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NASB | Isaiah 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Isaiah 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. |
Bible Question: I am just curious about the people in the Bible that Joshua killed per the commandment of the Lord given by Moses. The Lord told Joshua to destroy them all. What happened to those people? Were they created just for the purpose of dying? What happened to them after they died? If God wishes none to perish, where are these people now? |
Bible Answer: Hi Michelle, Just as God said in the times of Noah, "My Spirit will not always strive with man," so He has declared a day of judgment for mankind in the future: 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come.... Literally, this passage says that God wills none to perish, but "for all to repentance to come, but shall come the day of the Lord." God did not want those people dead, in the sense of what He prefers. But His righteousness will not allow justice to be subverted. The Lord said through Ezekiel (18:23) "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?" and as you read this chapter, and the rest of the Bible, the answer is a resounding NO, God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, He would rather they turn to Him and live. But when they don't, He has to act. Gen 15:16 "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." This verse, as God is prophesying to Abram of what would happen to his descendants, tells as a lot in a little space. It tells us that the Amorites, one of the peoples in Canaan which would be destroyed by Joshua, were a sinful people. It tells us that their sinfulness would increase. It tells us that God was allowing them time, that their sin wasn't yet to the point that would require their destruction. I believe God was giving them time to repent, even though He knew they wouldn't. Later, when Joshua came to Canaan to begin to possess it, Rahab believed, and perhaps others did as well, and joined Israel, and lived. But for those who would not repent, for those who had corrupted themselves beyond all repentance, God judged. He did this at the time of the flood. He did this to Sodom, and to Gomorrah. He will do this to the whole world at the end of the age. Where did they go? The unrighteous went to torment, and the believing to comfort. If you believe that babies and small children who are too young to understand will be with the Lord, as I do, then God rescued an entire generation of children from being perverted and corrupted by their perverse and corrupt society. And in turn, He gave the land, which is His to give to whom He wants, to His chosen. Again, He will do this same very thing at the end of the age. I hope this helps! Love Christ, Mark |