NO CONDEMNATION

"Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before, or ever will be again. But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not [even] a dog will snarl, so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel." (Exodus 11:6, 7 HCSB)

Double jeopardy--being tried for the same offense after having been previously acquitted--our legal system forbids it according to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Likewise, it is forbidden in the Supreme Court of Heaven!

In Christ, each believer has died to sin. Christ has paid the penalty for our iniquity. He endured hell that we need not go there. Our vital union with Him has brought us acquittal. We can never be tried for our sins. That is why Paul could boldly affirm, "Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1 HCSB). Literally, there is no judgment for our sins.

This is a consistent teaching throughout Scripture.

We see the distinction made between the Egyptians and the Israelites here. If you think that the difference was in the Egyptians' evil practices and the Jews' inherent goodness, you have not read Scripture very clearly. The Hebrews could be just as vile as the pagans--we are all sinners--but it was that Israel would apply the blood of the lamb and the Egyptians would not. That meant judgment would pass over the Jews, but fall on the Egyptians.

God made the distinction between those righteous through faith and those condemned through unbelief. So, we read in Genesis that Enoch is raptured out of the world before the judgment of the flood comes, and Noah is preserved securely in the ark during the flood. Fire will consume the sinners of Sodom, while Lot will be virtually driven from that city because he was a believer. Lot was a backslider, yet a saved man.

Then, in the plagues God brought upon Egypt, He made a distinction with His covenant people.

"But if you will not let My people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians' houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live. But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, Yahweh, am in the land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow." (Exodus 8:21-23 HCSB)

"then the Lord's hand will bring a severe plague against your livestock in the field-the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that the Israelites own will die." (Exodus 9:3, 4 HCSB)

"Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field. The only place it didn't hail was in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were." (Exodus 9:25, 26 HCSB)

"So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived." (Exodus 10:22, 23 HCSB)

"and every firstborn [male] in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before, or ever will be again. But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not [even] a dog will snarl, so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel." (Exodus 11:5-7 HCSB)

When God disclosed to Abraham that His wrath was to be poured out on Sodom and Gomorra, Abraham knew that his nephew, Lot, and his family, were in the city and we read, "Abraham stepped forward and said, 'Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ... You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won't the Judge of all the earth do what is just?' " (Genesis 18:23, 25 HCSB)

In a future day, God will judge the world with cataclysmic events--a seven year span known as the tribulation period. Before that judgment falls, God will catch out His church. Christ will come for His Bride--the dead in Christ resurrected and the living saints raptured. With the restraining power of the church, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit removed, the spirit of antichrist, ever present will be fully manifested in the Antichrist. He himself is one of God's judgments. Man rejected the true Messiah and craves another more to their own liking. God will give the world what they want and a time of unprecedented horror will enclose the earth with plagues akin to those which befell the Egyptians--except in a wider scope and greater severity. Weigh the words of Paul the Apostle,

"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him: We ask you, brothers, not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. For [that day] will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God's sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God.

Don't you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? And you know what currently restrains [him], so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming. The coming [of the lawless one] is based on Satan's working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders, and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. [They perish] because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved. For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false, so that all will be condemned-those who did not believe the truth but enjoyed unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 HCSB)

As God's people--possessing the righteousness which is by faith in the blood of the Lamb--we do not look for the condemnation of the world, but the consummation of the age; we wait not for the Antichrist, but we watch for Jesus Christ; we do not take the mark of the Beast, but have the mark of the believer; our destiny is not destruction, but deliverance; we don't anticipate horror, but hope.

"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 HCSB)