In my last post I talked about how the Lord has held all of Israel responsible for the sin of just one man and that man was Achan who stole God’s holy property.
However, there is another category of sin and guilt being dealt with here.
I’m talking about the guilt that that results from our own individual actions and behavior.
This type of sin is also what’s being discussed here in Joshua Chapter 7.
Achan PERSONALLY sinned against God and thus he is PERSONALLY guilty before the Lord.
Israel bears the results or consequences of Achan’s sin, but they don’t bear the guilt.
Are you catching this distinction?
Understand I ain’t waxing philosophical or trying to interpret things using allegory (which is what the Christian world does all the freakin’ time!).
This is EXACTLY what the Scripture says.
Actually Achan’s sin (meaning his actions) was something the Levitical sacrificial system did provide forgiveness for.
That’s right.
The sacrificial system did provide forgiveness for most but NOT all transgressions against a holy God.
Don’t listen to them pastors, preachers and teachers who tell you the Levitical sacrificial didn’t work.
It was God-ordained and most certainly accomplished what it intended to accomplish.
Those who offered up a sacrifice at the Tabernacle with a pure heart did indeed have the guilt of their sins blotted out.
In the Torah, after a worshipper has offered up a sacrifice, when it says…“and he shall be forgiven”, the Scriptures aren’t lying here folks.
The person who had committed a trespass against the Lord was indeed forgiven.
And it wasn’t was some kind of inferior “Old” Testament forgiveness like the gentile church would have you believe.
It was a legitimate forgiveness before a holy God.
The Levitical sacrificial system worked perfectly well for what it was created to do.
However, there is one thing the sacrificial system was NOT intended to do and that is why God sent His only begotten son into the world.
The sacrificial system could not remove our corrupt natures embedded in our DNA from birth because of Adam’s original sin in the garden.
However, Messiah’s sacrifice was so holy and SO PERFECT that it satisfied a holy God’s requirements for anyone who would want to enter into fellowship with Him.
In other words, what Yeshua accomplished on the cross removed the sin embedded in our DNAs.
Alrighty, let’s bring this topic to a close so we can move on.
Here’s the bottom line folks.
The idea of communal guilt isn’t some quaint old theological theory.
It’s alive and well today.
The whole world bears the original sin of Adam and Eve.
And when a member of any body that you belong to whether that body is a company, religious organization or even a nation, sins, you as an individual will be affected.
So be extra careful who you keep company with.
There’s a reason why Paul warned the Corinthians to kick out any unrepentant believer from their congregation.
It was to protect the other members of the body from being infected and/or affected by the other person’s sin.
Again, I’m talking about bearing the burden, NOT the guilt, of another person’s sin.
Understand the difference.
Excellent point made! And, it is so true, too! Many equate sin as only an isolated act while ignoring the fact that sin is also a natural condition for us as humans, a thing embedded with in our DNA. It is not only that we sin, but we are also sin itself. It is part and parcel of our physical and spiritual makeup. When Eve sinned, her sin affected and then infected Adam. And how could it not? They had become one body, one person, through a spiritual a physical joining together — marriage. In such a condition one part of the union can not help but be affected by whatever is experienced or done by any other part of the union. Again, an excellent lesson, indeed!