A Time To Kill
by Pastor Mark Downey
September 18, 2011
The reason I selected Ezekiel 3:17-24 for today’s Scripture reading for this subject is to warn the wicked, those who have misappropriated the Word of God for the justification of ungodly acts that result in the loss of life. It is never a time to kill if there is no divine sanction. We call that murder and we’ve been discussing murderers for the last couple of weeks. God’s resolution for homicide is not a life sentence in prison, not plea bargaining, not extradition, not counseling and therapy. It is death. It is the only principle of law of ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’, or to boil it down to the law of like for like, that without it, would utterly destroy the peace of society, sowing the seeds of discord, hatred and revenge. It is the law of retaliation as prescribed by God. In other words, we must convincingly establish the axiom that crime does not pay. Sin is the transgression of the Law and the wages of sin is death.