Today’s devotion
Topic: The Day When God Will Let The Obedience Of Some Men Condemn The Disobedience Of The Others!
Text : Matthew 12: 38- 41
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” 39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. Amen
Quite often, when teachers put out their best effort in trying to carry a concept across to a section of their students who do not yet fully understand the subject matter, they almost always do one thing. They call on the remaining class who have a good understanding of the concept to present it to their colleagues. And most of the time, it works.
Both the teacher and the struggling student finally burst a sigh of relief and the latter realizes that after all, the concept is not beyond comprehension. At that point, the teacher quietly and excitedly gives way for the student who understands the concept to take his/ her colleagues through the concept step by step.
The passage above is a very deep one beloved. When Jesus was asked for a sign, He mentioned that the only sign He would give us, a wicked generation, was the sign of Jonah.
You see the sin of Niveveh had risen up to heaven, so the Lord sent Prophet Jonah to warn them. No sooner had the prophet began preaching than the whole city repented; from the king to the least. They all cried to the Lord for mercy and forgiveness.
This generation however, is more blessed than that of Jonah because in our dispensation, God has not sent a prophet to us but His only begotten son to convict us of sin and show us the way to salvation. Yet we are more stubborn than the people of Nineveh.
Although, the Lord calls us to a life of salvation and righteousness as the only ticket to heaven, for most people, this is an unreasonable demand. They look around them and all they see is a thrilling, buzzing and exciting world. It is their time, and they will not disappoint themselves.
But you see, on That Day according to Matthew 12: 41, it is the repentance and obedience of the men of Nineveh, that will condemn our rejection of the gospel. For if they could as much repent at the word of the prophet of the Lord, how much more is required of us then; a generation privileged enough to hear from Jesus Himself.
Therefore on the day the Lord ascends His great throne to judge the quick and the dead, He may not say much at all. Like the teacher who allows the student who understood the concept to teach his colleagues where they got it wrong, so will the Lord allow the obedience of those who repented to condemn the disobedience of those who didn’t.
So that it will be the righteous life of the unmarried (who burnt with passion in the flesh and yet chose to honor God and not fornicate) that will condemn the infidelity of the married. The clean hand of the meager-salary earning messenger that will condemn the filthy stealing fingers of his fat-salaried boss. The integrity and loyalty of that 50-member congreation pastor that will condemn the money-hungry bishop of that 5000 seater-capacity church who never cared about the salvation of his members.
The pairings will be endless but certainly, this awesome, Holy God will only take His seat to pass verdict as He watches righteous men, subject to the same trials and temptations in the flesh, judge unholy men who thought they had excuses for staying out of line with God’s word.
Therefore do not lose your salvation because of your wife, husband, boss, pastor, etc. You do not have a special case. Remember, on That Day, the obedience of your fellow righteous man will be used to condemn your disobedience to God’s word. Repent, ask the Lord in your heart. Live to honor His word and you shall gain life; both eternally and abundantly. Begin to pray now.
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