Consequences Of Disobedience
Regardless of whether one fears the consequences of disobedience or not, it is unreasonable to deny that there are consequences which result from disobedience.
Someone might look at past disobedience, and determine that there were no measurable negative effects or apparent consequences that resulted from their disobedience or wrong doing. That individual has obviously NOT acknowledged God's authority in their life and accepted the reality of God's eventual punishment or judgment for their disobedience.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people live in a fantasy world that denies God's authority and His judgment. Jesus tells us:
Matthew 7:13,14 “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (NET)
Many will follow the path to destruction and few will follow the narrow and difficult path to life.
Jesus did not lead us to believe that our efforts could change this ratio or somehow reverse the trend. He simply said that is how it is going to be.
Scripture provides numerous examples of God punishing those who fail to obey His instruction, and the first one that comes to mind, occurred shortly after man and woman were created and placed in the wonderful garden of Eden.
The disobedience - Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (NET)
The fear (and attempt to blame others) - Genesis 3:8-13 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” (NET)
The consequences - 3:14-19 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” (NET)
Why should we believe that God is any less just and righteous today, that He would allow disobedience without bringing judgment?
It's important to note that Adam and Eve only disobeyed once and the consequences are still being felt by all of us even today. Notice that God did not say: Well it's your first mistake, maybe you didn't know I was serious when I told you not to eat of the tree. I'll let you go this time, but be careful not to disobey Me again.
No, our God, the God who created all things, the very God that stands outside of time and sees the end from the beginning, is a just and righteous God, who will not allow disobedience (sin) to go unpunished. God knows we will never be able to live perfect lives, that is why He sent Jesus, as the ultimate and perfect, sinless, sacrifice, to pay for the sins of all those who would accept God as our authority and Christ as our Savior; for all those who come to realize (by God's grace) that we are (without exception) disobedient sinners, who will never be able to avoid God's judgment and punishment (wrath) by anything we can do. Amen
Till next time - May God bless and keep you.
The NET Bible® is freely available at www.bible.org