Do You Think It Is An Empty Threat?

Ezekiel 6:10 – And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them. (NIV)

6:10  They’ll know that I am God. They’ll know that my judgment against them was no empty threat. (Message Bible)

They will know that I alone am the LORD and that I was serious when I said I would bring this calamity on them. (New Living Translation)

and they will know that I am the LORD and that my warnings must be taken seriously. (Contemporary English Version)

They will know that I am the LORD and that my warnings were not empty threats.” (Good News Translation)

An empty threat, is a threat made by someone without ability to carry it out. If a five year old child threatens to immediately buy their own car and never use yours, it’s an empty threat. It’s an empty threat because the child has no money nor ability to drive.

An empty threat, is a threat that is never meant to be carried out. A threat made to inspire certain actions only. A threat made on a light note. When a parent threatens a child that if they don’t finish their food they will be thrown out in darkness or sold. Many times the parent does not intend to do that. It’s an empty threat.

Wisdom is the ability to establish if the threat is empty or real. Isn’t it dangerous to think it’s an empty threat and then it’s carried out? We should be very careful before dismissing any threat as an empty threat.

A threat to commit suicide or harm other people is never taken lightly. There are threats which must be addressed and stopped even if the one threatening seems to be joking. They’re threats which should never be treated as empty threats.

Some threats should never be made. You should never threaten your partner with separation. Never threaten to abandon or divorce your partner. The damage may be irreversible even if you didn’t mean to carry it out. That is not an empty threat!

Never threaten to discipline a child. Don’t threaten a child in the wrong yet you don’t intend to do what you are saying. If you threaten to punish them if they do something wrong, please punish them as you promised. If you don’t punish them as you promised, they grow up knowing your words cannot be trusted. They grow up without fear of parent or authorities. Your empty threat can harm a child or even those under your authority. Empty threats are dangerous in leadership and parenting.

If a threat is made and you don’t comply, you’re daring the one threatening to fulfill it. If a threat is made and you ignore the one threatening, you are daring him or her to fulfill it. If a threat is made and you directly tell the one threatening to do what they have threatened, you are calling their bluff. Do you wish to find out if it is an empty threat?

Israelites were told that because of their sins they will be taken captive by Babylon. They thought God is making empty threats. They ignored God. They despised servants of God.

God tells Israelites in the passage of consideration today that He will punish them. Many will die. Those who remain will acknowledge that God doesn’t make empty threats. They Israelites responded to God’s word as if He was making empty threats.

Israelites discovered too late that God doesn’t make empty threats. Israelites discovered that even when it seems impossible, God doesn’t make empty threats. He promised a flood in Noah’s time and the impossible happened. God doesn’t make empty threats!

When you listen to God’s word, do you think it is an empty threat? When you read God’s word, do you think it is an empty threat? When God’s word comes through music, do you think it is an empty threat?

Are you delaying your baptism or re-baptism because you think God makes empty threats? Do you mistreat people thinking that God makes empty threats to those who mistreat His people? Do you think you can live as you please and do what you want as if no one can punish you for wrong doing? Does the Bible have empty threats?

It is dangerous to live as if God makes empty threats. It is dangerous to dare God to keep His threats. May God forgive us for acting as if He is making empty threats. Just like His promises are not empty, He fulfills them, even His threats are not empty, He will fulfill them. Forgive us God, please don’t fulfill your threats, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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