Should Christians rejoice in the death of the wicked?
Last night, Obama stood before the nation and the world and delivered news that had been too long coming. Osama bin Laden, orchestrator of the horrific 9-11 attacks, had been hunted down and killed. No doubt more details will be forthcoming but the initial news led to much rejoicing in my FaceBook and Twitter feeds, until it happened. A well-meaning Christian brother reminded us all of this verse.
“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; or the Lord will see and be displeased and turn His anger away from him.” Prov 24:17-18
Well, there you go. A direct command from God to take no delight in the death of Osama. Case closed. Or is it?
Is it wrong to be happy that Osama is dead?
The Bible does indeed warn us of gloating over our enemies stumbling. In fact, we are commanded to go the extra mile and bless our enemies and to turn the other cheek when attacked. But what about verses like
Psa 58:10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Psa 58:11 Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."
Here we see that the natural result of seeing the wicked receive a just punishment is rejoicing. Also, many times in Revelation we see that the saints are commanded to rejoice when God judges the wicked and sends them to their eternal home in Hell.
Rev 18:19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, "Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!"
So what gives? How do we reconcile these seemingly contradictory commands? How should we react when someone like Osama is killed?
Rejoice when God rejoices
I think the key to understanding how we should react lies in our ability to affect the person in question. For instance, if for some strange reason I found myself in the room with Osama the day before his execution, it would be wrong for me to rejoice or gloat because I knew what was about to happen. The proper thing to do there would be to share the gospel and implore him to repent and put his faith in Christ. (Some may balk at the idea of Osama in Heaven but in the eyes of God he is no worse a sinner than the rest of us.) I have the opportunity to change his eternity and I have a responsibility before God to take it in all eagerness and seriousness.
However, if I am half a world away and it is positive that he has lived a life in direct opposition to the Word of God and has proved himself to be a hater of God and His Christ, when God cuts His life short and brings him before Himself for judgment, I can rejoice in that. God has seen the life of the wicked and has chosen the perfect time and the perfect way for him to enter eternity and be judged by his Maker. I trust my God and know that He works all things out for His glory and the joy of His people, to not rejoice when that happens is to set myself as a judge above God, to hint that He should have run His decision past me before He made it for my final approval.
Therefore, we rejoice in this news of Osama’s death. America has rightly wielded the sword of its authority and brought a criminal to justice. Not man’s justice (unfortunately) but to the Just Judge of all mankind. So honk your horn, wave your flag, and join in the chants of USA! USA! but let us never forget that one day we too will be called before that same Judge and our only hope is to found hidden in Christ.
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So shall we cheer and jeer like Sadam’s executioners? . Right or wrong, it doesn’t show the gravitas of the moment of taking someone’s life. We can honor the service members and respect their accomplishment without sinking to the level of our enemies. Any time someone needs to be killed for justice to prevail, there has been a great tragedy. There should be a “father forgive them” on our lips. As the restaurant in which i was eating exploded into cheers…one young man said to his wife…”i’ve never cheered someone’s death before”. He didn’t seem disapproving. Just bewildered.
I agree with most of what you are saying here but you can’t get past the fact that God commands rejoicing when He deals with the wicked. There is a time when rejoicing is appropriate and indeed commanded by God as appropriate. In fact, in Scripture it would seem that the appropriate time and place is after someone has died because while they are alive there is still opportunity to repent. This is why Jesus said “forgive them” on the cross because the Jews would continue to live and have an opportunity to repent but after death we will rejoice in the death (and the sending to Hell) of the wicked.