Afflictions of the Wicked, the.

• 1 min. read • grade level: 16

God is glorified in. Exo. 14:4⁴And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. (Exodus 14:4). Eze. 38:22, 23²²And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ²³Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 38:22‑23).

God holds in derision. Psa. 37:13¹³The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. (Psalm 37:13). Pro. 1:26, 27²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; ²⁷When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. (Proverbs 1:26‑27).

Are multiplied. Deu. 31:17. Job 20: 12-18. Psa. 32:10¹⁰Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. (Psalm 32:10).

Are continual. Job 15:20²⁰The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. (Job 15:20). Ecc. 2:23. Isa. 32:10¹⁰Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. (Isaiah 32:10).

Are often sudden. Psa. 73:19¹⁹How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalm 73:19). Pro. 6:15¹⁵Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. (Proverbs 6:15). Isa. 30:13¹³Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. (Isaiah 30:13). Rev. 18:10¹⁰Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. (Revelation 18:10).

Are often judicially sent. Job 21:17¹⁷How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. (Job 21:17). Psa. 107:17¹⁷Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. (Psalm 107:17). Jer. 30:15¹⁵Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. (Jeremiah 30:15).

Are for examples to others. Psa. 64: 7-9. Zep. 3:6, 7⁶I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. ⁷I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. (Zephaniah 3:6‑7). 1 Cor. 10:5-11⁵But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. ⁶Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. ⁷Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. ⁸Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. ⁹Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. ¹⁰Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. ¹¹Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:5‑11). 2 Pet. 2:6⁶And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6).

Are ineffectual of themselves, for their conversion. Exo. 9:30³⁰But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. (Exodus 9:30). Isa. 9:13¹³For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 9:13). Jer. 2:30³⁰In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. (Jeremiah 2:30). Hag. 2:17¹⁷I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. (Haggai 2:17).

Their persecution of saints, a cause of. Deu. 30:7. Psa. 55:19¹⁹God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. (Psalm 55:19). Zec. 2:9⁹For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. (Zechariah 2:9). 2 The. 1:6.

Impenitence is a cause of. Pro. 1:30, 31³⁰They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. ³¹Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:30‑31). Eze. 24:13¹³In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. (Ezekiel 24:13). Amos 4:6-12⁶And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. ⁷And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. ⁸So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. ⁹I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. ¹⁰I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. ¹¹I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. ¹²Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. (Amos 4:6‑12). Zec. 7:11, 12¹¹But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. ¹²Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 7:11‑12). Rev. 2:21, 22²¹And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. ²²Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. (Revelation 2:21‑22).

Sometimes humble them. 1 Kin. 21:27.

Frequently harden. Neh. 9:28, 29²⁸But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; ²⁹And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. (Nehemiah 9:28‑29). Jer. 5:3³O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. (Jeremiah 5:3).

Produce slavish fear. Job 15:24²⁴Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. (Job 15:24). Psa. 73:19¹⁹How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalm 73:19). Jer. 49:3, 5³Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. (Jeremiah 49:3)
⁵Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. (Jeremiah 49:5).

Saints should not be alarmed at. Pro. 3:25, 26²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. ²⁶For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. (Proverbs 3:25‑26).

Exemplified. Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Exo. 9:14, 15¹⁴For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. (Exodus 9:14‑15). Exo. 14:24, 25²⁴And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, ²⁵And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. (Exodus 14:24‑25). Ahaziah 2 Kin. 1:1-4. Gehazi, 2 Kin. 5:27. Jehoram, 2 Chr. 21:12-19¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, ¹³But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself: ¹⁴Behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: ¹⁵And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day. ¹⁶Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: ¹⁷And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. ¹⁸And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. (2 Chronicles 21:12‑19). Uzziah, 2 Chr. 26:19-21¹⁹Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. ²⁰And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. ²¹And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. (2 Chronicles 26:19‑21). Ahaz, &c., 2 Chr. 28:5-8, 22⁵Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. ⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king. ⁸And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. (2 Chronicles 28:5‑8)
²²And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz. (2 Chronicles 28:22).

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The New Topical Textbook

• Access to God.

• Adoption.

• Affections, the.

• Afflicted, Duty Toward the.

• Afflicted Saints.

• Affliction, Consolation Under.

• Affliction, Prayer Under.

• Afflictions.

• Afflictions Made Beneficial.

• Afflictions of the Wicked, the.

• Agriculture or Husbandry.

• Alliance and Society With the Enemies of God.

• Altar of Burnt-Offering, the.

• Amusements and Pleasures, Worldly.

• Anointing of the Holy Ghost.