Some of us may remember being threatened with punishment for some act of disobedience as a child, 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 God isn t like that. 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, the possibility that children would be punished for their parents  sins was real. God told the Israelites He would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and remember those sins to the third and fourth generations. This generational curse was in effect before the cross, but Jesus completely voided the curse. Christ s blood sacrifice ushered in the current covenant of grace; because of that, God has chosen to forget about our sins.

This is huge! We can think of this as a death sentence being lifted because of Jesus  mercy and grace toward us. No longer do we have to continue struggling with sin, because He freed us from it. The knowledge of this affects how we operate on a daily basis, so it s important that we interpret everything going on around us through the lens of His finished works.

God isn t intent on punishing us, and the idea that bad things happen to people because they re being punished is wrong-thinking. If we do think that way, studying the Bible to rightly divide the Word of truth helps us renew our minds and think differently. Christ brought radical changes for us, and those changes are for the better. For that, we can be grateful.

Prayer:

Lord, as Your children, we don t have to fear Your punishment. Jesus took all of that on our behalf, as His perfect and eternal sacrifice for our sins. Your wrath is over with; knowing this, we can 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, 13
• Hebrews 10:17
• Romans 6:22, 23
• 2 Timothy 2:15