Coming Soon! Judgment Day: The Wrath of God (It will make your ears tingle!)

Hollywood loves disaster movies.  Terms like "spine tingling" and "hair raising" have been used to describe scary films for almost a century.  And as technology improves, the images become more and more realistic.  But as frightening as the films may be, there is always something in the back of our minds telling us, "This is just a movie."  So when it is over, we can go back to our normal lives.  We may have to sleep with a night-light for a few days, but pretty soon, we'll be over it.

There are at least three instances in the Bible where the wrath of God was revealed to His people, and the physical response was so traumatic that God predicted that their ears would tingle.  Think about that for a minute.  The God of the Universe is so angry, so fed up with sin, that He points His finger in your face and promises to punish you severely.  Your blood pressure shoots up.  Your heart rate increases.  All the blood drains from your face, and you feel faint.  You can actually hear your blood pumping.  Numbness and tingling spread to your extremities--your fingers and toes become numb and your ears literally tingle.  This is how scared these people were after hearing the words of God. This is the reaction the Bible describes when it says "make their ears tingle."

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

And the Lord said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle.  At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family--from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.  Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering'."

Remember, Eli was the High Priest in Israel, in the time before kings.  God ruled the land, with the priest acting as the Mediator between God and Man.  It was assumed that the priest's sons would follow in his footsteps.  But Eli's sons blasphemed God.  There were rules set down from the time of Moses on how to conduct yourself in the Tabernacle or the Temple; breaking those rules disqualified you from serving as priest.  In fact, Eli's sons had committed some acts that should have exiled them from Israel.  But Eli looked the other way.

Samuel had been given to God by his mother.  He would be the next priest.  It was his job to tell Eli what God had said.  In this case, Samuel, a boy probably no older than 13, was acting as a mediator between God and Eli.  In the Old Testament, the High Priest was endowed by the Holy Spirit of God.  When Eli's sons disrespected their father and his position, they blasphemed the One he represented.

Jesus said:

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this life or the next. (Matthew 12.31-32)

 Leading Others Toward Idolatry

The Lord said through his servants the prophets: "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins.  He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him, and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle.  I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.  I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies.  They will be looted and plundered by all their foes because they have done evil in my eyes." (2 Kings 21.10-15)

Manasseh had been an evil king.  He made bad choices.  He decided to worship the idols that God had expressly told the people not to worship.  But because of his position and power, he caused others to abandon God as well.  He led the people of Israel away from God and toward the detestable practice of idolatry.  And God promised to wipe them out, even to the third and fourth generation.

Look, you can do whatever you want to do--it's your life.  But when you start making others turn away from God, look out.  Jesus said, "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.  It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.  So watch yourselves." (Luke 17.1-3a).  God's judgment is swift and sure.

Diluting the Worship of God with Pagan Rituals

Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem.  This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen!  I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.  For they have forsaken me, and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.  They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command, or mention, nor did it ever enter my mind."  (Jeremiah 19.3-5)

He goes on to say that God would allow other nations to slaughter the people of Jerusalem for their sins.  God is a jealous God; He expects full obedience to His commands.  Yet with every generation, the people became more lax in their worship until some started including pagan prayers and rituals into their worship of God.  That led to the next generation sacrificing to other gods as God had commanded them to sacrifice to Him.  And then finally they started human sacrifices, which God had never, ever intended to be done.

Just like God knows the physiology of His creation (i.e. He knows what makes our ears tingle), He also knows our hearts.  Instead of watching each generation of His people fall away, and having to judge them for it, He provided the ultimate sacrifice.  He sent His Son, so that all could be forgiven.  This forgiveness is available to all who ask Him to save them.  It is available to you.  If the thought of Hell and damnation causes your ears to tingle, ask Him to save you today.

Sadly, we have become so hardened to the Truth that we ignore it.  Just like the old scary movies don't make us jump any more because we have seen too many of them, the Old Testament promises of judgment don't break our hearts anymore, because we have all become accustomed to grace.  But one day, that grace will no longer be extended to all.  On the Day of Judgment, God will separate the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad, the called from the worldly.  He will send His own to heaven and eternal reward.  He will send everyone else to hell and eternal punishment.  If that doesn't make your ears tingle, it should.