Posted on 07/16/2022 12:36:56 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment” (Proverbs 16:10).
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4).
“Divine” usually speaks of something which is spiritual. To have a “divine nature” is to have a spiritual nature. In context it is God’s nature. But sometimes it can be connected with the Devil.
In Acts 16, we have a woman that Paul ran into in Philippi, whose name was Lydia. She had a spirit of “divination.” A divine spirit, but it is not God’s spirit. So, when considering “a divine sentence,” it could come from either God or the Devil. However, in the verse before us here we can determine that the sentence is from God because “his mouth transgresseth not in judgment.”
God gives authorities and governments the right to punish evil-doers. This clarifies the idea of “a divine sentence is in the lips of the king.”
“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. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same” (Romans 13:1-3).
Ahasuerus had Vashti the queen put away. That was a divine sentence. It was a right sentence because she had rebelled and refused to obey the king. He had a right to put her away. Later on, there is a plot between two men to kill Ahasuerus. That was a plot of conspiracy and murder, so the king had them both hung on a tree. That was a divine sentence. Capital punishment is from God. There is no transgression in such a judgment. It is the king’s right, as well as the right of government to pass a sentence of death.
God told man before the Law was even given, in Genesis 9:6, “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” In Leviticus 20:16; Numbers 35:16, 30 God told the children of Israel to kill the murderer. Then, after the Law in Acts 25:11 Paul says, “If I have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die.”
Paul believed in capital punishment, the death penalty was in effect before the Law, during the Law and after the Law. And when a sentence of death is brought upon and individual that is deserving of it, there is no sin in it.
Here, in fact, is the sin: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
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