Sin's Wages

I live in Australia, a country which has abolished the death penalty.  Because of looming executions of high-profile Australians in Indonesia, capital punishment has been the subject of discussion frequently of late on television, radio programs, schools, and cafes.  Opinions and views abound.  The implications of what has largely become a politicised issue effects everyone personally, no matter what country a person lives in.  God said through the prophet in Ezekiel 18:20:  "The soul who sins shall die."  The wages of sin is death.

When God created Adam and breathed into him a living soul, He gave Adam freedom to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden except the one in the centre.  God warned in Genesis 2:17, "...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."  Death was assured to be the certain consequence should Adam rebel against the command of a holy, righteous God.  Of course it is all history:  Adam sinned in eating the fruit, was cut off from fellowship with God, was cast out of the Garden with Eve his wife, and was prevented from ever entering Eden again.  Adam's body continued to live, but he slowly began to die.  He eventually died, and the sentence of death has been passed down to all since.

Everyone born on this planet is under the curse and sentence of death.  We all experience the effects of Adam's sin before our bodies perish:  sickness, sadness, pain, suffering, disease, and crying.  Men have toiled over the ground which produced thorns, and women have experienced intense pain in childbirth.  These too are results of the fall.  God has allowed these things to be reminders of the reality of sin's existence and the ultimate destruction which await all who have sinned.  From high-rise flats in developed metropolitan areas to remote solitary huts, people find themselves (for the most part) unwittingly on death row.  Ban capital punishment if you want, but it won't keep people from dying.  A doctor may give a person weeks or months to live, but no one knows precisely the day or means of their death.  Experience in this world tells us we will all surely die, just as God said.

It was through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross which God demonstrated His love for all people.  He is not willing any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  Our bodies will die as a result of sin, but our souls can live eternally in a glorified body God has prepared for all who repent and trust in Jesus.  This truth is so monumental!  Here is how the Bible describes what God has provided through Jesus in Romans 5:6-21:  "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. ¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. ¹⁷ For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) ¹⁸ Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹ For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

We can be born again through faith in Christ and experience eternal life through Him.  A day is coming when our bodies will perish and we will all go the way of the earth.  But no man needs to die spiritually, for Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.  Justice is satisfied by the atoning, substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross for all sinners who trust in Him.  Friend, do you know Jesus?  Have you received His forgiveness?  Is your soul at rest, knowing you have received the free gift of salvation provided through Christ's death and resurrection?  Today is the day of salvation, and all fear of death can be swallowed up in the victory of Jesus.  The chains which hold us fearfully awaiting judgment can be shattered, for God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sin, repent, and believe the Gospel.  Whether Christians stand before a firing squad or contract a terminal disease, we can know our passing only speeds us along to heavenly glory.  In receiving our wages we cash in on Christ's sacrifice and enter eternal glory to live with Him forever.  We can say joyfully before and after, "Death, where is your sting?  Grave, where is your victory?  Thanks be to God who always gives us the victory!"