“If you abandon Adonai and serve foreign gods, he will turn, doing you harm and destroying you after he has done you good.”-Joshua 24:20
You know, there’s a really good reason why God is going out of His way to warn the people if they stray in their allegiance to Him, they can expect to be disciplined.
The reason is because it was the norm during Bible times that if somebody decided to switch their devotion and worship from one god to another, there really was NOT any dire consequences.
The god who had been betrayed would simply just wait for his or her former worshipper to return.
Not so with the God of Israel.
If betrayed, the God of Israel is a god who will hunt down His people to make sure they’re punished for their sins.
In this sense, verse 20 stood out as a unique warning to the ancient Israelites.
And it should stand as a solemn warning to us as well.
Because it tells us there will be a price to pay for disobedience.
And in worst cases, that price could be total destruction.
That’s an aspect of the Lord’s holiness a lot of folks don’t like to talk about, especially in the gentile church.
Everyone always focuses on the fact that God’s holiness saves.
And indeed it does!
But that’s just one half of the coin.
The other half is that God’s holiness also destroys.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira (the folks who sold their house and lied about the amount of money they donated from the proceeds) is a perfect example of that.
This is exactly what Joshua is warning us about.
God’s holiness is like nitroglycerin man!
It can destroy just as well as it can save!
It can kill just as well as it can heal!
It all depends on which side of the equation you’re on.
The Lord’s holiness is particularly dangerous to those who once knew God but then made the decision to walk away.
In that case, the Lord warns He will reverse your salvation history faster than you can say the word “Jerusalem”.
The ancient prophets of Israel warned their people over and over and over again about this.
Unfortunately, a good majority of Israel refused to listen.
The result?
They were booted out of the land.
So homies, think twice before you decide to give your affections to another deity.
Because the consequences could be fatal.
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