God's Wrath on All Disobedience - Isaiah 14-16 and Ephesians 5:1-16

Sometimes, people feel that they are exempt from God's wrath. They think God will not punish them for their sins, because He is using them to do His will, or because they are His children. That is not true. God always punishes sin. The Assyrians and the Babylonians were used by God to punish Israel and Judah for their sins. They were lifted up by pride as they swept over these lands. They thought they were invincible, but they weren't. God brought them down for the same sins for which He was punishing Israel. Then, Moab was built up in pride when they saw how Israel was defeated, and God brought them down for their pride and other sins, too. No one is exempt from God's wrath against disobedience.

Ephesians 5 exhorts us to be imitators of God and to walk in love. God will not give His children a pass. If we sin, He will punish us as a loving earthly father does. We must not walk in the ways of this world, we must redeem the time. I have seen so many Christians who seem to think that it doesn't really matter how they live. They seem to think that God will not punish them, because they go to church. They think that being a Christian allows them a certain amount of sin. They are misunderstanding God's nature and His justice in particular. God would not be righteous and just, if He overlooked our sins. He is loving so He has to lead us away from sin to righteousness. That is why He punishes our disobedience in every case.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 17-19 and Ephesians 5:17-33.