Deserve

The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do (Zechariah 1:6)

In The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment (1954 - https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/churchman/073-02_055.pdf), CS Lewis argues that the only way to safely punish someone was because they deserved it. It is typical of Lewis - brilliantly insightful and prophetic in its longevity - but it has sadly failed to sway the culture. Being right doesn't always win people over.

We don't even talk of punishment any more in school but of 'consequences', and certainly don't think of it as deserved but rather as useful to change behaviour. There is much good in this, especially for teachers, some of whom seemed to enjoy meeting out discipline - at least that's my recollection - but it creates a culture where it is seen as wrong to punish and where no one (well except for the 'monsters' of some 'red-top' newspapers) deserves to suffer for their actions.

There's an unexpected consequence of this, which is that when the Bible speaks of God's punishment on sinners, it is at best found to be meaningless, and at worst morally abhorrent. What kind of God punishes people? Well, the answer is a God who loves us, for our 'ways and practices' deserve punishment, so if we don't see the reality of the 'consequences' now, then we will not repent and be saved. 

'Greater love has no man except that he lay down his life for his friends' said Jesus. Too right but only because the alternative is that they die for their own sins, receiving their just deserts. The cross only makes sense as an act of love if as a result we are saved from God doing to us 'what our ways and practices deserve'.

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