Woes

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!..if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago…it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you…Capernaum…shall be brought down to Hades. The one who…rejects Me rejects Him [God] who sent Me.

Luke 10:13-16

Chorazin was a city in the Upper Galilee region sitting upon a hill above the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about 2 miles from Capernaum. Along with Bethsaida and Capernaum, Chorazin was part of the “evangelical triangle” of cities where Jesus Christ most commonly walked, taught, and performed miracles during His earthly ministry. Though He worked many signs and miracles there, Jesus ultimately cursed the city due to the lack of faith and continued sin of its inhabitants. This same account is in Matthew and these are the only times Chorazin is named in the New Testament.
Bethsaida, on the other hand, was a little more well known. It was close to Bethsaida that Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 6:45). Jesus healed a blind man from Bethsaida (Mark 8:22). Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 was near Bethsaida (Luke 9:10). Andrew, Peter, and, Philip were from Bethsaida (John 1:44). But, Bethsaida was cursed by Jesus for the same reason that He cursed Chorazin. Even, Capernaum is cursed by Jesus, though He used Peter’s residence there as a sort of headquarters for His earthly ministry. The single mark of these towns is they rejected the Lord Jesus despite His working of many signs and miracles in them. The Holy Bible contains many accounts of cities and civilizations that rejected God and experienced God’s wrath upon them. Our God is immutable. He never changes. We must not take God’s patience these 2,000 years since our Lord Jesus ascended back to Heaven as God’s decision to not punish peoples and civilizations for their rejection of Him and/or His Christ sent to all mankind to save the lost. There is a day, set by God, when our Lord Jesus will return in power and glory to judge the earth, that’s every person who has ever lived on the planet. For many, it will be better for them than for the people in these cities who rejected Jesus. But, understand this, all unsaved people will be consigned to the fires of hell. It is just a matter of one’s station in hell for there are those who will receive a greater condemnation than others!

Source: S C Ball February 8, 2023