“Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.” (2 Sam. 12:14)
What if God killed someone you love every time you sinned against Him, what if He took away from you one of your prized possessions, the life of one of your pets, if your vehicle no longer worked, or any number of other calamities would occur, yet you yourself remained healthy and basically unaffected.
David, sinned, the child died, and besides the emotional suffering that occurred in his life, and I rest assured in the life of Bathsheba as well, no adverse conditions were placed upon them. There was of course this message from the Lord, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.” (2 Sam. 12:10) When David rebelled against the commandment of the Lord and numbered the people, 70,000 people died, yet he personally was not punished, beyond his grief that I can recall.
Would you attempt to “toe the line,” would you do everything within your power to remain obedient at all times if you knew something bad would happen to someone else if you acted upon that temptation to sin? Does this make you look at John 14:15 differently, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” (Gen. 4:7) The Almighty has proclaimed that He no longer visits the sins of the father upon the son, we are all accountable for our own actions, but in the truest sense, we always have been. A mark was placed on Cain for his sin of killing his brother, Peter went out and wept bitterly, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:16) If you sin, there will be repercussions.
I have watched over the decades as the Evangelical community has turned their sins into nothing more than a lite thing, believing that if they fall willingly into a temptation, into a season of sin, that the only adverse condition they will experience will be a loss of fellowship with the Lord, a loss for a time of that close, personal relationship that they have known and now no longer feel. I speak as a man here, perhaps as a fool, I will let you decide, but I would disagree with that perspective.
The Lord killed one of my beloved dogs when I walked willingly into blatant sin once years ago, I believed this to be a truth. I watch and look, as I see the sins in my life, and I am shown that when I walk outside of His will, adverse things happen to those that I love, or something that I cherish, or even expect to remain is removed from me.
There is more than a “bad feeling” when we openly sin against the Lord, there is chastisement, there is correction, and it is not just that knowledge of a loss of fellowship with the Lord of Glory.
I cannot say if this is how the Lord treats all His children, I know that sin will be punished, I just cannot say that each of us are chastised in the same way. We are each individuals, we stand before the Most High alone, your sins are not my sins.
I ask you then this important question, if you were to take these words and examples, these thoughts to heart, and saw them as truth, would you be more obedient, would you strive to serve in a way that would not incur any adverse effects upon others, knowing that they would happen if you willingly sinned? Would you obey because of that, or will you continue in obedience because of your love for Jesus Christ?
Every single religious organization that is works-based rests upon these precepts, if you do not obey, there will be severe repercussions, but they would say that each of these acts of chastisement will fall upon the offending party only. The Evangelical community has been taught for the last few decades nearly the same thing, except that the chastisement, the punishment for disobedience, for open rebellion, for continuing in sin for a season will bring about only some bad feelings, some form of personal guilt in an emotional context.
I will leave you to contemplate these words, and to seek the truth for yourself. Because of your sins, will others suffer, those who were completely unaware, and even innocent, of your transgressions?
