Achan's/Our Sin

Joshua 7.2-26

It is difficult to number just how many lessons are to be learned from Achan's sin. But the story remains throughout all history for us to ponder and hopefully learn something from.

For an entire nation to suffer for one man's indiscretion is perhaps the greatest story here. I say this is the greatest story here, but fear I have no real idea just how serious the story really is! God's holiness is the issue in this story. Achan violated God with his disobedience, but also himself and all Israel in keeping items for himself that were dedicated for destruction. 

We have no modern comprehension of the concept of holiness. We live in a world so saturated with unholiness and moral compromise that we simply cannot understand how Achan's sin could affect an entire nation. But it did - and so, the concept of holiness is there to be learned, but will it be learned?

Achan's sin and its affect on a nation accurately depicts how the sin of Adam affected all of humanity. Furthermore, it depicts how sin is not an individual problem, but a universal problem. In other words, Anchan's sin was our sin!

It would be incomplete to discuss the universal effect of sin without discussing the universal effect of Jesus! When considering the universal affect of sin, it is only right to consider the universal remedy for sin! It will take the rest of our lives to comprehend all Jesus accomplished - that's just how bad sin is and how good God is.

Father, please help me to meditate on the gross hold that sin claims over the world. And, as I do, help me to see in progressive detail, how Jesus brought remedy! Furthermore, help me to comprehend the critical role that faith plays in my benefiting from Jesus' work.