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Chronicles 24:22 KJV
Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his
father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD
look upon it, and require it.
There
is a difference between wishing evil upon a person and telling them evil will
come upon them.
We
are compelled to recognize a contrast between the stoning of Zechariah, here
recorded and that of Stephen in the book of Acts. Stephen's words of prayer at
the moment of his death are given in the spirit of forgiveness for those who so
brutally took his life. Zechariah appears to have taken a different spirit,
seemingly praying that he be revenged. The conflict is resolved when we see in
the New Testament that Zechariah's words were not meant as a prayer for revenge
but as a prophecy of the future.
Both
of these spirits are true and necessary. A Christian must faithfully pronounce
that judgment is the end of the wicked.
- There is a Tribulation
- There is a literal hell and
- There is a lake of fire and
brimstone
- There is a chastening of the
wayward Christian
- There is a sin unto death
- There is a worldly seed that, when
sown, must be harvested
It
would be calloused and irresponsible to not warn others of these judgments. On
the other hand it would be unchristlike to wish any of them upon them.
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