Consequence of sin - can we escape it?

In 2 Samuel 12:7-12 Nathan’s brings God’s word against David for his sin. This word includes “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised Me …” (verse 10).

David then in verse 13 says I have sinned and Nathan says that God has put away your sin. He then says “because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die (verse 14).

The question which arises from vs 13 is “If David’s sin was put away by God, why was the punishment of vs 10 not put away?”

Is the punishment like Karma, a must that cannot be avoided and only escape from banishment to hell the only protection in Jesus Christ? That is not acceptable in the light of Jonah’s preaching turning away the destruction of Nineveh, at least temporarily.

Is there then an alternative understanding of verse 10 not as a punishment but a prophecy of the consequence of the sin? Just as excessive drinking leads to a ‘cirrhosis of the liver’ so the despising of God by David led to despising of God by his children and resultant internecine fighting. Can verse 10 be interpreted as a prophecy instead of a judgement? Or possibly both?

Does that mean that the consequences cannot be reversed while the punishment can? That would be pushing God into a box. I would rather say that the ‘cirrhosis’ can be cured miraculously and so the consequence avoided, but this is not the norm by which God works. Usually we go through the consequences with God at our side.

Does sin separate us from God?

When I make the statement ‘sin does not separate us from God’ it causes some confusion because the Bible has many passages on how our sins have separated us from God (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13). The problem is that once we have set right our relationship with Jesus if sin separated us from God we could never have security in our salvation.

So what does sin do? When Adam sinned, he hid from God, but God has no problem coming to him, speaking to him, making clothes for him etc. Sin did not separate God from Adam, but Adam from God. Sin destroys the victory in your life and the confidence in your relationship with God but does not take God away from you.

What Ephesians 2:1 says is that because of our sins we were dead or separated from God. But when we surrendered our lives to Jesus, we are raised as a new creation. Now we live for Jesus and if we err or sin, it does not affect our relationship with God. Otherwise none of us would ever have a strong and confident relationship with God.

However, there are some sins that does take God away from us as shown in the vision of God leaving the Temple in Ezekiel chapters 8-10. This is the sin of idolatry or having other gods in our life. Most of the prophecies against Israel in the Old Testament was against their idolatry and God’s punishment in the form of exile comes because of the sin of Idolatry.

We also see the prophets speaking against social injustice and oppression of the poor which essentially comes from a love of money and is the worship of other gods.

Then are there different levels off sin? The Roman Catholic Church had the concept of mortal sins and venial sins. There is some Biblical support for this in the unforgiveable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and sin unto death in 1 John 5:16.

In my perspective sin is secondary to having other gods. 1 Timothy 6:10 says that love of money is the root of ALL evil. James 1:13-14 says that temptation leading to sin comes from chasing the things of this world. It is this trust in things other than God that is what the Old Testament prophets railed against and said that the sin of the people has separated them from God. It is this worship of other gods that lets sin flood our lives. The problem is not sin, which is a symptom of the presence of other gods in our life, just as fever is the symptom of the presence of infection in our bodies. This truth is also brought out in Romans Chapter 1:18-32

Using the terminology of the Roman Catholic Church, worship of other gods is a mortal sin that separates us from God. But where I do not worship other gods, I do not normally sin. But if I do make an error or transgress a Law that does not separate me from God, and is like what we call in the Old Testament the unintentional sin. Hence I have security in my relationship with God.

When I sin repeatedly, I need to identify the god that is still dominating my life and repent from that god rather than trying by determination to overcome the sin. Sin is not the problem, other gods are.

So am I advocating taking a light view of sin and leading a life filled with sin? As Paul said when accused of the same, by no means! How can he who has died to sin live again in sin. Or as I would say, He who has repented from other gods go back to them? What I am advocating is not to let the fear and worry of sin dominate your life, but be free to serve God and man which is the only reason for your existence. God has and will deal with the sin.

Leviticus 2

Leviticus 2

The grain offering

The grain offering is offered either in conjunction with other animal sacrifices or by itself as a free will offering to Yahweh. The grain offering formed a part of the ritual offerings at festivals too and at other times but was often offered as an offering of one’s income and necessities to Yahweh.

vs 1 The grain is never offered but only the flour obtained after grinding the grain into a fine flour. It is always offered with oil and frankincense, except in case of sin offerings (Chapter 5).  Only a handful was burnt (vs 2) and the rest was given to the priest (vs 3), and had to be consumed within the Temple or Tabernacle (Lev 6:16) by the male descendants of Aaron or the priests and was not for their family. So their partaking of the sin offering was a ritual requirement probably signifying their identification with the people.

