Judgment Through Consequences

Have you ever found yourself wondering why bad things happen? Have you ever asked yourself, "Why doesn't God stop sin from happening?" In part, God doesn't immediately judge sin, because he is showing mercy to the sinner. He willing shows patience to extend the opportunity of repentance to the rebel. Sometimes what seems like delayed justice is actually God judging through consequences.

Speaking about human conflict, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once wrote, "It is God's judgment upon us, not in the sense that he caused or sent war, but that He has allowed our sins to work itself out and lead to its inevitable consequences of suffering and pain" (The Plight of Man and the Power of God, pgs. 90-91).

Someone might argue, "But so many innocent people get hurt and killed during war." If we take the popular understanding of the nature of mankind, that people are inherently good, then it would seem that many innocent lives are consumed by the ravages of war.  The biblical view of the nature of mankind is not so optimistic.  The Bible teaches that mankind is inherently sinful.  We are sinners by nature and sinners by choice.

Experience confirms this.  Children instinctively learn to rebel against authority. Each night on the news we hear report after report of brutality, corruption, deception, etc. Education cannot erase the darkness of the human heart.  Wealth does not eliminate it.  Even the socially mobile can do despicable things.

The reality of mankind's sinful nature means that there is no truly innocent people.  We have all fallen short of what God created us to be.  We have all failed to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.  We all stand condemned before a holy, righteous Judge. Therefore, it is consistent with God's just nature to allow mankind to go their own way.

Isaiah says we all like sheep have gone astray (see Isa. 53:6).  The good news is that God has sent a Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come into the world to pursue us.  He ransomed us through his death and resurrection and now calls us to turn from sin and place our faith in him.  But for those who have rejected his grace and suppressed the truth with their unrighteousness, he has turned them over to their waywardness.

That sense of turning them over to their own devices is what Dr. Lloyd-Jones is talking about.  Mankind wishes, for the most part, to be free of God's authority.  Therefore, they erect structures and systems that undermine that authority. When God permits them to do so, these structures and systems bring destruction instead of freedom. Sinners reject God's rules for living, and then get angry at God for not keeping them from hurting themselves while they were doing their own thing.  It is similar to a person gouging our their own eyes, and being upset by their blindness.

God, in his grace, has shown patience to humanity. Humanity has rebelled against God, and he has permitted them to go. The rebellious heart of mankind drives people farther from their Creator. The farther mankind gets away from God the more damage they do to themselves and others. Pain and suffering are the logically results of mankind's rebellion.

Had God not willed to rescue humanity, through Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection, we all would still be going astray. We would all be consumed by the darkness of the human heart unrestrained by the law of God. Were it not for the grace of God, humanity would have wiped itself out long ago.  But God has preserved for himself a people. And in the midst of the suffering and pain of this world, there is a light.  If only we will turn to Jesus, and find it.