Some of us may remember being threatened with punishment for an act of disobedience as children, and the fear that resulted from it. As adults, many people still think like this about God. Religion tells us He will punish us for our sins, but this isn’t God’s nature. Jesus went to the cross and took all our punishment on Himself so that we could receive all the good from God, and none of the bad.

In the Old Testament, God was a judge and a punisher. He visited the iniquity of the fathers upon the children down to the third and fourth generations. This was a generational curse that was in effect before the cross because of sin in the garden of Eden; however, the blood sacrifice Jesus made on the cross completely voided the curse and ushered in the current covenant of grace. Because of what Christ did, God has chosen to forget about our sins.

This changes everything; now, instead of remembering each time we messed up, God is merciful to our unrighteousness, and remembers our sins and iniquities no more. The punishment the Law of Moses dictated has been reversed because of Jesus’ undeserved favor toward us. The wages of sin is death, but God freed us from sin and gave us the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. For us, this means we no longer have to struggle with guilt and regret due to our shortcomings because we’ve been forgiven.

God is no longer intent on punishing or judging us; He has gone from being an angry Judge to a loving Father. Studying the Bible and rightly dividing the Word of truth, through the lens of the finished works of Jesus, reveals this. We can be thankful for the radical changes Christ brought into the lives of believers.

Prayer:

Lord, as Your children, we don’t have to fear Your punishment, because Jesus took it all. Your wrath is gone; we can now run toward You, not away from You. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Exodus 20:5

Exodus 34:7

Numbers 14:18

Hebrews 8:12

Hebrews 10:17

Romans 6:22, 23

Romans 8:15

John 1:12