Matthew 11:21-24

²¹ “Tragedy is coming to you, Chorazin! Tragedy is coming to you, Bethsaida! Because if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

²² But I am telling you, things will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to the sky? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have stayed alive until this day.

²⁴ But I am telling you that things will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

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turning off the switch

Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had seen more proof of the power of Jesus than any other place. They had seen the Holy Spirit at work in all of the Galilean missions. Yet they were rejecting Jesus and his message. Jesus pronounces judgment upon them – a terrible destructive tragedy that they will experience on the judgment day. Even the three cities famous for being destroyed by God in the Old Testament (Tyre, Sidon & Sodom) will fare better on judgment day than them. It is a terrible thing to reject what the Holy Spirit is doing.

Oh, Christian, have you seen the Lord at work? Have you experienced his blessing on your life and your family? What is your response? The three cities in Galilee were being condemned by Jesus because after having experienced God’s grace, they stopped living in it. They did not have to publically declare their opposition to Jesus. All they had to do was stop being into Jesus, stop passing on the word. The light of the kingdom is not a switch that people have the right to turn off when they no longer feel the need for it.

LORD, help us to pass on the message about the ways that you have touched us, so that our experience of you does not stop with this time, this generation.