Deuteronomy 20.
THE close of the nineteenth chapter and almost the whole of the twentieth, seem quite different in spirit from the teachings of the New Testament, and they are, but both are of God. The difference is not that God’s principles change, but that in our chapter today He was proposing to punish His enemies, and from the time that His son came to earth until now, He is showing mercy, and delaying the punishment of His enemies. When the day of mercy ends, judgment will fall on every sinner who rejects the salvation of God.
There were two classes of enemies of God, as chapter 20 shows. These classes were, those to whom mercy was to be held out (verse 10); and those to whom it was not (verse 16). All deserved judgment; all received the judgment of God, if they neglected or refused the offer. It was not a question of trying to do better, with the people of verse 10; it was to accept or refuse peace offered in the name of God. Just so is it now, in the day in which we live; God is offering peace. Have you accepted it?
Verses 2 to 9 show how God’s service calls for devotion to Him. Those whose hearts and minds are set on earthly things can be of little use to Him in the war against the power of sin and Satan. This war is always going on; the Christian does not fight with human enemies, but Satan’s power.
ML 01/18/1925