How Could God Destroy Whole People Groups Like the Amorites?

Introduction and a Personal Account

After I came out of psychosis in 2016 with lithium in the psychiatric hospital, my reason and sanity were restored, and I delved into the Bible for the first time as a sane adult. I studied through the book of Genesis.

I remember that during that time there were many people who did not understand how God could destroy entire people groups like the Amorites. This was one of the most pressing topics that disturbed people, and brought a strong sense of confusion. How could Jesus - the same Person who healed people in the New Testament - take people's lives in the Old Testament? Many were confused by this. I studied through because I wanted to understand the answer, and I conversed with many such people in message boards online. Admittedly, this question was on its surface hard to understand and see the truth on.

However in recent times, this question has become less of a question that needs to be asked, and far more of a clear truth that now seems obvious and self-explanatory. There was a profound and rapid change from 2016 to 2025. We saw our world deteriorate in morality far more rapidly than any of us have ever experienced in our lifetime. Sex trafficking is at an all-time high, a whole underground world of children being held hostage as sex slaves and it's a big underground "market". We've seen states legalize abortion up until 9 months in the womb. We've seen the legalization of sex-reassignment surgery for minors, and witnessed teachers in classrooms all over America teach kids about sex far too early and with pornographic material.

As this has rapidly taken over our country (really it was building for years but it seems to have reached a tipping point very recently where immorality is accumulating at a record rate and spilling over), and we've seen children groomed and abused by the people that should be protecting them, it has lead to the natural hunger for justice. This state of things has many people praying for God to administer judgments on these adults and corrupt systems who know what they are doing and cannot claim insanity as an excuse. Rather than asking how could God administer strong justice on people, like we may have used to wonder, many of us are now pleading for it.

What changed? We started practicing in America many of the same dark sins as the Amorites. And now the question that seemed so confusing in the past is no longer confusing to us. We know that a nation of child abusers should meet the judgments of God. The Amorites were committing incest, child sacrifice, bestiality and other very vile sins of the darkest hue, unrepentant...they knew what they were doing and they did not turn from it. Judgment on people who do such things is the only just and right response.

However, why full and final death in the case of the Amorites? For other people groups we see the Lord destroy only some of them - the worst and vilest offenders - while sparing the rest. Why did God not do this with the Amorites?

We will delve into this question as we continue our study in the paragraphs that follow.

The Two Main Questions People Ask

There's two main questions people tend to ask when it comes to God's acts of destruction in the Old Testament. The most central one is 1: "How could a God of love order the destruction of whole people groups? Isn't killing people the hallmark trait of a tyrant?" And the second question is about favoritism...2: "How could a good God pick favorites and destroy people groups like the Amorites and give their land to the Israelites?"

The Big Picture

To really understand how God could order the deaths of whole people groups, we need to zoom out to the big picture and see the situation all human beings are in, and ask the question "Why does death happen at all? Do the wages of sin have to be death, and if so why?" And then it is in this context that we can then zoom in and ask the question under the big heading of "Why must death be administered?", and ask "Why are some individuals and people groups killed by God in this life, before the official judgment of the wicked at the end of time?"

Before we do that though I want to address that second question about favoritism. Was God really wiping out people groups who weren't His favorite in order to give special favors to His chosen people?

God's Call to Judge His Actions

Let's first look at what God says about Himself, and then we'll look at the Bible accounts themselves to see if God's actions match up with His claims. God actually encourages us to "judge" Him. The Word "judge" here means using logic and good judgment to evaluate God's actions and see if the claims He makes about Himself are true or not. While He can't reveal everything to us about Himself because He is infinite and our minds are finite and we cannot house every piece of information about Him in our brains, nor do we have the processing power to understand an infinite Being, He is an open book with the things we can process and handle, and that are for our benefit to know about Him. He doesn't hide or cover up anything. He is honest and upfront.

Speaking of Israel (but also this verse applies in a broader sense to all people groups including the Amorites) God asks us to judge between Him and His vineyard (His people, and in a broader sense all the people of the earth), whether He did everything He possibly could to save them. He makes the claim that He has done everything that can be done to save them from the judgment of death, and that for those who end up lost, there was nothing more He could have done for them.

“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?”
Isaiah 5:3-4

These are powerful claims. God is saying He has used His almighty power, His omniscient, all-knowing, perfect wisdom, and His infinite love to orchestrate the best plans and methods and efforts to save all human beings. To the point where there is nothing better He could have done, and nothing more He could have done. His claim is that when we look back through the history of His dealings with Israel and with the people groups throughout the whole world, we will be able to see that there wasn't more He could do. That His Word gives the needed details for this picture of things to become clear.

And indeed it makes sense! God was even willing to perform a miraculous event and take on human nature - to create a human body for Himself - in order to come and save us. Miracles and the almighty power and wisdom of God were utilized and employed to save us. You will see as we investigate these claims and look through the Old Testament that God used miracles and love to convince the people groups of the world that He exists, that He is a God of love, and that He is offering salvation to them. The same God who in the end had to destroy the Amorites, did miracles for them to bring them to repentance and salvation. He was even willing to lay down that body in death to bear the sins of the whole world. Not only did God perform miracles to save people, He also gave the greatest demonstration of love that it was possible for Him to give. Both His love and His power were utilized together to convince human beings of His love for them, and call them to be saved and redeemed. God held nothing back.

