One part of the dark history of the children of Israel was when they were taken into Babylonian captivity for a period of seventy years. In about 597 B.C., the Babylonian captivity began as the Jews, which included Daniel and others, were carried away from their homeland to Babylon (Daniel 1:1-9).  A few years later in about 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem including the Temple and city wall and carried many more people away into captivity (2 Kings 24:13-14).  Why did God allow the children of Israel to be in this situation? The prophet Jeremiah had prophesied, “And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way and from the evil of your doings…go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them…Yet ye have not hearkened unto me…And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:4-7,11). Their refusal to listen to the Word of the Lord and obey it brought about their captivity in Babylon for seventy years. After the seventy years, the lifetime of one generation, the children of Israel returned to Jerusalem, and the prophet Isaiah reminded them, “Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money” (Isaiah 52:3). They had sold themselves into Babylonian slavery for literally nothing, although they thought that what they had gained in the world was valuable. They thought that serving false gods, immorality, not loving their neighbor, having a king, putting away their wives, cursing and swearing, and outright rejecting the Word of God was great gain for them, but it was not. They had sold themselves for nothing.

Coming to the New Testament and the time of the Lord’s church there were those that sold themselves for nothing. They thought that there was great gain in what they were doing, but in the spiritual sense, it was for nothing. Ananias and Sapphira lied regarding what they were giving in a benevolent way, and Peter asked, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost…whiles it remained, was it not thine own?” (Acts 5:1-4). For them lying was a great gain, but it was not spiritually. A Christian named Simon “which beforetime in the same city” (Acts 8:9) thought that having the power of the Holy Spirit and receiving it by the laying on of the Apostles’ hands was a means of great gain for him personally and maybe even financially,  “offered them money” (Acts 8:18), but it was not spiritually. Paul would later write, “For the love of money is a root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith…” (1 Timothy 6:10).

There were some in the Lord’s church that sold themselves for nothing by turning away from the truth and following false doctrines. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). The false teaching seemed to offer a great gain to those that followed it, but it did not because as Paul continued to write, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth…” (Galatians 3:1). What happened to the brethren in Galatia has continued throughout the centuries. There are those that find great gain in initiating a false teaching and also for those that follow.

Whether it is false teaching, immorality, popularity with the world, a heart absent of the fruit of the Spirit, or anything else that causes one to be separated from God, Jesus asked a question regarding each of these things: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).  In doing so it is as Isaiah wrote, “Ye have sold yourselves for naught…” (Isaiah 52:3).