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Posted by Judy Ford
The prophet, King David, had a revelation that answers the question, "Is hell punishment for our sins?" Most of us are familiar with David's indiscretion with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. Search the Old Testament laws as you will, you will find that there was no sacrifice to make an atonement for the sins of adultery or premeditated murder. The punishment for both was death, no exceptions. "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife - with the wife of his neighbor - both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death." (Lev.20:10) "If a man strikes someone with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. Or if anyone has a stone in his hand that could kill, and he strikes someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. Or if anyone has a wooden object in his hand that could kill, and he hits someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies or if in hostility he hits him with his fist so that he dies, that person shall be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him." (Num.35:16-21) "Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and ATONEMENT CANNOT BE MADE FOR THE LAND ON WHICH BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED, EXCEPT BY THE BLOOD OF THE ONE WHO SHED IT. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites." (Num. 36:33-34) The fact that David did not actually kill Uriah himself makes no difference, for David arranged the circumstances of his death to conceal his sin of adultery. This story can be found in 2 Samuel 11.
Nathan, the prophet, confronted King David with his sin, a very dangerous thing to do for David could have ordered him to be slain as
well. "Then Nathan said to David, 'You are the man! This what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the
sword of the Ammonites.'" (2Sam.12:7-9)Clearly, at this point in David's life, there was only one thing to do:
abdicate the throne and allow the laws of the land to be enforced. But David didn't do this. As king, did David consider himself above
the law? That is not the answer either. The answer is found in Psalm 51,
which he wrote after Nathan confronted him. In it we find this verse: "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight," (verse 4).Is David insane or still deluded? How can he say that he did
not sin against Uriah? He slept with Uriah's wife while Uriah was serving on the battlefield. Bathsheba became pregnant! Compounding sin upon sin, David took Uriah's life. How could that not, at minimum, be a sin against Uriah? What about Uriah's family: his mother, his father, brothers and sisters? How could David possibly make the statement that the offenses that he was guilty of were only committed against God?He made that statement because he had a revelation of "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn.1:29) He had a revelation of the Savior that far exceeded what most of us have seen of Jesus. He saw that when Jesus took the weight of our sins on His shoulders that He accomplished far more than the forgiveness of our sins. Yes, our sins are forgiven, for David also wrote "as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:12). What good is forgiveness, if we remain a slave to the sin nature? "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin," he wrote. (Psalm 51:2) This speaks of the new heavens (consciousness), where we will no longer remember our sins nor will they ever come to anyone's mind and the complete cleansing or deliverance from our sin
nature. The gift of new life in Christ is the gift of a new nature, the
nature of God. "...since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." (Col.3:9-10) "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them YOU MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE
NATURE AND ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION IN THE WORLD CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES." (2Pet.1:3-4)Now for the all-important question. How could David say that his sin was only against God? Because David saw that when Jesus took the sin
of the world upon His shoulders, he saw that Jesus took the ENTIRE weight. He made Himself responsible for all sin: both sins committed by me and against me. He made an atonement for them. What is atonement for sin? Atone in Webser's means to "supply satisfaction for." Atonement is "reparation for an offense or injury." Reparation is "the act of making amends." By His death on the cross, Jesus made Himself responsible for all sins, both those committed by me and against me. He will make it up to me when others wrong me, that is why he says that vengeance is His. And in the end, when all is said and done, He will make atonement for sins that I have committed against others. Read the
law and notice how many times not only did restoration of losses have to be made by a person who harmed another, but many times they had
to restore more than was lost or stolen! Wasn't the law of sacrifice a type and shadow of the work of the Christ? But Jesus didn't die just for me. "Behold the Lamb of God WHO TAKETH AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD!!!"THE SIN PROBLEM IS HIS. HE HAS PLEDGED HIMSELF TO UNDO ALL THE AWFUL CONSEQUENCES OF IT.
WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!!!