In my last article, I wrote about how God is not mad at us. I want to share something else that is closely related to God not being mad at us, and it is the fact that God is not punishing us for our sins anymore.
I know this goes against most peoples view of God. Many people see God as sitting up there in Heaven, just waiting for us to sin so He can punish us. But that is not so. God will always have mercy on us. (Isaiah 54:8,10) A simple definition of mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. We deserve to be punished for our sins, but because of Jesus He will never give us what we deserve. There is only one sin that anyone will get punished for, and that is the sin of rejecting Jesus as their Savior. (John 3:17-18)
King David lived back under the law, in a time when He was being punished for His sins. He longed to live in the age of grace we are now in. Romans 4:7-8 quotes David prophesying about the future, in which he says: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Davids desire is now our reality. What powerful and amazing scriptures. The Lord is not imputing sin to us anymore. Impute means that He is not holding it against us, or charging it to our account. God is not charging sin to our account anymore.
Second Corinthians 5:19 states: that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. We need to be sharing this good news. Because of Jesus we have been reconciled to God, and we are no longer being punished for our sins.
Jeremiah prophesied about Jesus and the new covenant of grace. Hebrews 8:8,12-13 says: Behind the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah ..For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. In that He says, A new covenant, he has made the first obsolete.
This is the good news of the new covenant we are now in.
Romans 6:15 says we are not under law but under grace, and Romans 5:13 states that sin is not imputed when there is no law. Like I mentioned before, under the law they were punished for their sins. The first person to violate the Ten Commandments picked up sticks on the Sabbath and God told them to stone him (Numbers 15:32-36). God is not dealing with us like that anymore.
If God were to punish us now for our sins, He would be saying that the sacrifice of Jesus wasnt enough. All that physical, spiritual and emotional pain He went through for us didnt quite take care of all the sin. That just isnt so. Jesus died once for ALL sins. God would be unjust to judge us for what He already judged Jesus for.
Romans 6:9-10 reads: Knowing that Christ, having been raised for the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all. Hebrews 10:10,12 says: By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.
Jesus was offered one time for all. He wasnt just offered as a sacrifice for your sins up until you got born again. He died 2,000 years ago and Jesus isnt being sacrificed again every time we sin. Unlike under the old covenant where the high priest had to enter the most holy place every year to make atonement for sins, Jesus made atonement once for us all. (Hebrews 9:25-28).
What incredibly good news this is! Can you see why I am passionate about Jesus? What an amazing God we serve, who is so rich in grace and mercy.
I encourage you to study these scriptures yourself. Pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to be upon you in the knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17). How great is our Fathers love towards us all. How great is the sacrifice of Jesus.
Questions or comments? Amber can be reached at amberdeemiller32@gmail.com.
