Why So Much Killing in the Old Testament | Mark Finley Sermon

during my more than 50 years of ministry i've heard this question asked again and again and again pastor why is there so much killing in the old testament people have said i can identify with jesus in the new testament but the god of the old testament he's rather harsh rather cruel rather vindictive and very difficult they've said for me to relate to come on pastor how can you justify the killing of men women children in the old testament now these questions are good ones they can't be dodged they can't be evaded and the bible does give us some very positive information in how to understand the answer to these questions now we never might never fully comprehend it until eternity but the bible does help us a great deal the first principle that we have to look at is this what is god's character if you look at god's actions and do not look at god's character you'll misunderstand his actions but if you look at god's character you then will have a clue to understanding his actions in his best-selling book the god delusion atheist richard dawkins refers to the god of the old testament as vindictive and as a bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser journalist christopher hitchens complains that the old testament contains a warrant for can you believe it indiscriminate massacre other critic critics of christianity have leveled similar charges accusing yahweh of crimes against humanity the problem with all those arguments is that they fail to take in view the total picture of the old testament and they fail to understand the character of god what is god's character in the old testament is he a vindictive judge a wrathful tyrant jeremiah the prophet pictures god totally differently in jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3 the lord has appeared to old to me saying yes i've loved you with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness i have drawn you so the god of the old testament as outlined by the prophets is a god of everlasting love he's not a vindictive tyrant he's not a wrathful judge he's a god that draws us with loving kindness in fact you'll recall in exodus chapter 34 when moses sees god in the burning bush god speaks to moses exodus 34 you're looking there at verse 6 and the lord passed before him that's moses and proclaimed the lord the lord god merciful and gracious what kind of a god is he he's merciful he's gracious long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin so the old testament from genesis to malachi presents a god of loving kindness a god of graciousness love is the basis of all god's actions in the old testament now it was god's desire that the nation of israel revealed his love to the heathen nations around them and be his ambassador they were to be a light in the darkness as jesus later said to the new testament church they would be the salt of the earth it was god's intent that the canaanite religions the amalekites and the other heathen religions be so impacted so influenced by israel that they too come to the ancient sanctuary in worship we find that in the book of isaiah chapter 56 verse 6 to 8 once we understand that god's character is loving that with loving kindness he draws that it was his goal to save humanity all humanity jew and gentile and have all humanity the foreigners and the outcasts come to the sanctuary and that israel was to be their ambassador then we begin to be able to understand some of god's actions isaiah 56 look in the sons of the foreigner who are the sons of the foreigner they're the canaanites they're the amalekites they're the egyptians the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the lord to serve him and to love the name of the lord to be a servant everyone how many people everyone who keeps from deviling the sabbath them will i bring to my holy mountain for my house verse seven last part shall be called a house of prayer for all nations the lord god who gathers the outcasts of israel yet i will gather to him others beside those who are gathered to him so god's intent to gather all of the outcasts of israel and you remember ezekiel the prophet chapter 33 verse 11 ezekiel says i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked so what was god's intent as israel came into possession of the promised land god's intent was through his loving kindness manifest in them to win the canaanites to win the amalekites over to to the side of his program over to the side of his way over to the side of his religion over to the side of his love his grace his kindness his goodness that was god's intent now you have to notice a number of things about the old testament when israel entered the promised land they were to go through that land and on their way to the promised land before they ever arrived there they were to pass through and not enter into war with the heathen tribes that was not god's intent so they were into their land and you read the old testament again and again israelites sent messages we'll pass through the land we will not take your flocks we will not invade your villages let us pass through the land again and again the canaanites did not accept israel's invitation to pass through the land peaceably and they attacked israel in that posture god led israel to protect the true religion to fight against them so we see that war was never god's intent it was his reaction against the rebellious amalekites the rebellious midianites the rebellious canaanites so war was a secondary act of god not a primary act of god now god would have used many many other means of defending his people beside war in fact one of god's means was fear let me give you an example of that