What Does It Mean To Mock God?

What does it mean to mock God? Is that something we might do?

Mocking God

I do know Scriptures testify to the fact that God is not mocked, meaning, “Don’t fool yourselves, whatever you sow, that’s what you’ll reap,” and I speak to myself too, but some openly mock God to His face, so to speak. I’ve had friends do this. They would be angry about something and then shake a fist up toward heaven and ask God to prove He exists, but God doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t need to prove to anyone that He exists. People already know He exists, it’s just that they deny it, or suppress this knowledge (Rom 1:18), but they have no excuse (Rom 1:20). To us, it is obvious that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1), so only a fool would say, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). You can mock God by saying you don’t believe in Him, but the only problem is, you can’t prove He doesn’t exist. That cannot be done.

Sowing and Reaping

The sowing and reaping principle is found throughout Scripture, such as Proverbs 22:8 which he writes, “He who sows iniquity will reap vanity,” so it is better to “Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you” (Hosea 10:12). How about this verse for reaping what you sow. The next time you’re crushed in spirit, remember “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting” (Psalm 126:5), but just like sowing and reaping, we often reap much later than we sow, but sometimes we reap much more than we sow. That is up to God. He gives the increase. As far as giving is concerned, the Apostle Paul is clear in writing “he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2nd Cor 9:6), but there is also a serious warning about sowing seeds of the flesh; “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal 6:7), for whoever “sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 6:8). “Seeds of the flesh” refers to the sinful practices the person is participating in, but God cannot be mocked. We cannot live as the world lives, while still proclaiming we are saved. Living in sin on a continual basis, no matter what a person’s profession is, may indicate that they are not saved at all (1st John 3). Whatever seeds we sow, either good or bad, that is what we reap, either good or bad.

And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:31 KJV)

God is Not Mocked

The only time that God was actually mocked, and I mean it was literally done, was when Jesus was at His illegal trial, during His scourging by the Romans, and when He hung on the cross. Jesus tried telling His disciples that they “will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up” (Matt 20:19), and “the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him” and did just that (Matt 27:27), as the Romans “had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him” (Matt 27:31), and in the worst and most humiliating fashion, while Jesus hung in agony on the cross, so “In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying” (Matt 27:41), taunting Him by saying, “let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him” (Matt 27:42). Thankfully, He didn’t come down from the cross or we’d all be eternally damned. The point of all these verses is that this is what mocking God looks like. That’s what it means to mock God, either at the cross, or today, 2,000 years after the cross. People are still mocking the cross, and mocking Christ in the process.

Can We Mock God?

I believe we can all mock God by the way we live our lives by sowing seeds of the flesh, but also by sowing seeds of pride, and robbing God of glory when we don’t give Him full credit. We can mock God by our irreverence of the Word of God, of distasteful jokes about religion, or showing disrespect for His name by using it as a curse word, and we can mock Him by our negligence of Him and His Word. What makes it hard to approach someone who is mocking God is the fact that, most of the time, “A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise” (Prov 15:12). We can all mock God by the way we live and speak, but another way God can be mocked is when others mock you. We can be mocked like Christ was, and the Apostles were, and the Prophets before them. Jeremiah became the laughingstock of his own people (Lam 3:14). You might become the laughingstock of your family or of your workplace. Years ago, some of my family told me after I trusted in Christ that I had been brainwashed. I said, “Yes, my brain needed washing,” but more so, my life needed cleansing, and I received it from the blood of the Lamb of God. In my previous life, I was only storing up God’s wrath, and I was going to reap the fierce wrath of God’s judgment either after death (Heb 9:27) or at Christ’ appearance, but thankfully, He brought me to repentance and faith, and so hopefully, I mock God no longer.

Conclusion

If you are afraid you’ve mocked God, there is always time to confess it and come for a cleansing (1st John 1:9). No sin is too great that God will not forgive, and once we have trusted in Christ, God sees us as having Jesus’ own righteousness (2nd Cor 5:21), and all that we’ve done is taken away. If you don’t want to mock God; live consistently within biblical teachings; speak reverently about the things of God; sow seeds of the Spirit, so that you’ll reap spiritual harvests; and by all means, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal 6:7).

Something more for you to read: What Jesus Said on the Cross

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible : English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: mock God, Sowing and Reaping