Thieves

"Thou shalt not steal." (Exodus 20: 15 KJV)

"Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another." (Leviticus 19: 11 KJV)

Is there anyone who is not guilty of this sin, the crime of theft? Is this not a prevalent sin in the history of man? Is it not characteristic of today's modern "civilized" world? Men steal, in one fashion or another, and yet few are willing to admit it, or at least honestly acknowledge the extent of this sin in their lives.

Modern retailers know how prevalent is this sin. They spend billions of dollars on guards, cameras, and other technical devices to stop it, and yet it continues to be a very commonly practiced sin.

Employers too know the loss in profit due to employee pilfering and embezzling. And certainly individuals soon come to know firsthand, in life, the grief and loss that comes from being a victim of theft. How many have been greatly harmed from theft? Today "identity theft" is becoming commonplace and destroying many lives.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." (Matthew 6: 19, 20 KJV)

Our fallen world is full of thieves. No possessions are safe here.

"The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly." (Job 12: 6 KJV)

Some wonder why Lord God allows, suffers, or permits such things. Why does he not stop thieves? Why does he providentially allow them to prosper? Why does he "bring abundantly into" their hands? Why are things on earth different from things in heaven? Why do thieves not steal in heaven?

Even the Apostles, who were on the most important of divine missions, for the Lord, still faced, in their "journeyings," various "perils," including "perils of robbers..." (II Corinthians 11: 26 KJV)

"But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? f or they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law." (Isaiah 42: 22-24 KJV)

This is why Lord God does not universally stop all sin, all spoilation and theft, and does not always protect the "innocent." Because of sin, man has lost any right to complete safety from murder, theft, and other harms arising from the sins of others. Our world is not safe, like heaven, because man has lost divine protection.

"Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house." (Proverbs 6: 30, 31 KJV)

All theft is sin, but not all theft is viewed as equally heinous. Men who steal food, because they are starving, are not "despised" by men, as are others who steal in order to increase their possessions. Lord God says that the one who steals for food, is still guilty, and still must restore what he stole, if and when he is caught. No wonder the great king, Solomon, prayed thusly:

"...give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." (Proverbs 30: 8, 9 KJV)

Besides there being instances of theft where the sin (crime) is not viewed as heinous as other instances of theft, there are also instances of theft where the theft is seen as more grievous and aggravated.

"Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer." (Proverbs 28: 24 KJV)

This is viewed as a more contemptible example of thievery. To steal from mom or dad, or from a family member, is no minor violation of this moral commandment. For that same thief to excuse or justify himself, for stealing from parents, saying it is "no sin," is a person who is a "companion of a destroyer," and certainly will be ruined, unless he find forgiveness and repent.

"Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul..." (Proverbs 29: 24 KJV)

People who "aid and abet" theft, are as guilty as the one whose hands actually rob. To bid anyone "God speed" in an evil work is to be a "partaker with them," in both the crime and the punishment. (See II John 1: 10, 11 KJV)

"Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?" (Romans 2: 21 KJV)

It is important that we teach others not to steal. But we teach such a moral precept, not merely with words, but with actual practice. We can tell our children not to steal, but if they see the parents stealing, nonetheless, the child will discern the hypocrisy, and will, in many cases, not take moral precepts seriously.

Why do men steal? Very little theft is done from starvation. So, what are other reasons to account for man's propensity to steal and to rob?

"For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Romans 13: 9 KJV)

"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies..." (Matthew 15: 19 KJV)

If man had a perfect heart, a heart that was only good, pure, and righteous, he would never think of stealing. That is one reason for there being no thefts in heaven. Only the pure in heart are there, and those in heaven have no desire or inclination to steal.

Man does what he does because of what he is, fundamentally speaking. Men do not lie to become liars, but lie because they are liars already in heart and mind.

Men steal from others because they do not love their fellow man. If a man love his neighbor, he will not steal from him.

The call of the gospel is a call to salvation, to faith and to repentance. Those who come to Christ and commit their lives to him, are given grace to turn from a habitual practice of such sins as thievery. Those who are converted are such as turn from their practices of sin.

"But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." (I Peter 4: 15 KJV)

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." (Ephesians 4: 28 KJV)

Yet, not all those who outwardly become Christians and who profess repentance from sin, actually do so. Such was the case with the first great Christian apostate from Christ, with Judas the apostle.

"This he (Judas) said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." (John 12: 6 KJV)

What judgments await the unrepentant and unforgiven thief?

"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." (Zechariah 5: 1-4 KJV)

These things will be fulfilled at the time of the end, in the Day of Judgment and Tribulation, in the days of the Apocalypse, on a scale never seen before in the providence of God. Will this awful judgment upon the sins of the thief cause him to stop it, or to repent of it?

"Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." (Revelation 9: 21 KJV)

How sad and tragic! Until the very end, sinful man will continue to spue forth his thefts from his wicked heart and to hate his neighbor!

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber...The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 1, 10 KJV)

In these verses, Jesus identified Satan as the master thief.

"Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith." (Jeremiah 23: 30, 31 KJV)

In this verse the Lord identified the false prophets of Satan as also thieves, yet in a different area. Satan, in the parable of the sower and the seed, "steals (takes away) the seed (word) out of the hearts" of many of those who outwardly hear the gospel, "lest they should be saved." (See Matthew 13: 19 KJV)

The false prophets "steal my words," said Lord God! How many steal in this manner? How many rob God in their corrupt teachings? How many rob him in other ways?

"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3: 8-10 KJV)

How many fail to realize that they may not be thieves in the more commonly known way, yet they may be, nonetheless, great thieves in other ways, such as in how they handle and interpret the word of God, and in how they keep the truth of God from men.

"But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber." (John 18: 39, 40 KJV)

Great news for every thief! Like Barabbas, we are all spiritually and morally thieves. Hopefully too, like Barabbas, we will be freed, and justified, and forgiven of all our thefts!