“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
—Romans 8:1
DOES GOD PUNISH the believer for his sins? Is our sickness, suffering, or affliction to be considered a punishment from God for our sins? This anxious inquiry often arises in our mind when God leads us in ways of suffering and down the path of sorrow. And the world, the flesh, and the Devil often use our trials to temp us to think that in our sickness, suffering, or affliction God simply metes out to us what our sins deserve. Sometimes, perhaps, we imagine we can see a connection between our illness and our personal sins, and we conclude that God is punishing us, and then we are fearful, and peace and comfort flee from our heart.
WE SHOULD, THEREFORE, clearly understand that even though God disciplines His children in His love (Heb. 12:6) and for the believer’s profit (Heb. 12:10), God never punishes His children for their sins. In the Scriptures, chastisement or discipline is referred to as family language, but punishment is regarded as legal language. Christ bore all the legal punishment for the children of God. As it is written, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). And again, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). And the writer to the Hebrews declares concerning our High Priest, Jesus Christ, “who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all [time] when He offered up Himself” … “Then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” [time] (Heb. 7:27; 10:9-10).
GOD DOES NOT punish our sins twice. Our eye of faith, therefore, should constantly be fixed on Jesus Christ, and we should continually remember His perfect law-abiding obedience, His perfect sin-atoning death, and His glorious resurrection as our complete redemption and forgiveness of sin. Christ is, after all, the Author and Finisher of our faith “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (Hebrews 12:2-3). Are you going through the crucible of affliction? Scripture calls us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, “who became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). This is our greatest comfort as the children of the living God.
Tuesday Encouragement: February 11, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry