One important thing we need to understand in answering this question is the difference between the penalty of sin and the consequence of sin.
The penalty of sin is the judicial punishment handed down by God for sin while the consequence of sin is the results or effects of sin.
For example, if you steal as a believer, God will forgive you for it (penalty of sin) but you might go to prison or lose your life for your crime (consequence of sin).
God's forgiveness does not do away with or negate the consequence(s) you will face for your sin.
Alot of believers think they can just throw care to the wind and live anyhow because God will forgive them, and yes He will, but that does not mean you will not face the consequences of your careless living.
Yes God will forgive you for sleeping around but that will not prevent you from unwanted pregnancies or contracting STDs or ruining your marriage/family/ministry/life or losing your life altogether.
Yes God will forgive you for drinking or smoking or overeating/unhealthy eating but that will not nulify the consequence of your actions on your health.
The Bible says in Galatians 6:7-8:
"Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. You will reap exactly what you sow. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."
So make no mistake, your sin will find you out (see Numbers 32:23).
Many of us are quick to blame God when bad things happen because of our sinful living but God has nothing to do with it. It is not God punishing you, you are just bearing the brunt of your own sin. I digress.
So the death of Jesus has dealt with the penalty of sin but not the consequence of sin.
This means that the results or effects of Adam's sin continue even after Christ's sacrifice.
Even though sin has been dealt with at the cross, its effects continue, which includes physical death.
God in His wisdom has dealt with the penalty of sin but He has not taken away the consequence of it (atleast not yet).
God actually demonstrates this wisdom awesomely in arguably one of the most common yet most misunderstood verse in the Bible, John 3:16 which says:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Now most of us think this verse means God sooooooooo loved the world or loved the world so much.
Infact they are several translations like the Good News Translation and the Contemporary English Version which translate the verse as "God loved the world so much" which is not what this verse is saying.
This is the problem with reading verses in isolation or out of context.
The truth is, you cannot understand John 3:16 without verse 14 and 15 which say:
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
This is a reference to an account in Numbers 21 when the people of Israel grumbled against God in the wilderness and He sent deadly snakes which killed alot of them. Moses in turn pleaded with God to take away the snakes but the LORD instead instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent, put it on a pole and anyone who had been bitten only had to look at the bronze serpent to live. If you had been bitten and did not, you died.
So God did not do away with the consequence of their sin i.e. take away the snakes, He provided an antidote for it instead.
Likewise, God has not done away with the consequences of sin to us and this world, but He has provided an antidote for it, Jesus, and whosoever beholds the cross (believes in Him) lives and whosoever does not dies.
And not because God kills them, but because sin is already doing that (see Romans 6:23).
Like the serpents to the Israelites, sin is already out to get us and without Jesus, who the bronze serpent represents, none of us will live.
With this understanding, we can now better understand Jesus' words in John 3:16.
So Jesus is not saying that God loves the world so much, but that in the same way Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and those who looked at it lived, likewise God has lifted up His Son Jesus on the cross that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The word "so" in the verse does not mean to a large or great extent as commonly understood, but likewise or in like manner or in the same way.
Some translations actually capture the heart of Jesus' words perfectly.
The Internation Standard Version for example puts John 3:14-16 like this:
"Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave His unique Son so that everyone who believes in Him might not be lost but have eternal life."
The New Living Translations says:
And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Do you see that now?
So just like God did not take away the consequence of Israel's sin, but dealt with the penalty of it instead (in type and shadow), He has not taken way the consequences of Adam's sin yet but He has dealt with the penalty of it through the cross of Jesus.
Physical death, evil, calamities, suffering, sickness, disease, plagues, deformities etc. are consequences of sin and God has not dealt with them just yet.
Paul says in Romans 8:22:
"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."
So everything in this world still operates under the law of sin and death (see Romans 5:12).
This includes our mortal bodies (see 2 Corinthians 4:16).
But Paul urges the believer not to lose hope.
He says in Philippians 3:20-21:
"Though our outward man perishes, our inward man (our born again spirit) will never perish and is being renewed every day as we eagerly await the return of our Savior, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body."
Physical death is the last enemy to be dealt with (see 1 Corinthians 15:26).
Even though Christ defeated death at Calvary, that victory is not yet fully manifested, and will not be until His second coming and the resurrection of the dead at that time.
That's God's order of things according to 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 which says:
"But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a Man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with Him at His Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, He hands over His kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death!"
The full benefits of Christ’s work will not be consummated until He returns to bring the new heaven and earth (see Revelation 21).
The truth is, your physical body is just an earthsuit which you wear for your stay here on earth but which wears out because of Adam's sin and will eventually need replacing.
It's a tent not a home.
While He walked this earth, Jesus wore an earthsuit like everybody else, but He’s not wearing one now!
He doesn’t need one!
He has something better!
And so will you once He returns!
When He returns we shall see Him as He really is and we shall be like Him (see 1 John 3:2).
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:52-53:
"In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality."
One thing the New Testament writers all understood is that our physical bodies are temporary while we're eternal beings who will live forever.
Like garments that wear out, our bodies will one day need to be replaced and Paul says the change will happen instantly, in the twinkling of an eye.
Healing is wonderful. It gives us a taste of heaven on earth but it's simply a repair job for tents.
Eventually, your tent is going to reach the point where it can’t be fixed or stitched back together.
That’s natural and not to be feared. Some things in this world can’t be mended.
The good news is that Jesus is the Great Redeemer who is making everything new.
This is why we can look forward to a new heavenly earth, the home of righteousness and a new body in which to enjoy it in (see 2 Pet 3:13).
For those who are in Christ, death is but a changing room where we shrug off mortality and we are clothed in incorruptible glory.
So coming to Christ does not erase the temporal effects of sin but it does guarantee that you will not face the eternal consequences of sin which is hell/eternal separation from God.
That said, as a believer, you need to know that physical death is not a penalty for your sins. Christ already paid for that with His life.
Instead, it marks the point at which you enter directly into the presence of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:8).
Theologian Wayne Grudem puts it like this:
“Death is not a punishment for Christians. Paul tells us clearly that there is ‘no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). All the penalty for our sins has been paid. Therefore, even though we know that Christians die, we should not view the death of Christians as a punishment from God or in any way a result of a penalty due to us for our sins. It is true that the penalty for sin is death, but that penalty no longer applies to us—not in terms of physical death, and not in terms of spiritual death or separation from God. All of that has been paid for by Christ.”
Glory to God!
God bless you.
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