God's Claim that He Never Shows Favoritism, and that He Uses Only One Set of Principles When Dealing With All Human Beings

Let's look at another claim God makes about Himself. He says He doesn't operate with one set of principles for one people group, and another set of principles with other groups. He doesn't pick favorites.

“Differing weights and differing measures—the Lord detests them both.” Proverbs 20:10

While Proverbs 20:10 might at first glance seem to be about measuring tools for grain or corn, other verses make it clear that God's hatred for differing measurements applies to any and all false measurements, including how a judge meets out sentences, and how we make moral measurements, as God's people. For instance, Jesus when He was on earth, called His people to "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:24) In Psalm 31:9 God adjures us to judge the righteously by defending the poor and needy. “Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Whether it's a moral scale that measures right and wrong (God's commandments), or it's being dishonest about how much grain you sell to different people, God hates dishonest scales of every type.

Thus He definitely hates using a different set of principles to judge individuals.

Deuteronomy 25:16 says this truth about God hating any form of dishonesty outright: "For the Lord your God...detests anyone who deals dishonestly.”

In the following verse we see mentioned directly God's hatred for dishonest or unequal scales of measurement used in executing justice.

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” Leviticus 19:15

Romans 2:11 sums things up succinctly: “For God does not show favoritism.”

Since God hates favoritism and changing measurements from person to person, He cannot and does not treat people differently. He treats us all the same.

If God Doesn't Pick Favorites, Why Did He Kill People Groups and Give Israel Their Land?

There are many who are confused by the idea of God having a chosen people whom He gave special blessings and advantages to. God said this Himself that Israel was a special people to Him!

"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." Deuteronomy 7:6

They think "Doesn't this verse show clear favoritism?" In light of this conclusion that God is picking favorites, the killings of the Amorites and the Jebusites and the other Canaanite tribes can look like God lead out in conquest wars to promote His favorite "team" where He demolished other groups He didn't favor, and gave the spoils of their land to His people. It looks no different than a worldly spirit of national pride and racism towards other groups looked at through this lens. It doesn't look spiritual - above the earthly and the selfish and wicked - in nature at all.

But this lens doesn't match up with the Biblical accounts of God's actions in the Old Testament. Someone who looks through this lens, is looking through a distorted lens that leaves out crucial information. Missing pieces of information in an account of a killing can make an act of self-defense look like murder. Imaging someone saying "He violently attacked and killed my husband" but leaving out that their husband assaulted the person first with a knife. That detail changes everything!

Before zooming out and going back in history to Adam and Eve's sin to color in the details of the common universal condition we're all in as human beings, and show God's actions as they relate to core truths about sin and judgment in a fallen people, I want to point out something crucial that proves God's choosing Israel was not national pride and a spirit of racism towards other groups.

God Judged His Own People With Death Too, Not The Canaanites Only
To make a clear point, I'm going to go straight to one of the most striking and obvious examples of how God blessing the Israelites and giving them the land of the Canaanites was not favoritism: we see God judge the Israelites with death on many occasions. This is the hard truth. If His motivation for promoting Israel was favoritism, He wouldn't deal out to them the same kinds of judgments as He did to the Amorites. Directly after God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, in the wilderness the Israelites constructed a golden calf and bowed down and worshipped it. God ordered the deaths of 3,000 Israelites for this act. In a rebellion known as the Rebellion of Korah, God sent a judgment plague that killed 14,700 Israelites. And this happened again and again in Israels history. In a judgment in 1 Samuel 24, God killed 70,000 Israelites. They were often taken into captivity by other nations, and a large portion of them were killed, due to their rebellion and sin.

At the very beginning when God made a covenant with Israel, He told them He set before them blessings and curses, life and death. Life and blessing if they would obey and follow Him, curses and death if they would rebel against Him. I want you to make note of this because this covenant echoes the covenant given to Adam in Eden and we will come back to it soon.

We can see clearly from these accounts that being a 'chosen people' did not mean that God was picking favorites. He dealt with Israel using the same principles that He used when He dealt with the Amorites. When Israel did the same things the Amorites did, they too were judged with death.

Let's Examine the Claims of People Who Say It's Wrong For God to Ever Kill

It's at this point that many atheists and unbelievers will say something to the effect of "How is God destroying both the Canaanites and the Israelites any better than the favoritism of promoting one group and killing the other? In fact this might be worse." "I could never love a God like that!" Reducing these questions down to their "least common denominator" these are really questions about love and law itself. Does love ever kill; is it inherent within the nature of love to have death as a penalty for wrong, or is a death penalty antithetical to love? And by taking the position that God is cruel and has done wrong to ever administer death as a sentence for wrongdoing, people who take this position are making the claim that "No; love would never kill. Death can never be a just sentence for wrongdoing."

Just as we're examining God's actions in light of His claims to see if they add up and are just and good, let's also evaluate the position that many atheists hold about how it is wrong for the God of the Bible to ever kill and that love would never administer the death penalty. Let's see if their claim holds water or not.

It is actually a very bold claim to make to say that death should never be the punishment for any amount of wickedness. Really, never?!

Would you want Hitler to still be alive? How about all the "Hitlers" of the past, all alive at the same time, forever? You see, we're used to death, and not only this we factor it into our reasoning. It is assumed - even in the claim that God shouldn't have destroyed the Amorites, that the Amorites would eventually die. In fact we even benefit by the fact that people sold out to do evil die. This serves to hold in check the evil in the world. People only live 80 years. This means that those sold out to do evil only have 80 years to study and learn science and acquire knowledge that they can use to harm others. Then they pass away. Their evil comes to an end.

So when atheists and non-Christians make the claim that God is being a tyrant for destroying wicked people, they may not be immediately aware of this, but their claim only makes sense in the light of death already existing in our world, and under the assumption that the Amorites would eventually die, and their wickedness would come to an end. Really their question is this: "How could God Kill the Amorites before their time? I get to live a full 80 years in this world, so how is it fair that they couldn't also get to live a full life?" This is the heart of the question, because we take for granted that the Amorites will eventually die just as we will eventually die. (Hold onto this question in your mind, because we will return to it a few pages below.) But this same act that they view as tyrannical would not seem tyrannical at all if every wicked person never died. In fact, it seems merciful that wicked people die. That Hitlers don't live forever, but they all come to an end.

And that is pretty much the definition of justice - one of the important facets of it anyway - that evil comes to an end. Ending evil is what justice is, and when we desire justice which we all do naturally desire when evil things are done to us or to those we love - this is one of the central things we desire.

I think if we're being honest we can all agree that at some point, and under certain extreme conditions, death is a reasonable and merciful action to give to people if they reach the point of becoming like Hitler, and especially if there are lots of Hitlers in the world. However, I don't expect you to agree with this right away. We will keep studying and thinking this topic through in more detail and expound on it. While as human beings, we should not kill others (I don't believe in the death penalty), as we do not possess the authority to make such a decision, God who created all human beings possesses the authority to end their lives, and there are times when this would be a merciful act to the world for Him to do this.

So now the question comes up "Was the situation with the Amorites and other Canaanite tribes one of those situations where they were people groups consisting of Hitlers, and they'd lost love and human decency completely?" Were things severe enough that ordering their deaths was the merciful thing to do? We will investigate the accounts in the scriptures to see if this was the state of things.

A Broad Picture of Destruction - But Was Destruction All that Was Going On?

Many people have the idea that God just went in and took out all the Canaanite tribes. That it was just widespread destruction without any efforts to save them or live peaceably with them. But Is this really what happened? No! I just read through the book of Deuteronomy very recently, and the book actually starts off by God giving Israel the instruction to not harm the Moabites or the Edomites. He says to them "I will not give you any of their land." And that He has given the land to the descendants of Esau, a people group that didn't love or follow God.

‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. 5 Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

That's right, God didn't just give to Israel everyone's land. In fact He gives land to other people groups too not just Israel! It was God who gave the descendants of Esau their land. God says the same thing about the Moabites.

"Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”

Then the Lord says the same thing about the Ammonites, another people group.

"the Lord said to me, 18 “Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. 19 When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

Here we see an accurate and benevolent picture of God. God as the Ruler of all things distributes land to different people groups. He doesn't give it to just Israel; He doesn't pick favorites. He gives to all and from Him come all blessings in this life and in the next.

This is the depiction of God we see Paul reference in the New Testament:

"From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands."
Acts 17:26

The language here is really important. We see God viewing humanity as a family, the descendants of one man - Adam - whom He loves equally and deals with equally, and gives to all their place and time in history.

And with what purpose does God divide and distribute the land, and what does He use to measure and decide who gets what?

"God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.' (verse 27)

God makes His decisions based on the big goal of making the gospel available to every people group on earth. This is why the boundary lines fall where they do, and why the Israelites needed to live in the land of Canaan, where they would be surrounded by people groups who they could share the gospel with. It's for this overarching and all-important goal of saving human beings! It's with a motive of love that God makes these decisions, not national pride or favoritism.

Notice that ALL people groups - and all individual people - are factored in here. God works through whomever will allow Him to work through them to bless others. He even finds ways to spread the gospel when people harden their hearts such as Pharoah. Everything is done for the purpose of bringing the gospel to fallen human beings and saving them. It isn't just Israel who He wants to use to reach the world with the gospel. He actually positions all people groups for this purpose, and would like to use everyone and have everyone involved in this process. However, does every person or people group allow themselves to be used by God? No, they don't. So you can see that the way in which God can use each individual and each people group is going to vary widely.

People like Rahab the repentant prostitute from Jericho, and Ruth who was a Moabitess and worshipped other gods but repented and joined God's people, were welcomed into Israel with open arms, to enjoy the same blessings and favors native Israelites received.

We saw earlier that God ordered Israel not to destroy the Moabites. Ruth was a Moabitess. God knew there were people among the Moabites whose hearts would be soft to the gospel and who would want to join His people, so He made sure not to destroy people who would later repent, and gave them time and life to make their choice.

In the New Testament we see God choose the Gentiles (anyone who is not a Jew) as His chosen people. If God were racist and only wanted to choose Israelites, He wouldn't change up His plans and use the Gentiles to take the gospel to the world in New Testament times. Peter explains in 1 Peter 2 how the Israelites in the end rejected God, and that this is why the gospel went to the Gentiles. This explains why God wouldn't choose a people or would withdraw His signature chosen-ness to a people: it's due to their rejection of Him. He chooses or rejects a people based on whether He can use them and work through them or not.

In speaking of the Gentiles, Peter says these words:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
1 Peter 2:9

Don't let the language be lost on you here. This is the same language God used when referring to Israel when they were His chosen people. Here we see the same principles a work in God's dealings with humanity. What is it that makes Him choose a people? If He can work through them. What is it that makes Him reject a people? If they harden their hearts and reject Him and He can no longer work through them. What is it that makes a chosen people peculiar? That they have Bible truth - this is where the peculiarity comes from. They have the truth about sin, redemption, the promised Messiah, and God's commands. This is what makes them holy and peculiar.

Any person who accepts the Messiah and follows Him and comes from error to truth and from darkness to light is one of God's chosen and peculiar and holy people. He doesn't pick favorites. The same terms that made Israel God's holy people also make the Gentiles His holy people in the New Testament.

No favoritism involved.

Israel Asked the Canaanites to Let Them Pass Peaceably Through, But Almost All Tribes Chose to Go to War With Israel Instead

Another important command God gave the Israelites as they were making their way into Canaan (and yes this was a command and a requirement that the Israelites had to do), was to ask each of the tribes to allow them to pass peaceably through. God offered these people groups an opportunity to not be destroyed. But almost all of them chose death.

"When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.
If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city."
Deuteronomy 20:11-12

Notice how no city made peace with Israel except one.

"No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle."
Joshua 11:19

This shows the hearts of the people groups at that time. Despite hearing of the miracles and judgments in Egypt that God had done to liberate the Israelites, and knowing the power of God, almost all of the cities in Canaan wanted war rather than to submit to the discipline of God in being made workers for Israel - a position where they couldn't practice their wicked acts that we will talk about a little later that they were practicing such as child sacrifice and incest that they practiced as a free people.

Judgments Varied Between People Groups

Another crucial point to this discussion is that the judgements for each people group were different. For instance, for some groups of people God ordered the deaths of all the men, women, children, and animals. For other people groups that were less wicked and steeped in sin, He ordered the deaths of only the men, and the women and children were spared.

Whenever God could spare or save, He did so! And the judgments were meted out in direct proportion to the wickedness of each people group. God was fair and just in doing this. He didn't just go through and kill everyone with the same blanket judgment. He was very careful to give only just and right judgments that corresponded with the sins of each group.

The Goal of a Chosen People

The whole goal of having a chosen people was to bring in people from other nations and graft them into Israel and bless them. During certain times in Israel's history this happened en mass. For instance, at the time of Esther and her display of great courage to save her people and glorify God, the Bible tells us “..many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.” Esther 8:17

This was the purpose of choosing Israel. To bring blessings to the whole world. To lead people throughout the rest of the world who were living in darkness into the truth and the blessings of serving the true God.

"I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6

Why Did God Choose the Israelites and Not Another Group?

God actually answers this question directly in the Bible! It's not ambiguous. He wants us to understand His underlying principles that guide His decisions. Yes that's correct, God actually tells us why He chose Israel. And it's not due to favoritism.

“Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:18.

"...Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."

Genesis 18:18-19

God chose Abraham because he would obey God, and He would train up his children to do the same. All through the Bible we see accounts of how powerful the influence of parents are on the children. The Canaanites - the people groups in the land of Canaan that God destroyed - were descended from Canaan a wicked son of Noah who committed a sexual sin of some kind against his father. This is one example, and this is why the Canaanites became so wicked and committed the same kinds of sins as their father Canaan, because of his influence.

God choose Abraham because Abraham was willing to be used by God and God could use him. He exerted an ennobling influence on his family that caused many of his children and grandchildren and so on and so forth down his line to choose God and His ways. This resulted in a nation that God use, a nation that was open to repenting of their sins, and following God and keeping His commandments.

Not all the nations were open to this! While many individuals from wicked nations did repent of their sin and turn to God and get grafted into Israel, most of the nations at that time rejected the God of the Bible completely. God could not choose them as His special people; they were not open to following Him.

Why Doesn't God Just Bless and Not Curse?

Now that we've addressed the question of favoritism and national pride, let's ask this question "Why Would a Good God Bless and Curse, and Not Just Bless?" We now know God's actions weren't favoritism and were equal and fair...but the question still remains "How Could a Good God Kill the Amorites...and the Israelites Who Rebelled?" Isn't killing always inherently bad. Can God kill and still be good? Does goodness kill or is killing antithetical to goodness itself?

This is a pretty profound and important question! Getting this one wrong or having gaps in your knowledge about this one will absolutely shape how you view right and wrong in every subject. It's quite central to truth itself and we need to know what the truth is about goodness.

Because the same set of principals are behind all of His actions, thus we can zoom out to the world at large and see the unifying truth that underlies all God's interactions with humanity, and in this larger context it is not hard to understand why God needed to destroy the Amorites, for instance, and to understand the processes involved any time a being is lost and judged with death, whether it be Satan and his evil angels at the end of time, the Amorite people in the old Testament, the people of Sodom, or any other person.

The Wages of Sin is Death

Let's go back to that question "How could God Kill the Amorites before their time? I get to live a full 80 years in this world, so how is it fair that they couldn't also get to live a full life?" This question operates via the assumption that we all have a right to a full life in this world, and we all possess the natural the ability to live a full life in this world, unless someone comes in and takes that away from us. But one of the most principle truths in the Word of God is that the "the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23 This means that the picture painted of the Amorites having a right to life and the ability to live, unless God steps in and throws a monkey wrench in the natural order of things and takes that away from them, isn't accurate. Anyone who has sinned does not in fact have a right to life at all, neither do they have the ability to live. It is God who holds up our life every moment-second-by-second "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28), it is he who gives us our breath every moment (Isaiah 42:5), therefore if a person has sinned and separated themselves from God, not only do they no longer possess the right to live, but they no longer have the ability to live either, and would die instantly..

The only reason any of us have a life at all in this world, is because Jesus stepped in and offered to die in our place. This sacrificial offering on His part brought not only eternal life to those who choose Him, but also the opportunity to live and make one's choice to all people. This offering on His part brought the mercy of God. We are not naturally under this mercy after sin. We are all naturally under the death penalty, and this would have been administered immediately on Adam and Eve had Jesus not pledged to die, and none of us would ever have had any life in this world.

The Equation that is Behind Why We are Alive
So there is a spiritual equation behind why all of us are alive in this world right now. The spiritual equation works this way...God provides time and mercy for each of us to make our choice, and during this time He gives us demonstrations of His love for us that cannot be countered and which are incontrovertible. This doesn't mean we'll know everything about God, but we will know some key points that are incontrovertible and which show us His true character of omnibenevolence. We then either harden our hearts to these truths, or we soften our hearts. We all reach a point where our choice is clear. It is at this point that we are sealed for eternal life or for eternal death.

No one has the right to live on after making a full and final choice to reject God completely. No one who has forfeited the intercession of their mediator Jesus can avert the death sentence. The only thing standing between that person and God's wrath was Christ, so if they reject the sacrifice of Christ fully and finally, there is no more mediator to plead mercy on their behalf.

In this parable Jesus is represented by the figure of the vineyard, and the Father is represented as the owner of the vineyard. Notice how the keeper pleads with the owner when no fruit is found on the vine. He pleads for more time to work His garden, to give it additional help - good soil and nurturing - so that it can produce a good crop.

6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it [b]use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 [c]And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
Luke 13:6-9

Notice how he also says that if in the end it doesn't yield fruit then he should cut it down.

The intercessor here - the keeper of the vinyard - stops his intercession when it becomes clear the fig tree will never produce fruit. He cannot continue interceding for it at that point. In the same way Jesus our Intercessor, cannot plead for more time for someone who has fully and completely rejected the sacrifice of Christ.

The judgments of God come upon that person.

This Has Happened for Some People Even in This Life
Now we are used to knowing that this happens to every unrepentant person at the time of the Judgment of the wicked. But what many do not know, is that it can happen to a person even in this life in some cases. Some people have even in this life - before dying a natural death in this world - grieved away the mercy of God completely, and made it impossible for Christ to ask for more time for them, and brought upon themselves the judgment of death in this life.

Leviticus 18:5 explains this well: "Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD." There was life in obedience to God for Adam before sin. But when he disobeyed and sinned, the commandment which was ordained to produce life, now brought death (Romans 7:10), because he was under its death penalty for his guilt.

Adam was now under the death penalty, however he was not instantly destroyed. Instead, directly after sentencing mankind and the earth to a curse, which was the result of Adam's sin (“Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” - Galatians 3:10), God gave them the gospel message summarized in Genesis 3:15:

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

This verse is the promise of the gospel...of sending the Messiah who will crush the head of the serpent (..."by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil" Hebrews 2:14), the devil, and make a complete end of him. Who will redeem humanity from their sins, giving them a new heart that has enmity towards sin, something that Adam did not possess after sinning and acquiring a fallen nature. The Bible says of the fallen nature "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." Romans 8:7 NKJV

The carnal or fallen mind has enmity towards God, not towards the serpent and his wicked ways. So for God to promise enmity in our hearts for sin, He's promising redemption and regeneration - being given a new character.

animal skins to cover Adam's nakedness. These animal skins represented Christ's righteousness that He would provide for them by living a perfect life of law-keeping on their behalf, and dying in their place, taking on their punishment so they could be forgiven and made right with God.

It’s important to go all the way back to Adam and Eve’s sin in Genesis 3, and understand that had it not been for Jesus, they would have been destroyed instantly. The whole human race would never have existed. There would be angels, and probably other created beings on God’s other planets in the universe, but there would be no human beings, for the whole human race had its origin in Adam and Eve and had they been judged and executed for their sin, none of us would have existed. But Jesus pledged himself to be a ransom BEFORE the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8). His ransom was the “mystery kept secret” for ages (Colossians 1:26) and was only revealed for the first time after the fall of man. The plan was in place, and because of the plan, Adam’s life was spared, and a sacrifice of animal skins, representing Christ and his righteousness, was made to cover his nakedness.

This knowledge is necessary to rightly understand to the topic of God destroying people groups in the Old Testament. You see, mankind as a race was not in the condition of sinless, spotless innocence that Adam had before the fall. We were now born (through no fault of our own) inheriting Adam’s fallen nature, and therefore falling under Adam’s death penalty as well because we each individually sinned against God (Romans 5:12, 17-19 1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

This resulted in only two options for every person born: Either they accept Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf and follow him by keeping his commandments (which he gives strength to do – both to will and to do of his good pleasure Philippians 2:13), which ultimately results in eternal life if they steadfastly remain in the Vine and do not leave the faith (John 15;4), or they reject Jesus’ sacrifice and live a life of breaking his commandments, which results in the death penalty. I do not believe hell burns forever. nor is Satan in charge of it. Hell is a judgment fire. Because Satan rebelled against God, he also will be judged and burned in hell. Hell burns people and evil angels to “stubble” (Malachi 4:1). As stated previously, the wages of sin is death, not eternal burning. When Jesus died for us on Calvary, he suffered for a time and then died – he didn’t suffer eternally. If the punishment for sin is eternal torment then Jesus hasn’t paid it! Jesus took humanity’s death penalty so that we could live forever, and he did physically and literally die, which is what will happen to all men who do not accept Christ and follow him.

There was no other way to save man except Jesus’ death. Had there been, you can be sure that God would have used that other way instead and spared His beloved Son’s life. Not destroying sinners who were unrepentant was not an option either. This would mean that man would live forever in sin, suffering its natural negative results, which the Bible calls “curses”.

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

Deuteronomy 11:27-28

If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 18:5

When God wanted his people to experience health and not get sick and live good long lives, what did he tell them?

“If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

Exodus 15:26

Here God shows us the natural cause and effect laws, and the conditions upon which he heals people. He’s very clear that the laws themselves are right and just and good laws. In fact, they are life-promoting, inherently within themselves. Which is why breaking them results in death. They are not arbitrary. This is important to understand: When God asks us to love his laws, and to diligently keep them, He’s not asking us to keep an arbitrary law, but a life-promoting law.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Romans 7:12

And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this bod

y of laws I am setting before you today? Deuteronomy 4:8

He cannot heal someone who will not take care of their health, who doesn’t keep the laws of health. This goes against his own laws. Asking God to heal you if you’re unwilling to live a healthy lifestyle, is asking amiss that you may spend it upon your lusts.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3

Think of what kind of a God He would be if he used his power to keep someone healthy who ate unhealthy food, never exercised, smoked packs of cigarettes every day? Think of what that would say about his character as a Person. What we should do, is ask God for the strength to keep his health laws, rely on him daily to live and eat right, and keep an open connection with him through prayer so that he can vitalize us to do his good and perfect will.

It could be said that Adam was tested in Eden. It was God himself, not Satan who planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:9

God planted the tree, in order to give Adam and Eve the freewill to rebel against him, or to refuse to rebel and never eat from the tree. He did not take away from them their individual autonomy. He made it clear what his will and his desire were for them – for them to never eat from the forbidden tree and disobey – but he didn’t force their obedience.

After Adam fell, Jesus’ pledge to die on his behalf gave humanity another chance at passing the test. This whole life that we live in this world is a life-long test, where we decide whether we will follow Jesus or refuse to follow him. But there is another facet to the test now that didn’t exist in sinless Eden – Satan is now God of this world and he isn’t present in just the tree; he’s everywhere, and we must resist and overcome him, the flesh, and the world, in order to prove our allegiance to God. The test is now much harder, but it results in Satan and his kingdom being forever destroyed, so more is being accomplished than just our personal salvation. We’re drafted into God’s army upon conversion to build up his kingdom and fight for his cause.

It’s interesting that God gave Adam a test and opportunity to prove his allegiance. And that even after Jesus died for us, that we still have to prove our allegiance. This is central to how God does things. He doesn’t grant eternal life on a whim. You don’t just say one prayer and ouila! you’re saved for all eternity. Even sinless Adam in Eden was not saved for all eternity, unless he refused to eat of the tree over and over again.

God wants a definite answer on our part. Not a one-time prayer, but a life of choosing him shows whose side we’re on. And likewise, a life of rejecting him shows we’re not on his side. He doesn’t want anyone in heaven who didn’t truly want to be there; neither does he want anyone to miss out on heaven who truly didn’t make a firm decision to reject.

The commandments are central to the war of good verses evil that is depicted in the scriptures. Satan fell from heaven by jealousy and idolatry; he made a god out of himself, desiring God’s position and power. Then he lead other angels to also break God’s commandments, and finally Adam and Eve.

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 2:4

It’s impossible to know Jesus, be converted and not love and obey his commandments. He so identifies himself with his commandments, that to break them and delight in lawlessness is to deny Christ. The commandments are a transcript of Christ’s own character.

When we look at the people groups in the Old Testament, we see them breaking God’s commandments and delighting in doing so. Below is a list of some of the things they were doing.

Sacrificed their children to the god Molech 20:2

Consulting spirits and wizardry 20:6

Cursing father and mother Lev. 20:9

Committing adultery with another man’s wife 20:10

Men had sexual relations with their father’s wife 20:11

Men having sexual relations with their daughter-in-law 20:12

Men marrying both a woman and her mother 20:14

Having sexual relations with an animal 20:15, 16

And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. Leviticus 20:23

You can see what an eternity of sin would be. If God allowed these nations to live on forever unrepentant, these are the things they would be doing for eternity. Is it not merciful on the part of God to destroy people who are so steeped in such dark sins, if they choose not to repent?

Look at the law of God in contrast to the practices of the nations that did not have God’s law. How pure and right and good it appears! God gave marriage between one man and one woman. He said to honor our fathers and mothers. He wants us to worship him, not Molech.

I want to pause here and explain that while the law itself is good, it cannot save. What I mean specifically by this is that it can justify no one, that’s why Jesus had to come and die. The wages of sin is still death, so for anyone who has committed even one sin the death penalty must be paid or belief in Christ’s sacrifice.The law exposes sin and shows us our true fallen condition before God. But Jesus loves the law and desires us to keep it so at conversion he gives us a new heart that can keep his ways.

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27

It is in Christ alone – only through Christ – that human beings have grace from the judgment of God for their sins. We do not have grace without Christ. Chris’s death bought for humanity a second chance to pass the test (Adam failed his first test in Eden when he ate the fruit) in which to choose whom they will serve.

While many people in this life – even those who never repent and never choose Christ – die a natural death, there have been some people throughout history who have not died natural deaths, but have rejected the Holy Spirit over and over again to the point of making an eternal choice against God in this life. They filled up the cup of God’s wrath, which happens when a person commits the unpardonable sin, which is where they reject the Holy Spirit’s conviction on their heart to repent to the point where they’ve made a final decision, and grieved him away completely and can no longer hear his voice. When this happens, there is no longer any grace through Christ to stay the judgment of God, and Jesus as Sovereign Judge steps in and judges the person with death. They rejected the only One who brought grace, and grieved away his mercy.

We’re told that entire people groups did this. At the time of Noah the entire earth except for Noah and his family committed the unpardonable sin. It seems that sin can spread to a certain ‘tipping point’ where after that point entire nations are corrupted and influenced to sin and there are no more repentant people left in these cities and nations. No one who desires God and his ways. God told Israel repeatedly to separate from the surrounding nations or Israel would be lead into idolatry. The Bible depicts a sad history of Israel mingling with the unrepentant people in those nations and going after false gods. Israel was never cautioned against mingling with repentant people of other ethnic groups who were grafted into Israel and served the Creator. It wasn’t a race thing or a national pride thing. It was a sin thing. Those who did not repent of sin had a strong power to influence others to sin.

Let’s take the case of the Amorites.

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached it’s full measure.

Genesis 15:16

Notice that God did not go in and destroy the Amorites when they first started sinning, nor even at some arbitrary point when He had had enough and it was too painful for him to endure more – no, their sin grieved him continually and yet he did not step in and destroy them. It was only when they had filled up the cup of his wrath and there was no more hope for their salvation that God judged them with death. It was about them. God’s love is always self-sacrificial. He held on to the very last, convicting them, and wanting them to repent and be saved.

The city of Nineveh at the time of Jonah heeded God’s call to repent, and the city was not destroyed. (This story is found in the book of Jonah, the whole book.) Their time would have been up if they had persisted in sin, but they did a 180 degree turn, and God forgave them of their sins and averted the judgment. Every one of these people groups who were destroyed by God’s judgments could have been spared as Nineveh was, if they had repented.

Not only did they not repent, but many of them actually went out with their armies to attack Israel, rather than letting Israel peaceably through.

I’ve heard some people say that God destroyed the Canaanites in order to give the land to Israel and promote the Israelites. This makes God out to be no different than any worldly conquering king who seizes territory and prospers his own people. God’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and the principles of his rule are not of this world. Selfishness is the norm for worldly conquering powers (and for the common person born into this world with a sin nature) but God operates completely differently, shown in how through the self-sacrifice of the cross he wins hearts to his allegiance, rather than forcing people to serve him. God doesn’t change through history. The same God who offered his Son on Calvary operated self-sacrificially when he delivered Israel out of Egypt and established them as a nation. If God was merely a selfish conqueror, he would have destroyed Satan instantly when Satan first sinned, and every subsequent sinner.

He didn’t establish Israel as a nation for Israel’s sake alone. Again and again God says he does it for his name’s sake. For the sake of his great Name. What is his great Name? Name in the Bible equals character. It’s the character shown on the cross. When God says he does something for his Name’s sake – what he really means is for our sake. For love, to put it bluntly. God does things in the Name of Infinite love. God is love and his name is love. He won’t do anything in the name of selfishness or promote it in any way. God clears his Name of Satan’s charges through the cross for all time (Satan charged God with selfishly holding back something good from Eve in Eden, having a motive of selfishness, and Satan slandered His name and sat in judgment on his law. Read James 4:11) , but not only the cross, also all of his self-sacrificial dealings throughout history with both men and angels. The Israelites were not warriors with God’s approval to wipe out nations and steal their land. They had the sanctuary where daily a lamb was slain for sin, representing the Messiah that was to come. They knew themselves to be sinners in need of a Savior, and God established them for the other nations, to take this message of a lamb slain for sin to the corners of the earth, and to live by his commandments and show to the world the benefit of living a Christian life. The Israelites were servants.

As they went forward and showed the sanctuary to the world, anyone who sincerely repented of worshiping other gods and wanted to worship the true God, was grafted into Israel. The story of Rahab the prostitute from Jericho shows this. She hid Israelite spies and helped them take over Jericho, left her old life behind and became an Israelite.

This happened throughout Israel’s history. Ruth, a Moabitess chose to leave behind her Moabite beliefs and worship the God of the Israelites and she also was grafted into Israel. The Messiah came through the line of both Rahab and Ruth.

At the time of Esther many non-Jews were grafted into Israel. (Read Esther 8:17)

At the time of Daniel even a Babylonian king repented and worshiped the Creator, Nebuchadnezzar.

The purpose of Israel was always to bring the message of Salvation to the ends of the earth.

He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Psalm 98:3

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:6

Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:22

The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Isaiah 52:10

that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

Psalm 67:2

These are Bible verses found in the Old Testament. It’s not a New Testament idea for the message of salvation to reach the whole world; it was Israel’s mission in the Old Testament as well.

Also it’s important to understand that Israel was a theocracy. A government under God’s direct rule. So when they killed people it wasn’t an army of self-willed people carrying our their own violent desires for power and territory. Like the destroying angel who slew the first-born of the Egyptians during the plagues on Egypt, the Israelites were carrying out God’s specific judgments and they were never to kill using their own human wisdom or carry out their own ideas. At times when they did not carry out God’s direct orders, and failed to do something, or did something God did not ask them to do, they were punished for it. They had to follow his exact orders. Otherwise they were judging with human judgment and human judgment is flawed and not perfect and this would be unjust and wrong.

When David killed people groups and carried out God’s direct judgments he was not sinning. He was not committing murder. But when he killed Uriah of his own will so that he could cover up the fact he had gotten Uriah’s wife pregnant and committed adultery with her – this was murder on the part of David. God judged David for his sin and brought calamity upon him for a time, showing the seriousness of murder in the sight of God.

It is never ok for man to act as God.

It is murder for a person to take another person’s life. But it is not murder when God takes the life of people. God is Sovereign and he owns everything, including us. Murder is wrong because it steals from God the life of a person who belongs to him, and also steals the life from that person. But if God takes life it’s not stealing. And God doesn’t ever take life for an evil reason or with an evil motive. God cannot even lie (Titus 1:2), or do any other immoral sin either.

He is the rock, his work is perfect; all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4

The Word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.

Psalm 33:4-5

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his deeds.

Psalm 145:17

God is good, and he cannot go against his own good and righteous character and do evil.

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:13

Indeed, what Satan accused God of was selfish motives and a selfish character. And God shows through the cross that God is the opposite of selfishness; he is selfless love, thus refuting Satan’s charges.

The cross shows us that if God takes life, it’s always for a purpose of love and with all the right motives. We can have assurance that this is his character, when we look to calvary.

Job during his painful trial, was commended for not charging God with wrongdoing. He knew God’s character – that God could not do anything immoral. (Job 1:22)

So for God as Sovereign to step in as Judge of the Universe to take the lives of people groups who had grieved his Spirit away and rejected Christ fully is not immoral on his part.

We wouldn’t say that a judge in a human court who sentenced a person to life in prison for murder was unjust. In fact, we would say it would be unjust for the judge to let the person go without a sentence. This would encourage lawlessness and people would come to see murder as not being the serious wrong that it is. There would be no justice for the victim either. The judge giving the life sentence to the murderer is the opposite of unjust; it is the very definition of justice. For God to judge the unrepentant sinner with death is just and right. Indeed the wages of sin have always been death. And if the person – or whole people groups – decide to reject Christ fully, there remains no more grace for them.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

Hebrews 10:26

1 John tells us that there is a sin that is unto death. It’s when the person uses their free will to decidedly choose against Jesus. They make a firm and final decision and ratify that decision again and again by living a life of willful sin and refusing the pleadings of the Holy Spirit to repent. To all those who don’t sin decidedly unto death, God gives life! But mankind has free will and some people choose fully to reject Jesus.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin.

1 John 5:16

In fact, Jesus tells us sadly that most people in the world reject him.

Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

Luke 13:23-28

Keep in mind that Jesus was speaking to his own people when he said these words. Even of his own people, most rejected him, and throughout history those who follow Jesus have been the minority.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Entire nations have rejected the gospel, and the vast majority of individuals choose to reject God and be lost.

Whole people groups like the Amorites refused to repent and believe in the Messiah to come, and not only went on sinning, but sinned to greater and greater lengths for hundreds of years until they filled up the cup of God’s wrath.

This is the sad tragic norm of the human race. We are not safe if we follow the lusts of our fallen nature. If we do what’s natural for us. We have safety only in repentance and allowing Christ to forgive us and recreate our nature so that we have characters like his and in daily taking up our cross and surrendering to Christ and putting to death the works of our flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:13

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:20-23

We are told in the scriptures the gospel went to the Gentiles and we are now to be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1, 1 Peter 2:13-14, Titus 3:1). So there is no more theocracy with God’s people – we are now a church only. This will be the case until Jesus comes back to earth to gather his people. In heaven there will be a theocracy again. For a Christian today to stone someone for adultery, for instance, would be murder. No one has authority today from God to kill another human being. The Bible is clear that no theocracy exists today and will not exist again in this world.