Sin, Abuse, and Dysfunction Meet Their End Only at the Cross
Dec 20, 2018 10:06:34 GMT -5
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Post by PG4Him on Dec 20, 2018 10:06:34 GMT -5
This is a spin-off from our conversation with dear sister pearl about how to be free from the effects of abuse or habitual sin. When we deal with a particular person (usually either a spouse or an authority figure) whose sins are causing distress for us, it’s easy to fall into the trap of praying for their death. We figure that if they die and stop bothering us, the problem will be over. I’ve known people who actively prayed for their spouse to die so they could get out of their marriage.
While it may seem logical to the human mind that a person’s death would bring an end to their sinful influence, this simply isn’t the case. I’m not bringing this up to rebuke our dear sister, nor to make anyone feel bad, but simply because I feel like it needs to be talked about.
Scripture has multiple ways to approach this issue, and all of them lead to the same conclusion.
First, we find in Scripture that a parent’s bad influence can extend multiple generations:
The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation — Numbers 14:18
So God is eager to forgive iniquity, but only when it is properly addressed. He will not magically waive the consequences for those who remain guilty. Habits, lifestyles, and attitudes they impose on their household will continue to grow bad fruit long after they’re gone. If your parents teach you to be a passive-aggressive drama queen, for example, and you continue in that behavior for the rest of your life, you won’t suddenly snap out of it just because they die. Some may argue this is OT law which no longer applies to us. Some say it makes God seem cruel. But what else can a Christian seriously expect? The raising of a child comes with consequences, for better or worse. The way we run a business or manage an organization will affect people’s lives (and perhaps their souls) for better or worse. God “visits” these things on future generations because the bad fruit has to show up somewhere.
Let’s consider the spiritual side of this as well. Suppose there’s a spirit of alcoholism on a parent. If the parent dies in that condition, will the spirit leave to try to start over in a new family? The spirit will most likely try to latch on to a child who’s already been exposed to it. If that child is not determined to resist it, the spirit will have easy pickings. Sins don’t end when a human’s physical body dies. If a parent constantly curses a child by speaking failure, poverty, or low self-esteem on them, spiritual wheels will be set in motion, and it won’t necessarily stop when the parent dies.
Then we see this:
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins — Hebrews 10:4
I will now add a short extenuation: it’s not possible that the blood of mere mortals should take away sins. Death is the wage of sin, not the undoing of it. People who die in their sins remain dead in their sins; they don’t get a clean slate because they died. What’s more, the mark of their sins among those they influenced is not taken away.
We have exactly one thing which can abolish sins:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot — 1 Peter 1:18-19
The vain things we receive from our ancestors only meet their end at the blood of Jesus.
Let’s see that again:
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel — Hebrews 12:24
Abel was an innocent person who died by the hand of an abusive sibling. The blood of Jesus is a better testimony.
Let’s see it again:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins — Colossians 1:12-14
We inherit futility and dysfunction from our human forefathers, or we inherit the kingdom of God, made available only through the blood of Jesus.
This doesn’t mean that we are equally guilty of our parents’ sins. It means we are inheriting the consequences, trauma, behavioral patterns, and susceptibility to evil spirits. We inherit a lifestyle of being predisposed to problems that arise from our parents’ sins. We can either spend our lives fighting these influences, or bring them to the cross and abolish them forever.
The ONLY way to abolish sin is to resolve at the cross.
If you see the effects of sin wreacking turmoil and destruction in your family, you can do something about it. You can stand up to that sin and bring it to the cross. You can plead the blood of Jesus over you so that the sin will no longer control you.
This doesn’t mean we should remain in a dangerous or abusive situation. We need to use common sense to remove ourselves from danger. But, at the end of the day, there will be no long-term recovery from the emotional and spiritual damage until we bring these things to the cross.
While it may seem logical to the human mind that a person’s death would bring an end to their sinful influence, this simply isn’t the case. I’m not bringing this up to rebuke our dear sister, nor to make anyone feel bad, but simply because I feel like it needs to be talked about.
Scripture has multiple ways to approach this issue, and all of them lead to the same conclusion.
First, we find in Scripture that a parent’s bad influence can extend multiple generations:
The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation — Numbers 14:18
So God is eager to forgive iniquity, but only when it is properly addressed. He will not magically waive the consequences for those who remain guilty. Habits, lifestyles, and attitudes they impose on their household will continue to grow bad fruit long after they’re gone. If your parents teach you to be a passive-aggressive drama queen, for example, and you continue in that behavior for the rest of your life, you won’t suddenly snap out of it just because they die. Some may argue this is OT law which no longer applies to us. Some say it makes God seem cruel. But what else can a Christian seriously expect? The raising of a child comes with consequences, for better or worse. The way we run a business or manage an organization will affect people’s lives (and perhaps their souls) for better or worse. God “visits” these things on future generations because the bad fruit has to show up somewhere.
Let’s consider the spiritual side of this as well. Suppose there’s a spirit of alcoholism on a parent. If the parent dies in that condition, will the spirit leave to try to start over in a new family? The spirit will most likely try to latch on to a child who’s already been exposed to it. If that child is not determined to resist it, the spirit will have easy pickings. Sins don’t end when a human’s physical body dies. If a parent constantly curses a child by speaking failure, poverty, or low self-esteem on them, spiritual wheels will be set in motion, and it won’t necessarily stop when the parent dies.
Then we see this:
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins — Hebrews 10:4
I will now add a short extenuation: it’s not possible that the blood of mere mortals should take away sins. Death is the wage of sin, not the undoing of it. People who die in their sins remain dead in their sins; they don’t get a clean slate because they died. What’s more, the mark of their sins among those they influenced is not taken away.
We have exactly one thing which can abolish sins:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot — 1 Peter 1:18-19
The vain things we receive from our ancestors only meet their end at the blood of Jesus.
Let’s see that again:
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel — Hebrews 12:24
Abel was an innocent person who died by the hand of an abusive sibling. The blood of Jesus is a better testimony.
Let’s see it again:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins — Colossians 1:12-14
We inherit futility and dysfunction from our human forefathers, or we inherit the kingdom of God, made available only through the blood of Jesus.
This doesn’t mean that we are equally guilty of our parents’ sins. It means we are inheriting the consequences, trauma, behavioral patterns, and susceptibility to evil spirits. We inherit a lifestyle of being predisposed to problems that arise from our parents’ sins. We can either spend our lives fighting these influences, or bring them to the cross and abolish them forever.
The ONLY way to abolish sin is to resolve at the cross.
If you see the effects of sin wreacking turmoil and destruction in your family, you can do something about it. You can stand up to that sin and bring it to the cross. You can plead the blood of Jesus over you so that the sin will no longer control you.
This doesn’t mean we should remain in a dangerous or abusive situation. We need to use common sense to remove ourselves from danger. But, at the end of the day, there will be no long-term recovery from the emotional and spiritual damage until we bring these things to the cross.