God is a Killer

“God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.” (Psalm 7:11-13)

“…and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.” (Exodus 22:24)

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39)

“The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.” (1 Samuel 2:6)

“I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.” (Revelation 2:21-23)

The thought that God is a killer makes some people recoil with unbelief. But the truth stands: God is a killer, and the above scriptures and many similar ones prove it.

The very fact that Satan lied to Adam and Eve, telling them, “You shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), reveals to us the one who wants to deny this vital biblical truth. The Lord warned Adam and Eve of a judgment of death if they ate from the tree. After they sinned, God pronounced various judgments upon them, casting them out of the garden. Our loving, merciful God did this!

Later, the Lord sanctioned guardian Cherubims with a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. This was to ensure that humankind would not live forever, but would in fact die. Those Cherubims and their flaming sword were not stationed as decorations—they were instruments of death!

From that point, death was passed to all, for all have sinned (see Romans 5:12). Death proves there is a judgment for sin. All sin and all die. But death is not just a passive or consequential judgment. Rather, in the Bible, death is often the direct result of God's wrath.

Yes, God does kill people, and I've compiled a list of scriptures for your examination that clearly proves it. You may tire of reading the list that follows and be tempted to skip to the next chapter before you finish reading them all. I encourage you however, to read as many as you can so this truth is indelibly imprinted on your heart and mind.

In Genesis 6:17, God said during Noah's time,

“Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish” (emphasis added).

Possibly as many as two-hundred million men, women, boys and girls died as a result of this one act of God's judgment. All human life perished, and God emphatically stated that He brought the flood upon the earth.

In Genesis 19:24-25 we read,

“Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”

God did it, not Satan. This was not a freak act of nature as some Bible commentators claim. The apostle Peter said that particular judgment served as an example of God's wrath (see 2 Peter 2:6).

In Genesis 20:3-7, God warned King Abimelech that he would be a dead man if he didn't give Sarah back to her husband, Abraham. His fear of God's judgment motivated him to respond immediately.

We read in Genesis 38:7-10,

But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; so He took his life also.

In Exodus 4:21-23, God told Moses to inform Pharoah to release His people or He would kills Pharaoh's firstborn son. This was no idle threat.

“Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.” (Exodus 12:29-30, emphasis added)

In Exodus 4:24, Moses failed to circumcise his son, and “the LORD met him, and sought to kill him” (emphasis added).

In Exodus 14:24-28, God caused the wheels to fall off the Egyptian chariots, dooming the army to drown as He caused the Red Sea to fall back upon them.

Exodus 14:30-31 states,

“Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which  the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses” (emphasis added).

In Exodus 22:22-24, God warned that if an Israelite abused any widow or fatherless child, He would kill that person, promising that his wife would become a widow, and his children, fatherless.

Exodus 32:35 says,

“Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.”