No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death. - Leviticus 27:29
Within the context of God's mandate in Leviticus 27:29, we understand that what the Almighty sets apart for destruction must, in fact, be destroyed. Saul lost his crown because he considered God's command to utterly destroy the Amalekites to be negotiable. It was not. Once God has condemned something or someone, it is condemned, forever.
Should we not then marvel, considering the effect of Adam's sin, that mankind lives, and may even live again?
God Himself told Moses that that there was no ransom for those who had been set apart for destruction, but it seems that He desired Israel (and humanity) to understand the true impossibility of redemption. We were condemned, doomed to eternal destruction, but Christ paid a debt that could not be paid, died in our place, and set us free to live forever by His grace.
May we never lose our amazement over the truth that where there was no way of escape, God made one.
I grant you, one penitent thief was converted in his last hours, that no man might despair; but I warn you, only one was converted, that no man might presume. - J. C. Ryle
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