The judgment of sinners is one of the great themes of the scriptures and only a fool would take lightly the forewarning of God’s eternal judgment.  Today’s devotional proverb addresses the subject of judgment—both that of man and God.

Proverbs 19:29 – “Judgments [sentence; acts of judgment] are prepared [established; prepared; certain] for scorners [mockers], and stripes [blows] for the back of fools [silly; stupid; thickheaded].”

All too obvious in our day, when parents and society neglect the instruction and correction of children in their youth, the result is a generation of fools undeterred in their sin and who mock authority and the threat of punishment.  Solomon instructed his son that men who mock and scorn the threat of man or God’s justice would inevitably, and rightly so, be punished.

Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher and theologian of Colonial America in the 18^th century, was one of the foremost leaders of a sweeping revival known as The Great Awakening.  Preaching in Enfield, Connecticut on July 8, 1741, Edwards preached a powerful sermon from Hebrews 10:30-31 titled “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God”.  It was a powerful, convicting warning of God’s judgment that stirred a movement of repentance and deep piety in America.

The longsuffering of God is undeniably one of the great evidences of God’s grace towards sinners and one we too often take for granted.  The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah testified, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22).

The apostle Peter writes: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

I close with the prophetic fact of God’s judgment and the eternal reality of His justice.

Revelation 20:11-15 – “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. ¹²  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. ¹³  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. ¹⁴  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Copyright 2015 – Travis D. Smith