DAILY MANNA
SUNDAY 18TH AUGUST, 2019
MERCY AND JUSTICE
TEXT: ISAIAH 30:27-33
KEY VERSE: “For Tophet is ordained of old, yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it” (ISAIAH 30:33).
God in His nature and attribute of mercy pardons the iniquity of contrite men and grant them eternal salvation which they merited not. In the same token of His nature of justice, He punishes sinful men and banishes them to eternal damnation if they should die in their sin.
Earlier in the chapter from where our text is taken, God had appealed to Israel to return to Him for their salvation rather than go back to Egypt and be disappointed. He sent a message of warning to the belligerent and wicked king of Assyria: “…The Assyrians shall be beaten down…” (v. 31). This is a message of total rout and ruin of the army of a nation that shuns the offer of God’s mercy but rather believed in themselves. The appointed place of judgment and ruin of the Assyrian king is Tophet a place of perpetual fire.
The relevance of this message to modern men is that, all unrepentant sinners will be cast into hell, and all backsliders that have forgotten God too. Divine eternal punishment will give no recognition to classes or nobility of any sinner. Same punishment is ordained both for the rich and the poor, the nobles and the commons. He is not a respecter of man. Moreover, no sinner or backslider may, by whatever ingenuity or power escape the fury judgment of fire. Tophet is a similitude of hell. It is so deep that no one can escape or be rescued from it.
Our wisdom is in turning away from sin, believe on the Saviour Jesus Christ, pray earnestly for forgiveness and live entirely for Him henceforth.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: No respect of persons with God.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOB 26–30
