That Terrible Cost

September 3

"The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land,” Ezekiel 8:12.

"I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," Revelation 3:17.

The above verses convey a sense of smug confidence that the Lord neither sees nor cares about the behavior or the attitude of men. The individuals represented by this line of thought evidence a security rooted in their complacency, a security that is not troubled by sin because God seems not to notice it.

But the Word does address this kind of indifference to the law and the heart of the Holy One in I Corinthians 10:12 where Paul conveys the sobering admonition, “Let Him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

There is a day coming when each person who has ever dwelt in a tabernacle of flesh will be held accountable for not only his actions but also for his words and his thoughts. There is a day coming when each nation will be judged by how it has surrendered to the tenets of the Lord.

Those who think their wealth will keep them secure from accountability will discover--contrary to their self-assurance that they needed nothing--they were instead “poor and wretched and blind and naked,” Revelation 3:17. Those who are citizens of wealthy nations will feel the earth shake under their feet just as will those who are impoverished when that day comes when “everything that can be shaken will be shaken,” Hebrews 12:27, “and only what cannot be shaken will remain.”

It is sobering to contemplate the ramifications of the clear warnings of scripture that a time of accountability is coming for everyone. Whether each individual confronts that day individually upon his demise or whether they are caught up in that “great and terrible day of the Lord,” Malachi 4:5, before which our God will endeavor to restore the hearts of His people to the truths learned from our fathers, those who turn away from His truth will be judged and found wanting.

As stated in Ecclesiastes 8:11: "Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil," man has become entrenched in his folly because it appears there is no accountability for wrongdoing; but in this presumption, man is sorely in error.

Habakkuk 2:3 states quite clearly, “The promise is for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come.” God’s word is steadfast and true. “His promises are yea and amen,” II Corinthians 1:20. When man turns his back on the Lord, there is a price to pay and man shall be held accountable for all his transgressions if he has not bowed before the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and placed every wicked thing he has ever done under the blood of the Lamb.

God does see—He sees beyond wealth and power, He sees beyond poverty and impotence--and He has not forsaken His law. If a man hasn’t received Jesus’ payment for the law in his behalf, that man will be required to pay the penalty for it on his own, and no one is wealthy enough to afford that terrible cost.