Extreme Measures

"...that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

- Isaiah 40

The setup for John the Baptist (this verse precedes the "A voice cried out" passage), was a reminder that Jerusalem has just paid heavily, for sinning against God. It says that she received the punishment from the Lord's own hand.

So, a couple of things. As we go about considering the terrible acts of a "loving God," ("Why would a loving God permit evil?"), we have it right here that, not only does He permit evil to happen, but His punishments may very well be twice as bad as we deserve.

We say "why do bad things happen to good people?" But the point is, they're not good people, or the bad things would not happen. John the Baptist preached repentance, and we all need to repent. Yes, it is true that within Jerusalem, there were charitable people. There were kindly grandparents that loved their grandkids. There were artists and philanthropists. There were people that worked hard and saved. There were people that did not lie, or cheat others. There were faithful husbands and wives. There were very friendly and respectful teenagers that got all A's and called adults "sir" and "ma'am."

But still those people died, eventually. And really . . . what's worse than death, itself?

God hates sin so much (it is a blot on His creation), that the penalty for it is twice the worth of the sin, (except that you can't be "twice" as dead.). God's judgment is horrible.

And when it says that the penalty comes "from the Lord's hand," it means that even if it's the Assyrians coming in and terrorizing everybody . . . it's still the Lord's doing.

This is heavy material. The Isaiah passage is all good. It has a beautiful ending. It points to John the Baptist and Christ. It leads to life and liberty. But it starts out with this reminder.

And so it's not for us to question God and His wise judgment (why would He want selfish people to go on, unimpeded, for all eternity? And we're all selfish). But rather to realize how excessively, and even lovingly, He wants us not to sin.

He wants us to get the point. And this requires extreme measures.