2 Kings 9:25-37 - Homiletics

Retribution may be long in coming, but it comes at last.

Even a heathen could say, "Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede poena claudo" (Horace, 'Od.,' 2 Kings 3:2 , lines 31, 32). Yet throughout all history evil-disposed men have persisted in wicked and cruel conduct, just as if it was not only possible, but probable, that retribution would be escaped. The lesson thus needs continually to be impressed on men, that, sooner or later, retribution must come—that there is no escape from it, Retribution must come—

I. BECAUSE GOD RULES THE UNIVERSE , AND GOD IS JUST . Disbelief in retribution is essentially atheistic. It implies either that there is no God, or that God is without one or more of those attributes which make him God. A just God must have the will to punish; an omnipotent God must have the power to punish. If a so-called God did not punish sin, he must be either not just, or not omnipotent, or not either; but then he would not be God. As Bahr says, "A God without vengeance, i.e. who cannot and will not punish, is no God, but a divinity fashioned from one's thoughts."

II. BECAUSE GOD HAS DECLARED THAT IT SHALL COME , AND GOD IS TRUE . God has said to each man, through his conscience, that he will punish sin. Remorse and reset, the dissatisfaction of a guilty conscience, are such punishment begun. In his Word God has expressly declared that he "will reward every man according to his works" ( Psalms 62:12 ; Proverbs 24:12 ; Matthew 16:7 ; Romans 2:6 ; 2 Timothy 4:14 ); that he "will by no means clear the guilty" ( Exodus 34:7 ); that "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, shall be on every soul of man that doeth evil" ( Romans 2:8 , Romans 2:9 ). Nothing is more plainly taught in the whole of Scripture, from the beginning to the end, than requital, retribution, condign punishment. Ahab's case is singular, not in the general principle, but only in the exact correspondence between the sin and its punishment. Such correspondence is rare and abnormal; but it does occur from time to time, and, when it occurs, there is something about it that is most impressive and striking. When the author of proscription, Marius, is himself proscribed; when the dethroner of kings, Napoleon L, is himself dethroned; when the inventor of conspiracies, Titus Oates, falls a victim to an invented conspiracy; when Robespierre and Danton, who have ruled by the guillotine, perish by the guillotine;—"poetic justice" as it has been called, is satisfied, and the world at large is forced to recognize and acknowledge that requital has taken place in a signal way.

III. BECAUSE ANY NEGATIVE INSTANCE THAT CAN BE PRODUCED WILL ONLY SHOW A DELAY , NOT AN ABROGATION OF THE SENTENCE . Infinite time is at the disposal of the Almighty. Men are impatient, and, if retribution does not overtake the sinner speedily, are apt to conclude that it will never overtake him. But with the Almighty "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The important thing to be borne in mind is the end; and the end will not be reached till "the judgment is set, and the books are opened" ( Daniel 7:10 ), and men are "judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works" ( Revelation 20:12 ). Punishment may be long in coming—the ungodly may continue during their whole lifetime in prosperity. But there remains a future. Where the heathen felt and said, "Raro," the Christian will say, " Nuquam antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede poena claudo."