exodus 14 verse you remember god was leading israel out of egypt why did god slay the firstborn of all of egypt it wasn't his intent moses went to and aaron went to pharaoh and they pleaded with pharaoh let my people go and god sent warning after warning after warning to pharaoh and pharaoh hardened his heart and eventually the firstborn of the egyptians were slain because if god didn't do something dramatic and israel would have stayed in bondage in egypt the pagan egypt egyptian religion of its idolatry and immorality would have so influenced israel that all righteousness all goodness would have stamped and stamped from the earth so god had to do something dramatic that wasn't his original plan he sent message after message after message to pharaoh but as the egyptian armies attacked the israelites there's an interesting principle outlined in exodus chapter 14 and verse 14. it says the lord will fight for you and you will hold your peace what was god going to do he was going to place fear incredible fear in the hearts of the egyptians and he was going to take charge so as egypt the egyptian armies attempted to attack israel god opened the red sea israel went through and then the red sea crashed in on the egyptian armies had they never pursued israel that never would have happened to them had pharaoh allowed israel to go free earlier the slaying of the firstborn never would have taken place now let's come to the promised land israel's on its way to the promised land they send message after message the heathen tribes we will pass through let us pass through peacefully the heathen tribes do not do that what does god do he does a variety of things one thing he did was send hornets because he wanted to avoid war and three places in the bible it says that god will drive them out with hornets look deuteronomy chapter 7 deuteronomy chapter 7 and you're going to look at there at verse 20. moreover the lord your god will send the hornet among them until those who are left who hide themselves from you are destroyed you won't be need to be terrified of them for the lord your god the great and awesome god is among you so god said to israel look i'm the great norsem god don't worry about it you move through that land and i'll protect you i'll send the hornets if necessary you find that too in exodus 25 23 verse 28 exodus chapter 23 verse 28 so god had a lot of creative ways to protect his people exodus 23 verse 28 and i will send the hornets before you which will drive out the hivite the canaanite and the hivite before you so look god's intent was never never never to kill men women and children that was not god's intent at all he was going to drive him out with hornets he was going to put fear in their hearts so they would flee the land but when they became so vindictive and warlike god then used war as an instrument to protect his people war is not pleasant let's suppose that you went to the physician and he discovered a large massive tumor in your stomach and let's suppose he told you that tumor is growing rapidly and the only way we can save your life is to do a stomach operation to remove that tumor would you be willing to do that of course you would to save your life why because the operation was pleasant not at all because the tumor was deadly and fatal had god not acted dramatically the tumor of sin the cancer of sin was so deadly and fatal now what many people fail to understand is the wickedness of the canaanite religion in the defeat of an opponent in war in ancient times the conquering side always had to deal with survivors they had that inevitable issue of what do you do with the survivors would they keep surviving soldiers and men and women and children alive or would they completely destroy the opposing force now apparently due to the violent nature of the canaanites if israel would have preserved them alive those remaining men and women and children would have ultimately rebelled against israel let me share with you a basic understanding of canaanite culture and its inherent wickedness the canaanites were a brutal aggressive people they engaged in beastiality they engaged in incest they engaged in child sacrifice so it was common for the canaanites whose minds were so defiled whose minds were so enraptured with falsehood and error and sexuality it was common for them to take their children and offer them to the canaanite gods deviant sexual activity was norm even starting at a young age with the children the canaanite sin was so rebelled so repellent to god that god said in deuteronomy i'm going to vomit them out of the land even so the destruction of men women and children who were canaanites who were so defiled by sin who would have defiled the israelites that destruction was not focused primarily on the people as it was the canaanite religion now that's what the bible says look deuteronomy 7 verse 3. you're looking there at deuteronomy the seventh chapter and the third verse god's intent was to destroy not merely the people but the vestiges of canaanite religion to protect the true religion of israel deuteronomy 7 verse 3 you shall not make marriages with them the canaanites you shall not give your daughter to their son nor take their daughter for your son for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods so the anger of the lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly now listen to verse 5 but thus you shall deal with them you shall destroy their altars you'll break down their sacred pillars you'll cut down their wooden images you'll burn their carved images with fire for you are a holy people to the lord your god so what was god's intent it was to destroy the canaanite religion that had so polluted the canaanites