We Have Eternal Immunity Through Jesus!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<God through Moses> said <to the Hebrews>, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”’ (Exodus 15:26); ‘<Jesus said to John,> “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

The Supreme Court ruling on immunity is good for Presidents now and in the future.  It would be nice if we could claim a form of immunity for some of our acts, as an example if I were to see something I wanted (a new gadget of some type) but it would mean postponing a purchase of a need (say, a car battery) I could claim ‘husband immunity!’ and not get chastised.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way in real life (or our marriage), so – knowing discretion is the better part of valor and for the benefit of everyone involved, I’ll get a new car battery and put the gadget on hold.  (Fortunately, the cars are all running fine, so I could get the gadget… hmm.)

For us Christians, we do have a partial immunity; it is from the eternal penalties of sin.  The power within John 3:16 gives us this eternal immunity; whoever accepts Jesus as Lord, repenting of their sins and repudiating their sinful nature, will be provided salvation from eternal punishment.  In Exodus 15, Moses was leading the Hebrew nation through the wilderness, having escaped from Egypt.  They had seen the example of immunity toward them that through the plagues, Egypt was struck with each form of pestilence, disease, and death while the Hebrews were not – as long as they obeyed God’s Word given to them through Moses. 

The Israelites had been traveling for 3 days without water, until coming upon Marah, a watering hole that had bad, bitter water that was not ‘potable’ or suitable for drinking.  The Israelites, as they often did, started to grumble and complain about why they were led out to this barren wasteland, with no water to drink.  God had not yet provided them with manna or quail, but in hearing their complaints he instructed Moses to pick up a piece of wood laying next to the watering hole and throw it in, which Moses did.  The water immediately became purified and safe.  God then led them to Elim, where there was an abundance of water and shade (and possibly food from the palm trees).

It was at Marah where God provided them the instructions of gaining ‘immunity’; listen to God and do the right thing, and they would not suffer disease as He would heal them.  If we listen to God and act Righteous, and avoid sinful acts, we will not suffer the consequences of sin or the removal of God’s hand from us.  This is not an immunity from others who may sin against us to do harm, or from natural events (like hurricanes), but we will not suffer from the consequences of sin God may have fall upon us.   

We can go back to David and Bathsheba, where the consequences of David’s sin (and that of Bathsheba) resulted in the death of their newborn, but also the turmoil of Absalom’s coup to take over David’s rule.  David had eternal immunity for his Faith in God, but did not have mortal immunity over the consequences of the sins he committed.

What of those who do not accept Jesus as Lord, and are unrepentant of sin and continuing their sinful acts?  We see there is no immunity for them; the consequences of a sinful life for the unrepentant are both mortal and eternal.  Revelation 21:8 makes it clear of their placement in the ‘Lake of Fire’, a form of death that is worse than ‘death’ itself.  Eternal condemnation separately forever from God and others, in darkness and silence tormented by fire and brimstone. 

As Jesus commanded to the adulterous woman, ‘go and sin no more’.  If we stay away and do our best to be blameless and avoid sin as much as we can (face it, living in SW Florida, we all have to take I-75 at some point – sometimes it’s so frustrating you can’t help to have a sinful thought or two), and obey the Lord and His precepts. We have blessed assurance in gaining His immunity for eternity by accepting Him and share the Gospel (in obedience to the Great Commission) so others can accept Him and His ‘immunity’, too.