Can Believers Be Left to The Tormentors?

Can Believers Be Left to The Tormentors?

(Matthew 18:35)

In looking for an answer to what may be taught in one verse one must consider the entire teaching on the subject in question throughout scripture first. We know the clear teaching in scripture on the topic of eternal security. The security of the believer can be taught using almost any New Testament writing. So then, the question becomes, does one verse change the clear teaching of scripture? Certainly, it does not. So, knowing this, we must ask what else could Jesus have meant?

In the book of Job we have an excellent example of this very teaching. Job was clearly a man of God. God himself made that very declaration in Job 1:8, “And Jehovah said to Satan, ‘Have you set your heart against My servant Job, because there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil?’” Yet, when you read this marvelous story it becomes very clear that Job, as a man of God, is allowed to suffer horribly. At first, many may think it is solely to teach Satan what a great man of faith Job has become. But, by the end of the book we learn that Job actually had a problem that God had to deal with. God allowed Satan, the Tormentor himself, to afflict Job until Job learned the lesson God had for him.

Job’s problem was not unforgiveness as we see in Matthew 18, but the lesson we learn is the same. God will use any means he chooses in order to achieve his goal in our lives. We are His children. As the children of God, we are subject to his discipline when we stray.

Paul gives a great explanation of this very concept in Hebrew 12:6-8, “…for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives. (v.7) If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father does not chasten? (v.8) But if you are without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.” We are the children of God. Our sin, that which separated us from God for all of eternity, is already forgiven (“Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the debt”). God is not holding our sin in reserve waiting to bring it up to us at some later point, Hebrews 10:17 (our sin is gone) “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” However, we still sin. And it “grieves” the Holy Spirit of God when we do. The sin of unforgiveness is specifically listed among the sins that are said to grieve the Holy Spirit of God in Ephesians 4:30-32, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption. (v.31) Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. (v.32) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.” Paul is teaching us here that our interpersonal relationships can be grievous to God. Not only the unforgiving spirit but even our unkindness toward each other.

In Matthew 18 Jesus focused on the unforgiving spirit more because it clearly illustrates a serious heart problem. In order to correct Job’s heart problem God allowed the Tormentor full access to his life and his health. It becomes apparent at the end of that story that Job was far happier and blessed beyond expectation when he finally understood and repented. When God must intervene in our lives it is not to harm us, it is to bless us.

When we sin, we break the fellowship (not the salvation) that we have with God. All of life begins to fall apart. Our prayer life suffers (Psalm 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, Jehovah will not hear….”) when we sin and fail to get things right with God. We no longer have access to the throne of God even for our daily needs. Unforgiveness in our hearts opens the door for the “tormentors” to begin. God does not have to cause it. He only has to lift His hand of blessing and protection. God did not cause Jobs suffering, he allowed it. When we are so wicked as to be unforgiving in the simple matters of this life, when we have been forgiven matters of eternal consequence by the God of this universe, we simply must be brought to the place of repentance.

However, as a loving father, God is not intent on punishing us. Instead, he wants to bring us to the place of repentance so that we can re-establish a proper relationship. Think of how bitterness eats away at a person, it is a tormentor. When we fail to forgive people, we plant a root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15) within our own hearts, it is a tormentor. The longer it is left unconfessed and the longer we fail to forgive, the deeper the root and the more devastating its affect upon us, it is a tormentor. We become unhappy, frustrated and just generally miserable with life because of the unconfessed sin of unforgiveness, it is a tormentor. And God gives us over to it. He steps aside, closes the door of prayer and fellowship. We cannot even pray to God for the multitude of needs we have each and every day until we confess the sin of unforgiveness. That prayer, God will hear, 1John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God does not want us to suffer. The suffering he allows to come into our lives is intended to bring us to the point of repentance so that we can be restored to the place of blessing.

And so, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18, God will allow us to be tormented (even to the point of allowing Satan to intervene in our lives as he did with Job) if we are so wicked as to not forgive each other the petty issues of this life when we have been forgiven the eternal consequence of sinning against the holy God of this universe. And that torment will continue until we finally understand and repent, honestly and sincerely forgiving each other.

Believers cannot lose salvation. But we can assuredly lose fellowship with God and live in misery here if we fail to forgive one another allowing bitterness to take root within our hearts.