and outside the congregation. Above all else, the people would need to avoid offending the Living God.
To complain about God’s goodness and His reign among His own people invites His wrath. Here is a disturbing reality—God is offended when His people complain. This is especially true when His people complain about what He has done for them. When God’s people reject His goodness, He is offended. What must this knowledge say concerning our contemporary culture when, for instance, culture rejects God’s precious gift of children?
Scripture powerfully asserts,
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.”
[PSALM 127:3-4]
Children are not disposable! Children are necessary! Our children speak of hope—they drive us to labour to build something better so they will have a foundation on which to build their own lives. These precious little ones remind us of our responsibility to ensure that the Faith that was delivered to us is passed on so that they will enjoy hope which God alone can give.
If we treat God’s divine gift as disposable, we must never imagine that He will bless our culture? When the Lord, through Ezekiel, confronted Israel, He charged them as despising God’s good gift. God, through Ezekiel, confronted Israel, “You trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord GOD. And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood” [EZEKIEL 16:15-22].
Among the multiple charges that the LORD laid against His people was the charge of widespread disregard of the children which He had given to His people. Think about that! The Living God contended that He gave the children, and that these children were given for His glory. Every person should recognise that children are given to families by God. We imagine that we know all about children—where they come from, how they get here and what we need to do to raise them. Because we imagine we control their birth, we think we are in control of everything. Thus, we tend to see children as disposable. However, children are given for God’s glory. He expects that they will be raised to know Him. If God called His ancient people to account for treating as disposable the children whom He had given, what will the Lord say of us? Even if we do not kill the children in utero, if we fail to raise them to know God, are we not guilty? If we dismiss children as unimportant, are we not treating them as disposable? And will God overlook our dismissive attitude? Will He excuse us because we have grown self-centred?
Focus on those who consider themselves to be the faithful; what can be said about the grumbling that often appears to be chronic among those purported to be the faithful, grumbling that is nearly epidemic in this day? There does appear to be a general discontent among the churches in this day. When church members complain that they are not being fed, do you imagine that God will excuse them because they will not feast on His Word? Such complaints lead me to wonder: are Bibles in such short supply that church members are bereft of the Scriptures to read in their own homes? Do church members have no opportunity to sit with their own families and discuss the Word of God each evening?
When church members complain because the sermon the pastor delivers is too hard, or when they complain that the message they hear doesn’t make them feel good about themselves, do you think God will overlook such grousing, grousing that is actually directed against God? Where can one find that famous verse teaching that the preacher is responsible to make people feel good about themselves? Where is the apparently well-known verse that says preachers must preach sermons that are easy on the conscience of obstreperous, self-centred saints?
When people complain about the quality of preaching presented within their congregation because they are comparing the preacher’s message with a sermon that they watched on YouTube, Christians need to see this for what it is—complaining against the Lord. It is the Lord who appoints to holy service within the assembly of the faithful. The assembly of the righteous didn’t elect a preacher—God appointed that man to service within the congregation. No prince of the church appointed the preacher to his work—the Lord appointed Him to his responsibilities behind the sacred desk. Paul faced this identical complaint during his days of service as an Apostle of Christ. Perhaps you will recall that Paul confronted the Christians in Corinth with a stern charge when he wrote, “Even if I am untrained in public speaking, I am certainly not untrained in knowledge” [2 CORINTHIANS 11:6 CSB].
Here is what each follower of the Master must keep in mind—the Lord knew your pastor when He appointed him to service within the congregation. God knew the ability of your pastor and He knew that man’s heart both for the Lord God Himself and for the people of God. If another preacher is more polished in his presentation, does that mean he is better qualified to lead? And if you prefer to listen to the polished preacher you favour on YouTube, then you should plan to call him when you are sick or when there is a crisis in your family.
I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t avail ourselves of the instruction provided by those gifted men whom God has provided to deliver the message of life, but I am saying quite plainly that you must no longer disparage the one who labours before you in the pulpit of your church each week, you must no longer dismiss him because he doesn’t measure up to your ideal. I have often thought that I would be a much more polished preacher if the church hired a researcher to do my language studies or if the congregation paid someone to search out illustrations for the messages I will deliver. However, the Lord charged me with the responsibility of shepherding the flock, He appointed me to gather a flock and to attend to all the needs of those who assemble here. So, rather than comparing your pastor to someone serving at a distance, give God glory that He knew what you needed and that He provided that one to bless you with the message the Lord has given. And if that man somehow appears to be flawed in your eyes, practise praying for him, asking that God will bless him with the ability to glorify the Lord God.
You may recall Paul addressing this precise issue when he wrote the Christians in Corinth in his Second Letter. Some had apparently been comparing Paul to the so-called super apostles who had invaded the assembly and were depreciating the Apostle’s ministry before the Lord—and the Apostle to the Gentiles inevitably came up short in their estimate! Thus, the Apostle defended himself, “I do not think that those ‘great apostles’ are any better than I am. I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have shown this to you clearly in every way” [2 CORINTHIANS 11:5-6 NCV].
Be assured that when you complain about the one whom the Lord has appointed, the Lord hears; and because the Lord hears, you must not imagine that He will dismiss the complaint or treat it as a light matter. To complain in the hearing of the Living God is to dismiss the will of God as irrelevant; it is to exalt yourself and your opinion above the mind of the Lord God. To do such is dangerous in the extreme because it challenges God and His sovereign will.
