I know many on the left are going bonkers because President Donald J. Trump signed off on having Nidel Hasan executed by firing squad on live television. Hasan was found guilty of killing 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Tx, while yelling Allah Akbar in honor of his false god.
But I can even imagine many within Christian circles are having trouble with the execution, thinking it is barbaric, backwards, cruel and unusual.
Well, it may be unusual, but it should not be. There should be weekly executions across the land, for in finding a man or woman guilty of murder, the ONLY just punishment is death. YHWH made this very clear early on in human history. He says in Genesis 9:5-6:
5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every living thing I will require it. And from every man, from each man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.
Notice what the God of creation has declared to us: He will require our lifeblood. In other words, we all owe a death to God for our sin nature. He told Adam that if Adam sinned, then death would come. It comes through Adam to all men, and all men die.
Because of our sinfulness, even those who are in Christ, owe a death to God. This is one reason public executions were given in the OT, to show forth God’s justice, and to remind us that we all have a debt to pay.
But YHWH doesn’t stop there. He continues and tells us that whoever sheds another man’s blood, then his blood will be required of him. The one who murders, must be executed. In putting to death the murderer, the government is not committing murder. The government is bringing about justice.
And this justice is what has been missing in our country for a long time. We have given into the misguided notion that it is compassionate towards the murderer to let them sit on death row for the rest of their lives. And in doing that, we are ignoring the value of the one murdered and the family members of those who were murdered. For them, there is no justice. In fact, that kind of justice is a mockery of justice. The murderer gets to live. He gets to breath. He gets to eat. He gets to live into his old age. And while he is not free, that is more than what his victims had been given.
Murderers not only murder, violating the Sixth Commandment: You shall not murder. They also steal from the victim and the victim’s family. There is no reason ever to let the murderer live out his natural life in prison. Execution is the only justice.
But Why Is It Justice?
Now some might ask, why is execution justice? As rightly they should.
God answers that question for us.
6 Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.
The command to execute murderers is tied to the reality that we are made in the image of God. When Nidal Hisan killed his 13 victims in the name of his false god, he was destroying 13 individuals who all bore God’s image. Therefore, Nidal not only sinned against the 13 individuals by murdering them, and breaking the Sixth Commandment, he sinned against the holy and true God of all creation.
He destroyed 13 images… God’s images…
This is an affront to God Himself. He takes it personally because Nidal is destroying His image.
Of all of creation, it is only man and woman who are made into God’s image. The animals are not made in His image. The angels are not made in His image. Nothing else in creation bear’s God’s image. Only man and woman do so.
This sets us apart from all of His creation as special to God. He is the One who created us. He is the One who set us apart to Himself in this very special way. He is even the one who has numbered our days.
Because we are made in His image is the reason He tells us to be fruitful and multiply. He wants the earth filled with His His image bearers.
This is the main reason why we are to execute murderers: they have sinned against the Triune God. When we fail to do so as a country, we sin against the Triune God. Our compassion towards wretched sinners like Nidal is false compassion because it places our feelings and desires above God’s holy image.
In bypassing the death penalty, we are violating God’s Holy Word. He has given us specific instructions on this issue. It’s not a matter of interpretation. It is straight forward, and we know this.
Therefore, “compassion” prevents people like Nidal from facing true justice, which is God’s will for Nidal’s life. Nidal is intended to face justice, and when we prevent that justice from happening, we are given over to our depraved inclinations. God gives us over.
For all the “compassion” we have shown, our society is not better off. It is worse. This is one of the reasons I believe men like Nidal are flooding our borders. We have, in effect, told God we know what is best when it comes to murder, and in turning from His word, He is pouring His wrath out upon us in the form of men like Nidal. The more we ignore God’s word, the more His wrath will fall upon us.
We need to repent of our compassion, and show holy zeal for God’s word, and His image. This is what true justice is. Honoring God’s word, and dealing with murderers by executing them before all to see. This reminds us, that we too, face death. Hopefully, that reminder will bring all of us to repentance of our sinfulness and we will turn to Christ for His ways.