Dear Friends,
Why is it we are seeing again and again not only in our own country but around the world people killing other people in large numbers? It is because we have forgotten God and forgotten that man is in His image though sin has distorted that image. Today’s devotional gives you some things to think about in the light of the terrible things we are seeing. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
John Janney

• Genesis 9:6 (ESV)

  “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
  by man shall his blood be shed,
  for God made man in his own image…”

“…To kill a human being is to attack God’s image.” [Warren W. Wiersbe, With the Word: A Devotional Commentary, (Nashville: Oliver Nelson, 1991), p. 21]

“To deface the King’s image is a sort of treason among men, implying a hatred against him, and that if he himself were within reach, he would be served in the same manner. How much more treasonable, then, must it be to destroy, curse, oppress, or in any way abuse the image of the King of kings!” [The Works of Andrew Fuller edited by Andrew Gunton Fuller, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1841), p. 363]

“God will punish murderers: At the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man, that is, ‘I will avenge the blood of the murdered upon the murderer.’ 2 Chronicles 24:22…. The magistrate must punish murderers (v. 6): Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, whether upon a sudden provocation or having premeditated it…by man shall his blood be shed, that is, by the magistrate, or whoever is appointed or allowed to be the avenger of blood. There are those who are ministers of God for this purpose, to be a protection to the innocent, by being a terror to the malicious and evildoers, and they must not bear the sword in vain, Romans 13:4…. To this law there is a reason annexed: For in the image of God made he man at first…. Such remains of God’s image are still even upon fallen man as that he who unjustly kills a man defaces the image of God and does dishonor to him. “ [Matthew Henry’s Commentary I, (Peabody, MA: Hendriksen Publishers, n.d.), p. 57]