Defiant

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the story of the man violating the Sabbath directly follows God’s instructions found in verses 27-31.

In those verses, God makes a clear distinction between those who sin unintentionally and those who sin defiantly.

For those who sinned unintentionally, atonement could be made and the person was forgiven.

But for the person who sinned defiantly, there was no forgiveness.

That seemed to be the case with the Sabbath-breaker.

It wasn’t that he had simply forgotten it was the Sabbath. When his sin was pointed out, he wasn’t saying, “Oh, no! I messed up. What should I do?”

Rather, he simply didn’t care.

He despised God’s word and by his defiant action blasphemed God.

The result? Death.

For the submissive, repentant heart, God is gracious, and there is always forgiveness.  

But for the defiant, unrepentant heart, there is no forgiveness.

Let us always keep hearts that are soft to our God.