Article - Does Forgiveness Remove All Consequences?
When God forgave Adam (“the son of God,” Luke 3:38) and Eve (“the mother of all living,” Genesis 3:20) for partaking of the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3, did God “reopen” the garden? Did He reverse the death process? And did God reverse extra hard work for the man and extra pain and conception for the woman? If God forgave them, why did Adam and Eve continue to suffer these consequences? When God forgave Moses (“the servant of God,” Revelation 15:3) for striking the rock in Numbers 20, was Moses allowed to enter into Canaan land? If God forgave him, then why was Moses still forbidden to enter? When God forgave David (“a man after God’s own heart,” Acts 13:22) for committing adultery and murder in 2 Samuel 11, did He erase the fact that adultery was committed, that a child was conceived and that a life was lost? Did God cease the pregnancy, raise Uriah from the dead and reverse all the consequences of David’s sin? After a person living in an adulterous marriage is baptized (as a non-Christian, Acts 22:16) or restored (as an erring Christian, James 5:20), does God, then, view that person’s marriage as acceptable? Can the person remain in that marriage and somehow erase the fact that they had an unscriptural divorce and remarriage (Matthew 5:32; 19:9)?
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