but they were so intertwined with their religion that god knew that if he allowed them to live they would have destroyed all righteousness and justice among the israelites we find that as well in deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 2 and verse 3. deuteronomy 12 you're looking there at deuteronomy 12 verse 2 and 3. you shall utterly destroy all places where the nations which you shall dispossess serve their gods on the high mountains and on the hills and under the every tree you'll destroy their altars break their sacred pillars burn their wooden images with fire you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place so the destruction of canaan was not ethnically motivated it is not that god is some vindictive god it is rather god knew that the canaanite religion had been so embedded in the hearts and minds of the canaanites that to allow them to exist would have polluted israel it would put it all righteousness and israel would have been destroyed because they would have forfeited god's blessing in the intermarriage and the intermingling with those canaanites but look do we have any examples in the bible where the canaanites some canaanites were saved and accepted the true god we do good example of that is rahab in jericho she found mercy in the sight of god god's desire was that the wicked turn from their sin ezekiel 18 verse 31 and 32 is a strong appeal on god's part you find that psalms proverbs isaiah jeremiah ezekiel then daniel ezekiel 18 and you find in verse 31 and 32 it says cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit for why should you die for i have no pleasure in the death of one who dies says therefore turn and live the lord appealed to canaan he wanted them to turn and live now we should never forget that the canaanites had 400 years to repent you say what what do you mean the canaanites knew the ways of god they understood israel's captivity in egypt they understood the miraculous deliverance we find that hinted at in two places in scripture that god gave the canaanites chance after chance after chance opportunity after opportunity after opportunity his love his grace his redemptive power moved upon their hearts but they rejected that you find that in two places one in the new testament hebrews chapter 11 verse 31 hebrews 11 verse 31 by faith the harlot rahab did not perish with those who did not believe notice these these canaanites did not believe that infers they had the opportunity to believe well how do we know that well joshua 2 verse 10 and 11 and we look at joshua he's referring to the experience of the canaanites joshua 2 and you're looking there verse 10 and 11 for we have heard how the lord dried up the water of the red sea for you when you came out of egypt see this is this is the experience of jericho these the canaanites speaking and they say we've heard how the lord dried up the water when you came out of egypt and what you did to the two kings of the amorites who were on the other side of the jordan as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you the lord your god and then you look at joshua 9 verse 9 puts it this way so they said to him from a very far country your servants have come because the name of the lord your god for we have heard of his fame and all that he did in egypt so here are the things to keep in mind here is a summary when you ask why did god promote so much killing in the old testament first god's character is a god of immense love his actions are always judged by his character secondly god did everything he could to reach the heathen they knew clearly of his activity all through those 400 years that israel was in egyptian bondage they knew of the deliverance from the red sea they knew but they did not do they knew but they did not believe they rejected thirdly god's loving character wanted israel to be a powerful ambassador and witness to them fourthly god would have used other means had they been more peaceful he would have used hornets to chase them out he would have put fear in their hearts but in rebellion they attacked god's people attempting to destroy them god's only choice was to destroy every one of them because heathenism was so embedded in them jesus says turn you and live what lesson from this can you and i learn for our lives today here's the lesson god gives every one of us opportunities day by day moment by moment he speaks to us through his holy spirit he brings conviction to our hearts he arranges providences or the circumstance in our life he brings us in contact with others who share jesus love and jesus says i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked turn and live it's god's message to your heart it's god's message to my heart a loving god wants you in heaven with him forever but if we reject his love and turn our backs on his grace the judgments of god will fall not because he is not loving but for him to bring rebellious sinners into heaven the whole problem of sin would start all over again do you hear god speaking to your heart do you desire with all your heart to serve him let's pray father in heaven thank you for your love and grace thank you for your power thank you that you are loving and thank you that you do not want one person to die and be lost eternally that you long for us to live with you forever in heaven and we thank you for that assurance in jesus name amen

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Keywords: Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh day Adventist, SDA, Adventist, Adventists, Mark Finley, HopeLives365, Hope Lives 365, God's Character, God, Jesus, Christianity, old testiment

Id: 49Kme4yB9KY

Length: 22min 40sec (1360 seconds)

Published: Fri May 07 2021