In the previous post, we saw that Jesus did not just bear our sins on the Cross, but also the punishment for our sins.
We established that the sin of Israel was murmuring in unbelief against God and Moses; and the punishment was the snake-bites and its resultant death.
In other words, the serpent-bites and death which the people of Israel suffered were the punishment and not the sin. So, the Bronze Serpent who is a type of our Lord Jesus saved them not just from sin, but the death by snake-bites as well.
Today, there are five main sources of ‘punishment’ for sin, namely: God, your fellow believer, yourself, mankind or society and lastly Satan.
1. If you are a believer in Jesus’ work on the Cross, God does not punish you. Actually in this age of grace, what befall all people from God are not punishments in the purest sense, but forms of correction. But for the believer, God trains you as a child, to make you better practically – Heb. 12: 7-11.
God does this directly by Himself and also indirectly through Spirit-led Christian leaders etc. Now, such training may be as painful as punishment but they are corrections.
These corrections are not what you must overcome by looking up to Jesus’ Performance on the Cross. My friend, you must endure all corrections with all patience – Rom. 12:12. Amen!
2. Fellow believers can hold your God-forgiven-sin against you. By this, they indirectly invite the god of this world (Satan) to inflict punishment on you – Jn. 20:23; Gal. 5:13-15; 1 Cor. 5:4-5.
This must be overcome to a large extent (by you) through ‘looking to’ Jesus as the Bronze Serpent on the Cross.
3. Thirdly, you can punish your own self by thinking that you do not deserve some benefits or blessings because you did something wrong.
So, you can hate, neglect, refuse to forgive and self-afflict yourself ignorantly and needlessly.
This is again what you should resist by focusing on Jesus’ performance for you on the Cross.
4. Fourthly, mankind using societal laws can inflict punishment on you if you breach societal laws. These punishments ideally and generally are supposed to be corrective in nature.
However, some of these punishments may not be authorized by God, and so should be legitimately over-thrown by thinking, speaking and acting rightly, according to what Jesus did for you as your Bronze Serpent – See Acts 16: 24-26.
5. Finally, the devil who is the god of this world’s system or orderly arrangements will ‘directly’ seek to impose punishment on you.
His aim in this is to mock Jesus’ work of carrying the punishment for your sins many years ago on the Cross.
You know, Satan always likes to deny what Jesus has done for you, because there is no truth in him – Jn. 8:44.
This is also what you have to resist by ‘looking to’ Jesus as your presentday Bronze Serpent in society.
How to look to Jesus and live
Naturally, it is difficult to focus on Jesus’ work on the Cross in the face of a snake-bite or of suffering affliction (in various aspects of your life) as a result of a sin.
Humans generally instinctively focus on a problem or difficulty in order to blame some-one for it or justify themselves.
But, justifying yourself for the persistence of a challenge does not solve it. Neither does ‘blaming’ the people who caused the problem help the issue. Even blaming yourself is not the way to go.
Rather, remembering Jesus’ suffering and death is the mysterious way of ameliorating and overcoming the punishment of sin – 1 Cor. 11:24-26. So continually say to God and yourself that:
‘‘All offenders are punished for their sins. Jesus took my place as the offender and so bore the punishment for my sins on the Cross as well. So I resist all punishments from self, Satan, society and my unforgiving brethren, in the name of Jesus’’ – Is. 53:6b, 8b.
‘‘I declare that the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus exempts me from the law of sin and death in the world. As I live in Jesus, all punishments from my ancestry are com-muted to pardon, in the name of Jesus’’ – Rom. 8:2.
‘‘Jesus was punished on the Cross for my sins in advance – Is. 53:8b. So I am exempted from the punishment of sin from right now forever’’ – Rom. 8:2.
‘‘To be forgiven but punished for an offence does not add up in the Kingdom system of Jesus, under which Jesus bore both my sins and its punishment in advance. So, I am forgiven in principle, once I live in Jesus. I therefore declare amnesty from all forms of punishment from Satan, myself, society, and unforgiving brethren in Jesus name.’’ – Eph. 1:7.
‘‘It is injustice to Jesus and to my-self to be punished for my sins now. So, I resist any sort of punishment of my sin on myself and my children after me, in Jesus name’’ – Is. 53:8b.
‘‘When God sees the Royal Blood of Jesus on me, He passes over me and exempts me from His judgement on this stubborn world’s-arrangement, that is resisting His Kingdom-arrangement today’’ – Ex. 12:13; 1 Cor. 2:6.
Enduring child-training
Yes, focusing on the fact that our Jesus went through intense spiritual, emotional, physical and mental suffering for you and overcame them will help condition you, for what you are to endure, in child training – Heb. 12:3,
“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”
