Does God kill?
Does God kill people to clear His schedule?
I hope you can see by now that I'm not afraid to ask questions.
And copying the Bible word-for-word raises legitimate questions.
I'm also a crime show buff.
In reading the Bible, I find it unusually how often people die
after they have finished a task God gave them,
or how people die when God wants to start something new.
So many people want to see God as a cotton-candy Someone,
more like heavenly Mr. Rogers than as a conquering warrior.
God's plan has always been to redeem humanity from the curse of sin
which opportunes itself through our free wills;
our free will being necessary to feel love.
Let us look at times when God may have 'offed' people
who could not help God accomplish His next phase of our redemption.
DOES GOD KILL?
Noah's father and grandfather
Look at the timeline for the deaths of Lamech and Methuselah,
Noah's father and grandfather.
See how closely they died to the Great Flood?
And how closely they died to one another?
Is that coincidence?
Genesis 6:
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens,
every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—
you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you..."
Notice that God did not mention Noah's father and grandfather,
even though they were alive when the order was given to build the ark.
How long did it take Noah to build the ark? | GotQuestions.org
Some believe it took Noah 120 years to build the ark.
So Noah's father and grandfather died so close to the time of the Great Flood.
DOES GOD KILL?
Moses
Deuteronomy 34
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah,
across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan,
2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh,
all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea,
3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.
4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes,
but you will not cross over into it.”
5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said.
6 He buried him" in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor,
but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died,
yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.
Apparently Moses died at the hand of God, not by God waiting for him to become feeble,
as verse 7 says. And does the Bible say that the Lord Himself buries Moses?
DOES GOD KILL?
Elijah
2Kings 2
2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,
2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,
Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.
But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”
So they went down to Bethel.
3 The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “
Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”
“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”
...........
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha,
“Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
" Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”
So they went down to Bethel.
3 The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “
Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”
“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”
...........
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha,
“Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
" Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you,
it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire
appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
People love the account of Elijah being taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire,
but they grieve when hearing Moses dying at the border of the Promised Land.
Yet in Matthew 17, both Moses and Elijah met Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Same God.
And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
People love the account of Elijah being taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire,
but they grieve when hearing Moses dying at the border of the Promised Land.
Yet in Matthew 17, both Moses and Elijah met Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Same God.
DOES GOD KILL?
Jesus
This part is very direct.
God the Father - plotted to have Jesus killed - for our transgressions.
DOES GOD KILL?
John the Baptist
During my 40 years of born-again Christianity, I have seen a few pastors retire.
Usually when a Senior pastor retires, he leaves the church completely
so the members will have a clear direction of leadership to follow.
John the Baptist announced and affirmed Jesus, then was executed,
and God stood by and watched.
My opinion? It was time for John to leave the earth.
His job was done, and the new Church need one clear leader to follow.
Remember 1 Corinthians, where that church was choosing sides Paul or Apollos
as to who was the leader? Can you see that happening between Jesus and John.
I can.
My dad was in the US Navy during WW2. (USS Chilton) His job was to pilot a landing craft
to put Marines on Japanese-held beaches like Okinawa,
when everyone knew that many of them would not return.
I've been told that God has a Perfect Will,
and that God has a Permissive Will.
Judas' betrayal of Christ was within God's Permissive Will.
And I believe that John's martyrdom was within God's Permissive Will
to regulate the leadership of the new Church.
DOES GOD KILL?
The crucifixion of Peter
In John 21, Jesus foretold of the martyrdom of Peter.
Jesus knew, and didn't stop it.
DOES GOD KILL?
Ananias and Sapphira
Acts 5 tells about the disaster called Ananias and Sapphira.
Peter announced it before it happened, so God must have told Peter.
Did God kill them?
Or ... how else did they die?
***********************************************************
Death by irreverent Communion:
1 Corinthians 11:
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner
will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ
eat and drink judgment on themselves.
30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves,
we would not come under such judgment.
32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord,
we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
Paul seemed to strongly infer that God punishes Believers for taking Communion irreverently.
Weakness, sickness and death are three of the punishments He uses, eh?
DOES GOD KILL?
Does God use Satan to kill?
The Book of Job tells us that God gave Satan permission to upend Job's life
to prove that Job was an upright man.
This included the death of Job's children.
God's Sovereignty.
And what about Paul in 1 Corinthians 5, where he says:
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you,
and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.
2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning
and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit.
As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment
in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.
4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit,
and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh
so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
Could this 'destruction of the flesh' include a terminal illness?
DOES GOD KILL?
to conclude...
Brand-new, 1st Century Christians witnessed a lot of these things...
the transfiguration, the death of Ananias and Sapphira -
Before and after watching Jesus being crucified.
We shouldn't be horrified to realize that God isn't another Mr. Rogers.