1 Kings 13
Today's Passage: 1 Kings 13
Do you take verses like Romans 6:23 literally? “For the wages of sin is death.”
When we first read passages like the account of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5 and what we see today in 1 Kings 13, where people are disobedient and sin against God and the next thing we read about them is their death, it can be a little jarring.
Why would God kill a man of God “just” for eating and drinking with someone he wasn’t supposed to? Why would God kill Ananias and Saphira “just” for lying about how much money they were giving to the church? Doesn’t this all seem a little “extreme”?
But here’s the truth: God bringing about the death of someone because of sin and disobedience shouldn’t be surprising. The fact that people get to live in spite of their sin is what should be surprising.
Here’s what I mean: your sin and my sin deserves death. It might seem harsh, but the truth is that we don’t deserve to live because of our sin.
But instead of bringing about our death because of sin, God shows his grace in: (1) sparing us from immediate death because of our sin, and (2) sending Jesus to be the sacrificial substitute that we need for new life (see Genesis 3).
Why does God choose to bring about death following sin and disobedience in some but not in others? I’m not sure. There are obviously multitudes of people who sin in grievous ways in Scripture that God does not immediately strike down.
Does this mean that every time someone dies it is because they have sin in their lives they are being punished for? I will certainly not claim to speak for God as to why people die when they do, but we should recognize that we live in a fallen, sinful world, where death is inevitable for all of us.
The point here is not to worry or over think about whether you or someone you love will die because they are a sinner. The point is to look to and be thankful for Jesus, who died in your place so that when you inevitably die, you will spend eternity with God in heaven.
Written By: Graham Withers
Do you take verses like Romans 6:23 literally? “For the wages of sin is death.”
When we first read passages like the account of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5 and what we see today in 1 Kings 13, where people are disobedient and sin against God and the next thing we read about them is their death, it can be a little jarring.
Why would God kill a man of God “just” for eating and drinking with someone he wasn’t supposed to? Why would God kill Ananias and Saphira “just” for lying about how much money they were giving to the church? Doesn’t this all seem a little “extreme”?
But here’s the truth: God bringing about the death of someone because of sin and disobedience shouldn’t be surprising. The fact that people get to live in spite of their sin is what should be surprising.
Here’s what I mean: your sin and my sin deserves death. It might seem harsh, but the truth is that we don’t deserve to live because of our sin.
But instead of bringing about our death because of sin, God shows his grace in: (1) sparing us from immediate death because of our sin, and (2) sending Jesus to be the sacrificial substitute that we need for new life (see Genesis 3).
Why does God choose to bring about death following sin and disobedience in some but not in others? I’m not sure. There are obviously multitudes of people who sin in grievous ways in Scripture that God does not immediately strike down.
Does this mean that every time someone dies it is because they have sin in their lives they are being punished for? I will certainly not claim to speak for God as to why people die when they do, but we should recognize that we live in a fallen, sinful world, where death is inevitable for all of us.
The point here is not to worry or over think about whether you or someone you love will die because they are a sinner. The point is to look to and be thankful for Jesus, who died in your place so that when you inevitably die, you will spend eternity with God in heaven.
Written By: Graham Withers
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