Thus, God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. – Judges 9:56
Gideon had 70 sons and when he died, Abimelech (a 71st son by one of his slaves), in an audacious grab for power, murdered every one of his half-brothers, except one. Jotham, the youngest, escaped and pronounced a curse on Abimelech for his evil actions. This curse was ultimately fulfilled when a woman killed the evil Abimelech by dropping a millstone on his unrighteous head.
Evil actions always have the caveat of judgment attached to them. Unfortunately, the threat of punishment is often ignored because our enemy (Satan) hides it in the fine print (next to eternal damnation and torment). Sin, however, will always bear serious consequences and though it might be possible to escape judgment for a time (even a lifetime), there can be no ultimate deliverance without complete repentance.
May we always be sure of righteous intent (as a holy God defines it) and equally sure of our standing in Christ (by grace through faith), for then and only then may we be assured that we will never know God’s eternal, final, and sure judgment.
The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. – A. W. Tozer
