More Sin, more Punishment
TEXT: Leviticus 26:14-26
“And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
We cannot but agree with the French playwright, Jean Baptiste Racine that, “crime, like virtue, has its degrees.” That is why societies have devised variety of ways of meting out punishments to wrongdoers. It should be noted that evil-doing becomes more despicable when it is presumptuous and obstinate. Evil graduates from simple to complex. To arrest its progression, incremental punishment is applied.
This principle was highlighted in God’s warning to Israel in today’s text. God had given them series of precepts and expected obedience from them. In earlier verses, they were promised great rewards if they obeyed. On the other hand, He warned that disobedience would earn them miserable punishments. Thus, God gave them opportunity of informed choice by tabling before them possible causes of actions and their consequences. They were also to learn from this that their divine security was conditioned on their continued obedience to God.
Observe the nature of the sin God pointed out here. It was bad enough for them to despise God’s word and rebel against Him. But it amounted to holding the Almighty in contempt to despise His correcting rod and measures aimed at bringing them back on track. God promised to step up their punishment seven-fold for such obstinacy until they repent and come back to Him.
We must be conscious that our security in Christ and all other blessings of redemption are conditioned on our continued walk with Him. It is equally true that the pressure of God’s chastisement on any erring Christian gets stronger the longer he tarries in error. God’s design in all these, however, is not mere retribution but a means of nudging us to repentance and righteousness.
Thought for today: It is bad enough to disobey God’s word but dreadful to despise His correcting rod.