Consequences of Sin
After the death of Moses, Joshua is chosen to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Joshua had been with Moses on several occasions and was the obvious choice to lead the people. As he began in chapter one of the book that bears his name, we see God telling him more than once to “be strong and courageous.” This encouragement would be needed as the people of Israel sometimes did not follow God as they should.
The first town they come to is Jericho, and with a different military strategy given by the command of God, they would be able to destroy that city. Of course, God was fighting for them as He does for His righteous people today.
The second city they want to overtake is Ai. After such a strong victory at Jericho, the thought is that they did not need many men to be able to take this city. About three thousand go out to battle, and can you imagine their surprise when the men of Ai defeat them killing 36 Israelites. Naturally, Joshua is wondering why this happened and spoke to God about it. He found the reason. There was sin in the camp.
At Jericho, the people were told to destroy everything, and what they took would be given to God. All the tribes were brought together, and God showed them who the guilty part was. It was a man called Achan from the tribe of Judah. Achan would tell Joshua in Joshua 7:20-21, “So Achan answered Joshua and said, "Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it." (NASB) Men were sent to retrieve these things, and then Achan and all of his family and animals were stoned. And all of his possessions were destroyed as well.
Think about this for a moment. Sin is wrong. Coveting is wrong. All of these things are against the will of God. Therefore, we need to be vigilant to eradicate sin from our lives as best we can. And we are all sinners in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 3:23)
But also think about what sin does. It was not just Achan, but all of his family who suffered because of his willful sin. It is like that in our lives as well. Sin can hurt more than just the individual who sins, but their loved ones suffer as well.
And finally, there are consequences if we chose to willfully sin. For Achan, it was death and destruction of all. For us, there is a place of torment if we don’t repent. Stay ever close to God.