The grain offering also reminds us that when we give to God we need to give to His ministers as well. We cannot come to God without giving support for the workers in ministry.

The concept of the priesthood of all believers should not cloud the fact that the church and mission organizations need people who work their ‘full-time’ and they need our support.

Frankincense was added to the flour and all of it was burnt as an offering to Yahweh. This frankincense provided the aroma of the offering. Paul says that our witness and testimony is the aroma of the sacrifice before God 2 Corinthians 2:15f. In Ephesians 5:2 Paul says that our love within the fellowship is the aroma before God. We cannot come to God without bringing the ‘frankincense’ of our love for the members of the church before God. Ultimately the aroma looks forward to the aroma of Jesus Christ and His offering.

Oil was poured on the flour and signified the presence of the Holy Spirit sanctifying the motive for the gift and the gift itself by its anointing.

The grain could be cooked as either in an oven (vs 4), open pan (vs 5) or covered pan (vs 6). It was never leavened (vs 11), as leaven represented putrefaction and hence decay. While this is symbolic, it teaches us that our offerings need to be holy and what has been earned with proper relationships with people and not have anything evil in it as black-marketing, oppression, bribes etc.

The baked flour was broken into pieces and a portion was then burnt on the altar and the rest given to the priesthood (vs 10).

Interestingly honey was seen also like leaven and not offered to God.  It could be because it fermented when left for long.

Salt was also to be added (vs 13) representing the covenant they made with God on the basis of which these offerings were being made.

First-fruits were different from grain offerings and not burnt on the altar (vs 12). These were offerings which went to the Levites and the priesthood. However, a memorial portion of the first-fruits could be burnt (vs 16) at the altar.

 

 

Leviticus 1

Leviticus 1

The offerings of Israel are also described by God. A broad outline had been given in Exodus 29 of the regular daily offerings. Here we deal with the special offerings of the individuals.

The burnt offering

The sacrificial offerings to be given for the burnt offering is from the livestock and not from the agricultural produce, because without blood there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22). For the burnt offering it had to be a male animal and not female.

This offering is to be offered by one’s own freewill (vs 3). That means it is offered by a sincere desire to set right one’s relationship with God and not because the “Law says so.”

This burnt offering was meant to be an atonement for our sins (vs 4). When John the Baptist in John 1:29 says “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world”, he was possibly referring to this atoning sacrifice.

The laying of his hands on the sacrifice (vs 4) was meant to be a transfer one’s authority and self to the lamb, signifying that the lamb was his representative (accepted on his behalf). It is a mistake to see this as a transferring of sin.

Our sin warranted our death. In our place we offer the animal. This animal was fully burnt to signify our total surrender of our lives to Yahweh. It is a mistake to see this ritual as a cleansing or bathing process of cleansing from sin, but rather as a repeated surrender and reminder of our surrender in totality to Yahweh.

1 John 4:10 says that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. For this Jesus in baptism identified with mankind, and we in baptism identify with Jesus so that we die with Him and live with Him (Romans 6:4). It is a total surrender of our life to Jesus and the imagery is the same as in the burnt offering. As Paul writes in many places we now live for Jesus not ourselves. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

The life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and the pouring of the blood at the altar (vs 5) signified the surrender of the life to Yahweh.

The offering was not burnt as one piece but was cut into pieces and burnt, probably to ensure that all of it was burnt and it took place quickly. This breaking symbolized our own brokenness before God. The exception was when the offering was a bird and it was burnt whole but partially cut (vs 17).

The entrails and feet were washed to make sure that no dirt and excreta are there (vs 9).

The skin was not burnt and was given to the priest according to Leviticus 7:8. There is probably no spiritual meaning in this apart from an income to the priest. We need to provide for the support of the workers in the ministry.

People who could not afford a bull could offer a ram or a he-goat (vs 10), and the very poor a dove or a pigeon (vs 14). Atonement was available to all. It was not to be priced out of their reach. The only cost was the surrender of self to Yahweh.

The Tabernacle faced east (Ex 27:9-15) and the burnt offering was killed to the right as one entered (vs 11). The waste was thrown to the east or towards the entrance probably for ease in clearing.

AUTHOR STIR

1. God made the ritual affordable to all. But the true cost was one’s life. Have you made the burnt offering of your life to Jesus? What does it involve?
2. What have you offered to the one who helped you in the process?