Seven Things God Hates - Part 4

What do Cain, Joab, King Manasseh, Herod the Great and Judas all have in common? Well, the answer is they all shed innocent blood. And the shedding of innocent blood is a sin that God hates. Proverbs 6:16: "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood."

Now, what is innocent blood? Well, it is blood that should not have been shed because the person killed was not guilty of a capital crime. The shedding of innocent blood is murder. And God's commandment is "Thou shalt not kill," which means "thou shalt not murder."

Well, let's consider why God hates murder, why God hates the shedding of innocent blood. It's because the murderer, by killing somebody, assumes the offices that only God holds and where only God can have authority. You see, when somebody sheds innocent blood—someone who's not guilty now, somebody who's not committed a capital crime—when someone sheds innocent blood, that person is acting like God.

You see, God is the life-giver, God is the law-giver, and God is the final judge. And when a person murders somebody, that person is saying, "I control life, I control the law, and I have the right of judgment." And of course, none of us have the right to say that. No wonder God hates hands that shed innocent blood.

Let's take this first office that God holds. God is the life-giver. I really feel sorry for those who don't believe in God because they have a hard time explaining where it all came from. Where did life come from? Of course, they have their theories about how certain chemicals were at work in water and so forth. Well, where'd the chemicals come from? And where'd the water come from? You see, God is the life-giver. When you read Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, you see the glorious, wonderful God creating.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God made the beauty and the practicality of everything. And God made a wonderful world, and then God made man, and then God made the woman, and God performed the first marriage, and God put them into the first home, and that home was paradise. And God gave them life.

Now, it isn't just that we have life. Plants have life and animals have life. We are made in the image of God. God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. We are made in the image of God, which means that we have a mind to think with. We don't operate by instinct; we think, we have intelligence. We have a heart to feel with; we are emotional creatures. God has given us emotions that we might be able to enjoy the things of life. And he has given us a will; we can make decisions. We are not robots.

Furthermore, he has put within man a desire for the spiritual. The book of Ecclesiastes says he's put eternity in our heart. And so man is very special. And man is not an animal. Man is created and given life by God. In Acts 17, when Paul was addressing all of the philosophers there in Athens, he makes this statement: that God is not worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he, God, giveth to all life and breath and all things. Who gives life? God. Who gives the breath and the things that sustain life? God.

Now he repeats that in Acts 17:28: "For in him we live, and move, and have our being." Remember, he's talking to these philosophers. When I was at college and university and seminary, people said, "Oh, you must read these Greek philosophers." Well, Paul is saying to them, "You'd better hear about God." This God is the giver of life. He's the sustainer of life. He's the one who determines life. Now, this is an important thing. In Psalm 139:16, we have an interesting statement about life: "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

Now, that's a difficult passage in the Hebrew, and there are some other ways of rendering it. For example, let me read this to you: "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in your book they were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." What was written in the book? The days fashioned for me. I believe that God has a plan for our lives. Let me give you another way of rendering that Hebrew verse: "When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

I believe God has ordained our days. Now, we foolishly can end those days sooner than he planned, but we're not going to go beyond them. We cannot go beyond God's plan. God is the life-giver. He gives life, he sustains life, and he sets the limits to life. And that encourages me. God holds the key of all unknown and I am glad; for if some other held the key or if he trusted it to me, I might be sad. I'm not worried about tomorrow or next week or next year. It's all in God's hands. I live a day at a time. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." "Give us this day our daily bread." Day by day we wait before the Lord for him to guide us. God is the life-giver.

Now, when someone comes and takes life, he's taking the place of God. It's not my job to determine when my life shall end or when your life shall end. I'm greatly concerned these days about the so-called medical morality that's being discussed. It might be better termed in some places medical immorality. We determine who is supposed to die. I believe this is in the hands of God. He is the life-giver and God hates hands that shed innocent blood.

Secondly, God is the law-giver. Now, God did establish capital punishment. Oh, I know there are many good and godly people who disagree on this. In Genesis 9, after the flood was over, God blessed Noah, and God told Noah to be fruitful and multiply, and he told him something about the shedding of blood. Genesis 9:5: "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."

Now, in those days they did not have government such as we have today. In fact, even during the days of the people of Israel, the nation of Israel, they did not have the same kind of government we have today, that is a democracy. God established in those early days that if somebody murdered someone, that is the person was killed and the person was innocent, he should not have been killed, then the family and the clan should avenge that blood. But God was very careful to point out this must be guilty blood and not innocent blood.

God is saying to us, "Consider the value of human life." Oh, if only we could say that today. Consider the value of human life, the dignity of man. You don't go around killing people the way you swat flies. You don't treat people like animals. When you read the history of war, you read such terrible carnage. You read such awful things. It breaks your heart. And not just in war, sometimes in peace. Now, God has established capital punishment. In Romans 13, he tells us that he has established the powers that be. Romans 13: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."

This doesn't mean that God is to blame for everything that every politician does, or that every ruler does. He's simply saying God has established a chain of command in this world. Otherwise, there would be anarchy. As bad as government might be in some places, it is better than no government at all. "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment."

He goes on to say God has given the sword to the government. The church does not kill people; we do not have the power of capital punishment. The school does not have that power. Individuals do not have that power. The power has been given to government. Romans 13:4: "He is the minister of God to thee for good." Talking about the rulers. "But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

And so God has given the sword to human government. Now, in Israel, there were at least 12 offenses that were capital crimes, for which you could be killed. God was greatly concerned lest innocent blood pollute the land. There's quite a statement in Numbers 35, you might want to mark it in your Bible. Numbers 35 beginning at Numbers 35:30: "Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel."

Now, I realize we can't transfer in total what God said to Israel to what God says to the United States or Canada or Great Britain or any other nation, but there's a principle here. The principle is that murder pollutes. God established the cities of refuge. If someone accidentally killed a person, he could run to the city of refuge. They would investigate. If indeed it was manslaughter and not murder, then the person could live and stay in the city. If it was murder, he was killed.

There was also the ordinance of the red heifer. You'll find this in Deuteronomy 21. If they found a corpse lying somewhere, didn't know where this corpse came from, who murdered this person, why was he dead? They had to go through a special ceremony to cleanse the land. Now, the point I'm making is this: God's the law-giver. And God in his law has said human life is precious. Man is made in the image of God. You don't treat people the way you treat animals. If someone is a murderer, then it is a capital crime. If it's innocent blood that is shed, that is a terrible sin and I hate it. God is the law-giver.

Thirdly, God is the judge. You see, you and I do not have the privilege of acting like judges. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." God is the one who decides when life is going to end. When I read my Old Testament, I noticed that God has a way of avenging innocent blood. I think of Joab. Joab was a general, and Joab murdered Abner and he killed Amasa. Joab was a murderer. He killed innocent people. When Solomon came on the throne, Solomon saw to it that Joab was punished for this. 1 Kings 2:31: "And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him talking about Joab and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father." Somebody had to die in order to purge the innocent blood.

This was true of Manasseh. King Manasseh was a wicked, godless man. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. 2 Kings 24:1-4 and 2 Kings 21:21-22. King Manasseh just filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and as a result, God had to judge Jerusalem and judge the nation because of his sins. Listen to 2 Kings 24: "And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians." Why? "Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did." Now, what did he do? 2 Kings 24:4: "And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon."

Now, that makes it rather serious, doesn't it? God is the judge. He is the one who decides when the judgment is going to fall. And so when a person sheds innocent blood, he is saying, "I'm the life-giver, I'm the law-giver, and I'm the judge." And of course, this takes the place of God and this is satanic. Because Satan is the liar and Satan is the murderer and Satan said, "I will be like the most high."

How are we shedding innocent blood today? Well, think of all the assassinations and bombings that are going on. Now, none of us is innocent of sin, but that doesn't mean we have to be killed. Here's a bomb that goes off someplace and children, innocent children are killed. Those bombers are going to face God someday. I think of the violence in families: child abuse, wife abuse, people dying in their own homes, shedding innocent blood. I think of drunk drivers. People out there on the highways—over 50,000 people every year are killed in the United States in automobile accidents, and many of these are in connection with drinking. And I tell you, when little children, in spite of all the safety measures we have, are killed because of drunk drivers, God is someday going to judge.

I think of the drug pushers. They get ahold of our young people just to make money, and they prey upon them and finally these kids end up either committing suicide or falling to pieces physically and dying. Someone, someone is going to answer for this before God.

And perhaps the greatest abuse of all is abortion. Back in 1973, the United States Supreme Court said that abortion was legal—abortion on demand, it's legalized. And since that decision, over 20 million babies have been killed. I know, you don't want to call them babies. They call them POCs—that's an interesting phrase, "products of conception." Or they call them collections of cells, or protoplasmic rubbish, or masses of tissue.

I want you to know they are persons. They are persons and God knows them. And those who are involved in abortion are going to face God someday because God hates hands that shed innocent blood. God will one day judge the innocent blood. Murderers go to hell. This is what we read in Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15, that in the lake of fire you're going to find murderers. The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, and murderers will have their place in the lake of fire. It's an awesome thing to live; it's an awesome thing to take life.