XV. Угрозы некающимся

“Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire,” says John the Baptist (Matthew 3:10, Luke 3:9). Interpretation: a tree that does not bear good fruit is a faulty person, an ax is the judgment of God, cutting the faulty one and condemning him to eternal fire. “As the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age” (Matthew 13:40). Interpretation: tares are unrepentant sinners. “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “Throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). “Why do you call Me: Lord! God! “And you do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). “Unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way” (Luke 13:5). “Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). “Or do you neglect the riches of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment from God” (Rom. 2:4–5). “Tribulation and distress to every soul of a man who does evil” (Rom. 2:9). “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be justified” (Rom. 2:13). “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor wicked people, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). “Know this, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Eph. 5:5). “But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). “The way of the wicked will perish” (Ps. 1:6). “Sons of humanity, how long will the heart be heavy? Why do you love vanity and seek lies? (Ps. 4:3). “If you do not turn, He will refine His weapon; He bent His bow and prepared it, and in it He prepared instruments of death; He made His arrows for those who were burned” (Ps. 7:13-14). “The sinner is stuck in the work of his own hands. Let sinners return to hell, all nations that forget God” (Ps. 9:17–18). “The iniquities will be driven out, and the seed of the wicked will be destroyed” (Ps. 36:28). “As smoke disappears, let them disappear; as wax melts before the fire, so let sinners perish before the presence of God” (Ps. 67:3). “Behold, those who depart from You will perish” (Ps. 72:27). “The Lord will reward them for their iniquity, and the Lord God will destroy them through their wickedness” (Ps. 93:23). “Salvation is far from sinners, for they did not keep Your statutes” (Ps. 119:155). “The Lord is righteous: He hath cut the necks of sinners” (Ps. 129:4). “Sinners will fall into their net” (Ps. 140:10). “The Lord protects all those who love Him, and the sinner will destroy them all” (Ps. 145:20). God threatens sinners because He does not want to destroy them: He expresses His anger so that we would correct ourselves through fear and avoid eternal punishment (Conversation on the Earthquake). The threat of execution usually turns people more towards correction than the promise of rewards (Conversation 55 on the Evangelist Matthew). If the fear of the earthly king turns us away from so many evils, then fear could turn us away from evil much more than the Heavenly King if we often listened to the Scriptures (Conversation 2 on 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians). God threatens us with execution because a reminder of it is, as it were, a kind of saving medicine (Conversation 2 on 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians). A person would not soon sin if he always diligently reasoned about Gehenna, for the Scripture says: “In all your deeds remember your end, and you will never sin” (Sir. 7:39 - Conversation 2 on 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians). We should talk more about Gehenna than about the Kingdom of Heaven, for fear has more power than a promise (Conversation 2 on 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians). It is very dangerous to despise the threats of God: whoever despises His threats will soon experience His punishment from his own experience (Conversation 2 on 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians). Therefore the Ninevites were saved because they were afraid of the threat of God; because the Sodomites perished because they despised her (Conversation 2 on 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians). Discourse on Threats to the Unrepentant The very threats of God are a sign of God’s mercy towards sinners, because God threatens execution so that they come to their senses, leave their evil previous life and turn to Him with repentance. For in various ways God calls the sinner to repentance, sometimes by turning inside his conscience, sometimes by promising benefits, sometimes by threatening punishment; and if the sinner neglects all this, then God’s judgment befalls him, as unrepentant. You might be interested in: