Because Of What You Did
We read in the Bible often that every man (including women) will be judged by what they did. Often times the Lord told His people that He would punish them. There were times in the days of the prophets that the people complained about their punishment, grief, or calamity that they would speak up and ask "why?" First of all, God had warned them of the danger of breaking His commands. Adam and Eve had the simplest commands of all humanity. They only had two commands. God gave them permission to eat from every tree of the garden except one. This one command was simple, it was understood, and it was no different from any other command God has given to all humanity. Obedience would have its reward.
For some reason, people just want to see what they can get away with. Eve could have been anywhere in the garden eating to her hearts content. But she was there, right next to the tree when the serpent appeared and began speaking to her. Notice that Eve was not even alarmed that any creature would speak to her. Her focus was upon the fruit of that tree, and there it took very little convincing for her to eat, and Adam was there also, and he ate. Well, it was all downhill from there for humanity.
In a way, God started over with Noah, who was described as a preacher of righteousness. Yet from his own children, sin continued in the world. When Abraham came along, God made a promise to him, and God made a covenant with him. Later on, God would speak through Moses and give His children a law of commandments and ordinances.
It was these laws that the children of Israel violated. These laws of God were treated with contempt, and the children of Israel would run off after other gods and other methods of sin.
God had spoken to the people through Moses and God warned them what would happen if they broke the law. The people would be punished. Well, God kept His word, and the people were punished. Often times when they were being punished, God would speak through a prophet and explain it was because of what they did.
They did not listen to God, but to man. They did not obey God, but did what they wanted to do. They closed their ears to His laws. The even killed the prophets trying to get them to return to God where all the blessings would be. Take some time to sit down with the Bible and go to Jeremiah. With a highlighter or pencil, read Jeremiah, and highlight every time the word "because" is written. There will be a lot of times in Jeremiah that the word is written. The people had so much sin and God was punishing them. God always told them why they were being punished. It was because of what they did.
There remains a final judgment for all of us today. Sure we have the Savior Who died upon the cross for our sins, and we must pledge allegiance to Him. But we still need to keep God's laws which were given to us through Jesus Christ and the writers who spoke by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
If our final judgment is "DEPART FROM ME", we will know why. It was because we did not obey His laws. Thankfully, because of Christ's sacrifice, and if we are obedient children, we can hear those words "ENTER INTO THE JOY OF THE MASTER".
By Carey Scott

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