Wanting others to be judged and punished for their sins, and being pleased or satisfied with that idea, is a self-righteous and sinful attitude.
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. It’s time for another Friday End Times post.
The Bible says we must not rejoice at our enemies downfall. We must never take joy in that. If we’re happy to see our enemies downfall, the LORD will see our joy and be angry with us for that. We must have empathy for everyone at all times, and sympathy for their punishments, even when they earned their consequences through their actions.
Now how does that tie into the topic of the End Times? Well we know a great many sinners will be judged and sent to an eternal punishment when Christ returns. Those who are saved must never take any pleasure or satisfaction in that. No, not at all! Every sinner who goes to that punishment is a loss for the Kingdom of Heaven. The attitude of being pleased with the coming judgment of sinners is self-righteous, sinful, and not in line with God’s will.
That’s the topic for today. So let’s get straight into it.
Don’t Kick People when They’re Down
The idea for today’s post came to me when I read a passage from Proverbs 24. It says we must not rejoice when our enemies fall. We must not even let our hearts be glad (rejoicing on the inside). Here’s Proverbs 24:17-20.
(17) When your enemies fall, don’t rejoice.
Proverbs 24:17-20 (CEB)
When they stumble, don’t let your heart be glad,
(18) or the LORD will see it and be displeased,
and he will turn his anger from them.
(19) Don’t get fighting mad at evil people;
don’t be envious of the wicked.
(20) Indeed, there is no future for the evil;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
So this tells us if we enjoy watching our enemies fall (heart be glad), the LORD will see we’re happy about their trouble and He will be angry with us. And then our rejoicing will turn to nothing. The LORD will turn His anger away from our enemies, because He’s so displeased with our enjoyment of their downfall!
Next we have some Prudent advice not to get too angry about evildoers, or envious of the wicked. I know I’ve fallen into both of those traps many times over my whole life, even recently. These are words I need to remember. When we see people being evil, we get angry and want them to answer for what they’ve done. And when we see people not following God’s commandments and doing whatever they like, we get jealous of them. It seems like they’re having more fun than us, while we limit what we can do by choosing to obey God’s laws.
Well, Proverbs 24:20 assures us that living a good, God-fearing life is best in the long-run. Those who do evil, and those who live outside of God’s laws, doing whatever they like, all these people will have their fun for awhile. They’ll have their moment. But it won’t last long. Soon, sooner than they expect, the party is over and their evil deeds or carefree life of self-indulgence catch up with them. There’s no future for the evil or self-serving. One day, their lamp will be snuffed out.
This is why we don’t need to get furious (fighting mad) about the evildoers, or jealous of those who choose to do whatever they like. Their reign of terror or their party time will both come to an end. So we can leave that up to God, knowing it’ll happen. Could be sooner, could be later, but it will happen. Now the important part is, if we happen to see their downfall ourselves, we can’t be happy about it.
No one’s downfall should be a source of joy for us. Not even the downfall of the people we like the least or those who oppose us the most. It’s not entertainment, it’s not funny. It’s someone’s life. Imagine if it were our downfall. Would we want people laughing at us when that happens? We all know we need to do unto others what we would have done unto us.
When our “enemies” fall, we need to have human empathy for them. We need to acknowledge the horror of their consequences. They may have caused their own downfall through their actions, but that doesn’t change anything. Once they’ve fallen, they deserve our mercy and empathy. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and imagine it were us. And we must not add to their torment by mocking them and rejoicing. Proverbs 24:18 tells us the LORD will be angry with us if we do so. He will also turn His anger away from our enemies, showing them more mercy than He first intended because of our sinful reaction.
We could consider not rejoicing over our enemies downfall as another way to turn the other cheek. It’s our natural impulse to mock our enemies and rejoice over their misfortune. But as Christians, we’re called to subdue our natural impulses and rise above them. To walk in the spirit, not the flesh. Rejoicing over our enemies downfall is something of the flesh, it’s not something a person walking in the spirit would do (see Galatians 5).
Rejoicing over our enemies downfall also puts us at severe risk for the sin of pride. We might feel proud we are so spiritual, so good, so obedient to God. We might feel like we’re better than the ones suffering misfortune, which isn’t true. But if we fall into pride like that, thinking we’re better than them, then our downfall will come next. Because we know God opposes the proud (Proverbs 3:34).
(34) He mocks proud mockers
Proverbs 3:34 (NIV)
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
Before moving on, there’s one more warning in Scripture that I know of about laughing when our enemies fall. In the Book of Job, when his friends are telling him to repent of all his sins (thinking God must be punishing him for something), Job defends himself repeatedly. One thing he says in his defense is that he never kicked a man when they were down. That’s Job 31:29.
(29) I have never laughed
Job 31:29-30 (CEV)
when my enemies
were struck by disaster.
(30) Neither have I sinned
by asking God
to send down on them
the curse of death.
Job says he never laughed when his enemies met disaster. And he says that asking God to curse them is a sin. Take note of these things. Just as we must do unto other as we would have done to us, so must we pray about others as we would have them pray about us. If we pray for misfortune for others, we’re cursing them. God will be angered by our cursing, and punish us instead.
