January 5, in the year of our Lord, 2022:Violence.
What to do about violence
Can WE prevent it?
Who should judge it?
The world of this 21st century A.D. remembers, in a moment of silence and more months of rage, those acts of violence WE THE PEOPLE have brought upon ourselves.
I will return to this application (tomorrow) after today's short take on Scripture from near the beginning of the Bible.
“The end of humanity has come before Me;
for the earth is filled with violence because of people;
and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.”
Genesis 6:13 – The word of the LORD to Noah
Suppose the Perspective of God
IF you can imagine the destruction of just the past year through the eyes of the Creator, how would you view it?
(Do you know the blessing of Lamech, where today’s Scripture begins?)
“This one will give us comfort from our work and from the hard labor of our hands caused by the ground which the LORD has cursed.”
Each of these could be a Scriptural topic to itself; however today's short take from Scripture will focus ONLY on violence.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for humanity had corrupted its way upon the earth.
Genesis 6:11-12 NASB
13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of humanity has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of people; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
Cleansing this wickedness
Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. – Genesis 7:17
Do YOU believe that the LORD God judged the violence of the earth by destroying ALL THE PEOPLE, except Noah and his family?
Does GOD have a right to judge?
Will GOD continue to judge violence and evil by punishment of humankind?
Do you believe that GOD will again destroy the earth, this time by fire?
Violence – חָמָס
Violence is a word with an origin well-known to humankind, though by hearing and seeing it through partisan eyes we may not have recognized its source.
We needn’t attempt to measure the devastation of nuclear holocausts beyond that of just two cities in 1945 Japan to realize that when a time of the wrath of God is to come upon the world at the end of these last days its terrorized creatures, men of dust and ashes, will hope to hide from Almighty God.
12 I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood.
Would a nuclear blast above your city or an even more powerful manifestation of the Lord God not do the same in an instant? It would blacken the sun, cloud the moon and choke God’s breath of life from the atmosphere!
13 Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind.
The Apostle John sees them as stars, but the science of these last days tell us that even an asteroid (let alone many meteors striking the earth) would destroy life as we know it. And ‘mother nature’ never caused it, nor could sinful scientists prevent it.Just imagine the force of a hurricane throwing the hard surfaces of space onto the homes and workplaces of your existence.
14 The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.
It is a hail storm, a tornado; the eruption of a volcano swallowing up the earth and pouring fire into the cities; a hurricane and tsunami billowing waves of destruction into the unsuspecting great cities by the sea.
Terror at the Wrath of the Lord!
Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
NO, it will not be only on earth — but from beneath it and into the depths of the seas the vengeance of Almighty God will finally punish the wicked and sinners..
Deaths of 25% of Mankind; >1 BILLION, 961 MILLION
> the TOTAL POPULATIONS of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern America, (including the U.S.) and Oceania.
What day’s NEWS doesn’t HEADLINE: DISASTER? The world asks why God would allow this. Were those killed worse sinners than others, so God punished them by death?
This is how we think. Even if we acknowledge sin (in others) we want to blame God for punishment, especially in providential ‘acts of God’ which end lives unexpectedly.
The Good News of Luke briefly describes two such incidents.
Such disasters do imprint our memories for a time, for example in this 21st century just mention of NINE-ELEVEN.
Like the unexpected question, Who Sinned? , here Jesus gives a similar answer to disaster similar to the “WHY” about a man born blind from birth.
This time the crowds had complained of persecution of Galileans by the Roman Prefect of Judea Pontius Pilate. Jesus responds to the crowds with a rhetorical question about sin. (You need to think about what the Lord tells us here about the nature of sin and how we must approach it.)
2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no!
But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Were these who died at the hand of Pilate worse sinners? NO.
The Messiah then addresses a local disaster, a recent act of God well-known to Jerusalem.
4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, no!
But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
‘Unless WE REPENT,’ the Messiah’s listeners must have thought? This rabbi preaches the same message as John the Baptizer and the Prophets of old.
Then in typical His typical teaching technique, Jesus tells a symbolic parable to illustrate his point that we must repent or we will also perish.
The fig tree, an ancient symbol of life in Israel and the middle east, represents prosperity, peace and righteousness throughout the Bible.
Parable of the Fig Tree
6 Then he told this parable:
“A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.
No life in the tree, no prosperity for the owner of the vineyard, no peace here in Jerusalem where fig trees blossom and bear fruit.
7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard,
‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’
The Son of Man, the Messiah has been sowing righteousness in the land for three years. Does Jesus ask this crowd of Jews (keeper of God’s vineyard), ‘Why has your faith not yielded fruit?’
Some Jews have believed and followed their Messiah. A faithful servant in God’s vineyard would plea for mercy for the vine. So his repentant answer would ask the Owner of the vineyard for mercy. He will promise to do his Lord’s work of righteousness once more.
8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
You too will all perish
There’s something about disaster and death which gets demands our attention: our own mortality.
Any story of suffering and sudden death of others reminds us of our own helpless before Almighty God. And some will recall their own past sins and immediacy of repentance.
One recent story of annual flooding in Jerusalem reminds us of the suddenness of the expected. These events often reveal the heritage of our past in addition to the mortality of its victims.
DISASTERS! “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
Siloam was an area just outside the walls of Jerusalem on the southeast side of the city. A spring-fed pool was there, which was the scene of one of Christ’s miracles (John 9). The tower of Siloam may have been part of an aqueduct system or a construction project that Pilate had begun. In any case, the tower fell, and eighteen people were killed in the catastrophe.
I could have chosen pictures & NEWS from just this month, February 2020, even from contemporary Jerusalem where Jesus addressed sin and disaster in speaking of both the tower and pool of Siloam.
Refugees of natural disasters, even so common as annual hurricanes or typhoons (as pictured here from 2013 in the Philippines) remind us that our earthly home is temporary. The displaced ships in Luzon Philippines (above) are part of a witness by Pastor BERMIE DIZON who lived there at the time. He witnesses comparison to Jesus’ teachings about the tower and pool of Siloam.
“I was only a few miles away from the volcano, Mt. Pinatubo when it exploded in 1991. At that very moment of explosion, I really thought my family and I will die buried like those in the ancient city of Pompeii.
Pastor Bermie Dizon of GCI Ministries, Luzon Philippines bermiedizon.com/disasters/
I ask the same question of Jesus of those who perished in the fall of the Tower of Siloam:
Contemporary application by paraphrase of Jesus’ questions
“Do you think that these FILIPINOS were more sinful than all the other FILIPINOS because they suffered these things?
3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.
“Or those two thousand killed by the #Coronavirus —do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in China and other places in this world?
5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”
Therefore, feed your faith
“‘… Perhaps it will produce fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Luke 13:9 CSB – Jesus’ Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
God-willing we will return to the pool of Siloam in John 9.
To be continued...
