God knows everything, but this does not eliminate man’s responsibility to confess his sins. Failure to do so forfeits God’s practical forgiveness.
Sin demands atonement. Atonement puts God and man at one. When atonement is made man is cleansed and forgiven. In other words, things are made right.
The soul that sins shall bear his iniquity. How does a man bear his iniquity? The answer is quite simple: by suffering the consequences of those sins.
When an individual gets things right with God, he should likewise look for opportunities to make things right with others he might have done wrong.
Most people view sin as a private or earthy matter. Yet, every sin is against the Lord. In truth, men can sin against the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
The words chastening and punishment are like many Bible words that share an overlapping meaning but also exhibit certain variants. A Bible-believer always trusts that God carefully chose His words to accomplish His expressed purpose in any given passage. On the surface, it would seem like the words punish (Leviticus 26:24) and chastise (Leviticus 26:28) seem completely interchangeable, but a thorough study of the whole counsel of God reveals distinctions. One area in which there appears to be a distinction involves the intended purpose of execution. Punishment is the infliction of judgment for the sake of justice, while chastening is the application of judgment for the sake of correction.