So there we have it—Proverbs 24:17-20, and Job 31:29-30. Both of these passages make it clear that we must never rejoice over our enemies misfortune. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done to us, how wicked they are, none of that matters. We must turn the other cheek again, by not indulging in the happiness we feel at the misfortune of the wicked.
OK, that’s great. Now how does this tie into the End Times?
God Wants every Sinner to Be Saved, and so Should We
The Book of Revelation lists types of sinners who will be damned at the Second Coming of Christ. People who won’t put down their spells or their idols, for example. And the New Testament makes clear in a few other places who will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. So we know these words and take heed. We know that sinners will be judged and punished for eternity.
But we have no reason to be happy about it. It’s nothing to be happy about. It’s horrible, painful, fiery punishment for eternity. Why would we wish that on anyone? There are a few reasons why we must stop and check ourselves. We must make sure we don’t feel even one ounce of happiness or satisfaction at this news.
First, knowing that unrepentant sinners will be damned can easily make us fall into the trap of being judgmental. We judge them for their sins, and we look down on them. We start to look at them as less than us. We fall into spiritual pride, believing we’re better in God’s eyes than they are.
But we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). So we need to check ourselves before we fall into the sin of being judgmental. Sure, we might not commit the sins we judge others for, but what about our own sins? What about any secret sins in our lives? What about the sins in our heart and mind, such as racism? What about sins that only we and God know about? We know we must not judge, because that’s not our jurisdiction. We are all sinners—so who are we to judge? Leave the judging to God, the only one qualified for it.
(1) “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. (2) For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-3 (NIV)
(3) “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
I should note here that telling someone that what they do is a sin is not judging. Judging is believing they’re bad people and deserve eternal punishment. It’s believing that we’re better than them. That’s not how we should look at anyone, ever.
We should be sad every time an unrepentant sinner dies without the LORD. We should be sad about every sinner who will be damned when Jesus returns. Because every soul is precious to God, and every person is created in His image. God loves everyone, and God doesn’t want even one person to go to hell (Matthew 18:14). Every sinner is precious to God. So we need to love and respect every sinner because God does.
(12) “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? (13) And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. (14) In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV)
We definitely aren’t loving our fellow sinners like God does if we’re happy or satisfied with the idea of them going to hell.
Wanting others to be judged and punished for their sins, and being pleased or satisfied with that idea, is a self-righteous and sinful attitude.
So as we get further into these End Times, and Christ’s return gets closer day by day, we need to look inward and make sure our attitude is correct. Make sure our hearts and minds are pure.
If we feel self-satisfied that anyone is going to hell, we are in extreme critical danger. We might lose our salvation over that attitude.
No matter what sinners we’re talking about, no matter what sin, we must never be happy about their coming judgment. Never. We must never rejoice at anyone’s downfall, not even our “enemies.” And every sinner who goes to the fire is a loss for the Kingdom of Heaven. That is not what God wants, and we should be as sad about every lost sinner as He is.
And hey, don’t forget: If we’re that angered by a sinner and their sin, then rejoicing at their downfall will turn the LORD’s anger away from them. We can’t win in any way with this foolish, judgmental, self-righteous, and prideful mindset. Leave it alone, leave it all alone. Leave the judging up to God, and focus on doing our part: Leading people to the truth of Christ so He may win their soul.
Don’t Wish for what God Doesn’t Want
The promise of Christ’s return is bittersweet, both happy and sad. It’s happy for those who have Faith in Him, a source of comfort and peace. But it’s sad to think about all the people who won’t accept Jesus and will be damned for eternity as a result.
Why would we want anyone to go to hell?
Even if it’s someone who really hurt us, we must forgive them. The Bible teaches that. And no matter what they did, God still loves them and doesn’t want to damn them to hell, but He will if He has to. God loves that person who hurt us, like God loves every sinner. Like God loves us, who are sinners. We got a second chance by being saved and born again through Him. Why wouldn’t we want everyone to have that chance?
Remember Matthew 18:14. God doesn’t want to damn sinners to hell. If we feel happy or satisfied with the idea that sinners will soon be sent to eternal punishment, we aren’t loving sinners like God does. And we want something that God doesn’t want. We’re not in obedience to God if we feel that way.
So listen everybody: Check yourselves! Make sure we aren’t happy about the fact that sinners will be judged. That puts us in extreme danger of the sins of pride and being judgmental. We’re in danger of losing our salvation over that.
Never be happy about anyone’s judgment. Never rejoice at anyone’s downfall, not even “enemies.” The Second Coming of Christ will be a horrible day for so many. For too many. Instead of taking satisfaction from that, we must redouble our efforts on leading every last sinner to Christ that we can while we still have time.
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Until next time, be strong and do good!
Your new best friend in Christ,
99:9
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99:9 Exalt El Shaddai 
Amen to that. The eternal destiny of many may only be known by other persons (if at all) within the last minutes of life largely regardless of how they lived…
1 Cor 6:9-11 9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Our responsibility isn’t to judge, but rather to live and share the gospel of God’s grace and His call to repentance to salvation through Christ.
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