2 Samuel 21:1-6 – Sin Has No Time Limit
The shocking thing in this chapter is that the atonement is made not by executing Saul, who’s not around anymore, but by executing seven of his sons. Don’t miss the main point that this passage is making – which is that sin has consequences, and the guilt of sin will remain until atonement is made. Just because Saul is off the scene doesn’t mean that his sin is forgotten. Committing sin against God isn’t like getting penalty points. (Where if you wait long enough, they disappear off your licence.) What sort of god would God be if he had a perfect knowledge of all things – but just chose to overlook sin? If he said: ‘Well, that was a long time ago, so it doesn’t really matter’. Jesus himself said that on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. And every careless word means words we spoke when we were young as well as words we spoke when we were old. Other people may have forgotten our sinful words. But God hasn’t. Now, wonderfully, God has made a way for sin to be dealt with. Because of the death of Jesus in our place, we have the amazing promise that: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’. But if we refuse to go to Jesus for forgiveness, one day we will have to answer ourselves for every sin we’ve ever committed.
Perhaps we get the fact that Saul’s sin needs dealt with. But what people often struggle with is what happens next. Why were Saul’s descendants killed? After all, does God’s law itself not teach us in Deuteronomy 24.16 that: ‘fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.’ If you’re concerned about the idea of children being put to death for the sins of their father, that’s something the Bible is also concerned about. We’ll look more at this tomorrow.
Questions
- How has God made a way for sin to be dealt with?
- What happens if we don’t seek forgiveness.
Prayer Points
- Pray for the salvation of family and friends.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.