How was God protecting us when He setup “the wages of sin is death” law? I believe God always has a reason for what He does.
Proverbs 25:2
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”
God’s law of “if you sin you will die” has always been irrevocable and irreversible. There is no law that would free us from the execution of this law against us. There are also no laws that could ever be kept by us that would erase, reverse or acquit us from this death penalty. That would seem to be really bad, hopeless and not good; but is this law bad or good?
Romans 7:10-12
“And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and BY IT slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”
This is saying that God’s moral commandments are holy, just and good. But I would also say that so is this sanctuary law that says, “the wages of sin is death”. The reason is because God’s judgments are right, just and holy.
Getting back to why God would create this law and how this could ever be beneficial to us:
Psalms 89:34
“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.”
First, God does not change. He is not double minded thinking one thing one moment and another the next. That is critical to us because we must be standing on a firm foundation with Him. We have to know there are somethings that are absolutes that we can trust and trust in to be true. The truth never changes either, it remains the same. Can you imagine living this life without the assurance of God’s promises?
Malachi 3:6
“For I am the LORD, I change not; THEREFORE ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
What is the opposite of true, solid, steadfast and unchanging ways?
Proverbs 5:6
“Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.”
If “the way” “the path” of what’s wrong or right were always changing, you could never know what’s expected or what was true. There would be no standards that undergird any foundation. What happens when we lose a true point of reference “the truth” when we are trying to get somewhere?
God’s laws of righteousness and justice are pillars and foundations that hold us up. Creation unravels and falls apart when it changes and departs from (the way) the laws of God established for it. This is one of the reasons why the LORD would never reverse this law without it being executed, performed and fulfilled. Our Creator, Father God, will not change the very laws that will guarantee our future protection from the existence of evil.
Genesis chapter 6 instructs us that evil violence replaces love and peace when creation corrupts God’s design which includes the set of rules (laws) that govern His creation. These governing laws are meant to establish, preserve and protect us and our future.
Genesis 6:11-13
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
What God is Protecting Us From:
All the misery in our world today can be traced back to a single “small” sin that started in heaven. It can be traced all the way back to Lucifer (the father of sin/lies) who began to worship himself.
Lucifer began to admire himself in all the beauty God had given him. He went from glorifying his Creator to glorifying himself instead. And even though he didn’t produce his own beauty, power or abilities, he still took credit for it and pride was born. Lucifer then became self-serving which is the opposite of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This angel who once served God with all his being and beauty fell by departing from the perfect laws that govern all of God’s creation – it happened even in heaven despite God’s love, care and rulership.
What do you think heaven would have looked liked today if God had not mercifully separated the sinners from the righteous in heaven? All of heaven may have eventually become evil and unclean. I believe here on Earth we should be keenly aware of why sin must not be allowed to continue.
As witnesses today, we should see and understand why God could not and will not tolerate sin to continue which has the potential to destroy all of heaven and all of His creation on earth.
The things we are witnessing today and throughout Earth’s history painfully demonstrate what one sin is capable of destroying.
God hasn’t said this in His Word; but It’s as if we are involved in a spiritual and physical experiment of what one single sin can do, a sin which most people today would think of as being no big deal. It’s incredible to consider that one seemingly “harmless” sin could corrupt so completely to create such continual and progressively unspeakable depravity, perversion, debauchery and bloody misery.
I believe our heavenly Father cast out (castaway) Lucifer and his fallen angels (sinful angels) when they become polluted with sin TO PROTECT heaven from complete destruction. He has reserved them for the day of final judgment to perish with the rest of those who choose to follow after them, choosing sin instead of being willing to live righteously; freely choosing as the holy angels do, TO ABIDE by all of God’s holy commandments.
Examples:
2Peter 2:4-6
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly”
Jude 1:6-7
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Examples of the Opposite:
Psalms 103:17-22
“But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; to such AS KEEP His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments TO DO THEM. The LORD hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the LORD, ye His angels,
that excel in strength,
that do His commandments,
hearkening unto the voice of His word.
Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure. Bless the LORD, all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.”
Jesus told us that Satan chose to depart from God by not living in (abiding in) the truth.
John 8:44
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,AND ABODE NOT IN THE TRUTH, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
The LORD has reassured us (and warned us) that He will eventually completely destroy all sin, evil, all the wicked and even death one day. Although it’s very sad that people will be destroyed, it is merciful that God will stop all evil permanently.
Satan is included in that total destruction because of his unrepentant sinning and because he himself is not immortal but a created being. We know this is a fact because God has said, “the soul that sins it shall die” and “the wages of sin is death” not eternal life in torment. Death means death and destruction means totally consumed and destroyed.
The devil’s very first deception on earth is recorded for us in Genesis where he questioned what God told Adam and Eve. He still works the same way today and he’s tricked a lot of Christians into believing him instead of God.
Genesis 3:1
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, HATH GOD SAID, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
– YES GOD HAS SAID –
“The Wages of Sin is Death”
Ezekiel 28:15-17
“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: AND I WILL DESTROY THEE, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”
1Corinthians 15:26
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
Revelation 20:13-15
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
God had a plan before He made this world to save it from sin and death. It’s the plan of our salvation by His unmerited grace and mercy and by the blood of His precious Son, Yeshua, Jesus Christ the Messiah; that plan is called “The Everlasting Covenant”. Because there was never a law given that could reverse or revoke “the wages of sin is death” law, our salvation had to come from God’s covenant which we are required to keep, even though we could never earn our own salvation.
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Galatians 3:21
“Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have GIVEN LIFE, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
God is a God of love and it’s very loving for Him to rescue us from the mess we’ve made on this earth through sinning. So to answer the title of this chapter about why God would create a law of death, the most important reason I believe is to protect the ones who have heard AND obeyed the gospel. Keeping us protected from the total destruction that comes from sinning. It’s amazing how much destruction comes from one “small” sin.
Ecclesiastes 9:18
“Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.”
I believe God created the death law because He knew that sin must not be allowed to continue because it would eventually completely corrupt and destroy His beloved creation, including us.
Another clue is found here:
Mark 13:20
“And EXCEPT that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.”
The reason that Yeshua, Christ Jesus, guarded and took away the tree of life, was because He was protecting all of heaven and earth from evil & sin from becoming immortalized. God guarded the tree of life because man isn’t immortal and couldn’t live forever. If He had not done this and Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree of life, God would never be able to destroy sin and death. Sin would have been impossible to destroy.
Genesis 3:22 ”And the LORD God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”
God will give His children who have kept His covenant the opportunity to eat of the tree of life and they will inherit eternal life according to the promise of that covenant.
Revelation 22:14 ”Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Revelation 21:7-8
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
The wicked do not get to live forever. Their punishment is permanent destruction and death. Once they’re resurrected for final judgment, they’ll be destroyed and will never live again.
The Wages of Sin is Death Not Life.
(Romans 6:23, Numbers 15:28, Ezekiel 18:4)
Neither is it an Everlasting Life of Torment.
(Job 18:5-6, 21:17; Proverbs 13:9, 24:20) KJV
Malachi 4:1 says this destruction will leave the wicked without “root” which means no hope of life ever again.
Malachi 4:1-3
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Our Creator has told us to govern ourselves personally and also as a nation of His people. Our Christian governance is based upon the Bible; God’s holy commandments, statues, ordinances and instructions. We are told to “keep ourselves” in the love of God. We are to self-govern based upon His laws of government and rulership. By freely choosing to walk in all His ways we glorify Him and are blessed by Him according to the promises of His Everlasting Covenant.