TABERAH — “The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them” [NUMBERS 11:2-3]. Whenever we encounter that term, “the fire of the Lord” while reading the Scriptures, we understand that it refers to lightning. God appears to have used lightning to strike unrepentant sinners dead on numerous occasions. The text doesn’t inform us whether a storm engulfed the camp or whether out of the cloudless sky lightning suddenly flashed. Whatever happened was swift and it was deadly—suddenly, multiple people dropped dead. We can only imagine the terror we would experience if lightning suddenly flashed about, striking people down as they stood anchored to the spot while the bolts struck randomly and mercilessly.
Was God to strike down those who complain among our own congregation, I wonder if any of us would be left to attend the services. Yes, we’ve all fallen into the trap of complaining at various times. We’ve spoken ill of fellow believers who somehow failed our carefully crafted test of righteousness. We have apparently forgotten, or at least we are willing to ignore, the Apostle’s words admonishing us to accept one another. “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.’
“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” [ROMANS 14:1-12].
Among the professed people of God, numerous “tests” have been devised; and though these tests are not always formally adopted, the members of a given congregation will recognize them and apply them mercilessly to anyone expressing a desire to be part of the assembly. Real Christians dress in a certain way. Deviation from this dress code means you are a pretender to the Faith—you aren’t a real Christian. When my wife and I came to faith, we were taught that real Christians dress in a particular way. We quickly learned that bell-bottom trousers were sinful. Beads and fringes, popular in the late sixties and early seventies, were not what “real Christians” would wear. Such fashion accoutrements were signs of rebellion against God. Women who wanted to be pleasing to God would not “wear that which pertaineth unto a man” [DEUTERONOMY 22:5 KJV]. Women wearing slacks were unholy because they were expressing their rebellious attitude. Beards on men or long hair were marks of rebellion, and such were thus sinful. Short hair for women was a sign of rebellion; godly women simply did not cut their hair.
To this day, among the churches of our God multiplied tests are continually designed to prove the reality of our faith. What we eat, whether we drink alcoholic beverages with a meal, how we speak, whether we dress in a particular fashion for church, the music we enjoy, and on and on. The tests multiply among the professed people of God despite the obvious dullness of our hearts for the things of God. If our love for God controlled our lives, we would constantly labour to build up our brothers and sisters, we would go out of our way to encourage them and to comfort them in the trials they are facing. If the Lord was the supreme object of our affection, we would take to heart the admonition issued by Peter, when he wrote, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” [1 PETER 1:22-23].
God’s judgement against Israel was swift and terrifying; likewise, Moses’ compassion for the sinful people was equally swift and passionate. Thus, the divine text informs the reader, “The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD.” With but few exceptions, the heart of a servant of the LORD is inevitably moved with compassion for those to whom he prophesies. One need but think of Samuel after he had rebuked Israel for asking for a king. The aged man of God compelled the people to confess that he had never abused his office nor mistreated any of the people. He reminded them of the LORD’s goodness toward them. Having confronted the people with their sin, he then testified to them, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way” [1 SAMUEL 12:23]. “Until the day I die, I will pray for you and I will speak the mind of God to you.” That is the heart of a man of God displayed through the old prophet.
The servant of God does not rejoice when God judges His people. The man of God grieves whenever the Lord must hold anyone to account. God’s great heart grieves over the sin of His people; and the servant of the Lord reflects the heart of the Saviour. Thus, God cries out,
“Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
“Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.”
[ISAIAH 1:4-6]
Jeremiah pleaded with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, “Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken” [JEREMIAH 27:13]? The heart of the prophet was moved with compassion, just as Ezekiel’s heart was moved when he delivered God’s warning to Israel, “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” [EZEKIEL 18:31-32].
The servant of the LORD might believe he is justified in saying “Good riddance” when God determines to wipe out the opposition; but the servant of the LORD cannot display the heart of the Living God if he speaks in that fashion. God does not rejoice in the destruction of the wicked, and we must never imagine that we honour the Lord when we gloat over the judgement of the wicked.
Luke relates an incident that occurred during the waning days of Jesus’ Judean ministry. As Luke relates the account, this is what happened. “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them’” [LUKE 9:51-56 NASB95].
The Sons of Thunder imagined that destroying those who rejected the Master, or those who attempted to hinder the work, should be destroyed. Perhaps Muslims and their vicious desert god can justify such violence, but no disciple of the Prince of Peace can ever justify meeting opposition to the Faith with violence. The consistent message of the New Testament is that we are to honour the Lord through avoiding evil.
Paul writes, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” [ROMANS 12:17].
Earlier in his writings, the Apostle had that same message, as is evident from reading what was written to the saints in Salonica. “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:15].
The Apostle to the Jews pronounced the identical message that was delivered by the Apostle to the Gentiles. Peter wrote, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” [1 PETER 3:9].
Doing what is honourable, blessing those who stand against evil, seeking to do good, these are the characteristics that give evidence of the child of God who is walking with the Saviour. What the Apostles taught was drawn from the teaching of the Master Himself. Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you” [MATTHEW 5:38-42].
What the Master taught at that time as He was speaking during that Sermon which was delivered on the side of a mountain was but a restatement of the wisdom delivered by the Living God through Solomon when he wrote:
“Do not say, ‘I will repay evil;’
wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.”
[PROVERBS 20:22]
Leave vengeance to the Master. You know very well that the Master is well able to defend His cause; and you may be assured that He is well able to defend you if such defence should be required. Your responsibility is to serve Him, to do what He commands, to tell others of His power to save, to call all who will listen to your pleas to come to faith in the Living Son of God. This was His final charge delivered to those who would follow Him. The Son of God said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [MATTHEW 28:19-20]. Tell another about the Master’s salvation. Tell that someone today. Point them to Jesus. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
