"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death:I do not say that he shall pray for it" (1 John 5:16). The implication of this verse clearly is that sometimes_not always, but sometimes_ sickness comes to children of God as divine chastening, as a means of correction and discipline because of waywardness. Sometimes the discipline has the desired effect in the spiritual restoration of the one who had failed and the body is healed also; but at other times it does not seem to be the will of God to raise up the disciplined one and put him in the place of testing again. So we read, "There is sin unto death:I do not say that he shall pray for it." Of course it is physical death that is in question. He is not speaking of eternal death; he is not speaking of the soul, but of the death of the body under divine discipline. I think the indefinite article in this part of the verse might better be omitted. It is not that there is some specific sin that always results in death, but there is sin unto death.
Moses and Aaron sinned unto death when they became angry with the children of Israel and smote the rock in indignation, instead of speaking to it as they had been commanded; and the Lord said, "Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them" (Num. 20:12). Now there came almost immediate restoration. Moses besought the Lord that He would forgive him and permit him to enter the land, but the Lord said, "Speak no more unto Me of this matter" (Deut. 3:26). Moses had sinned unto death. If today every time Christians got angry they sinned unto death, how few of us would be here! I am afraid every one of us, unless there are some exceptionally sweet-dispositioned people here, would be at home in heaven. God would not have trusted us any longer. Why was He so severe with Moses? Moses was one who spoke with God face to face, and the greater the privilege the greater the responsibility. Do not forget that.
Turning to the New Testament, we find the Spirit of God was working in great power in the early Church, and among the professed converts were two, Ananias and Sapphira, upon whose eternal state we are not called to decide inasmuch as Scripture does not pronounce upon it. They sinned against the Holy Spirit in pretending to a devotedness that they did not possess, and when they were faced with the sin they told a lie. The result was that first Ananias and then Sapphira his wife fell down dead. They had sinned unto death. If God were dealing with all Christians that way now, how many of us would be here? How many Christians are there who have never pretended to a devotedness that they did not possess? How many Christians are there who have never permitted others to think that they were holier than they really are? And is there a Christian who has not sometimes so forgotten what should characterize the believer that he has been guilty of a lie? You say, "Oh, but we bitterly repented." But, you see, for Ananias and Sapphira there was no restoration to a place of trust and confidence on earth. They had sinned unto death when they pretended to be more spiritual than they were, and when they lied concerning it.
We find another incident in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. There was a great deal of laxity and carelessness of behavior at Corinth when they gathered together to take what we call today the communion, to observe the Lord’s Supper; and because of the laxity, because of the carelessness that marked them, the apostle by the Holy Spirit wrote like this:"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (1 Cor. 11:30), or are dead. Sleep is the term he used throughout that letter for the believer’s death. If every time a Christian took the bread and cup at the communion table carelessly God were to visit with temporal death, how often tragedy would follow the observance of the Lord’s Supper! So we cannot say of any particular sin that it is the sin unto death, but we say rather that there is sin unto death. God gives His people opportunity after opportunity, but if at last they deliberately go on refusing obedience to His Word, He says, "Now I am going to take you home; I won’t trust you in the world any longer. I will deal with you at the judgment-seat of Christ."
I can look back on my own childhood and remember a group of children playing in the evening, and by and by there would be a quarrel, for children so readily change from having a good time to fussing with one another. A mother would appear in the doorway calling one of her own, "Here, what does this mean? You behave yourself."
"Yes, Mother. I will try to do better."
"Well, if you don’t, you will have to come in." And in a little while there is a fuss again, and again angry voices raised. Once more Mother’s voice, "You come inside."
"Oh, Mother, I forgot myself. We are in the midst of a game. I will promise to be good."
"Very well, but you be careful."
The game goes on, and then once more a fuss, and the mother’s voice says, "Now you come in."
"But Mother
"Not another word; you come inside."
"But, Mother, I will try to behave myself."
"No, I can’t trust you any more tonight; come inside."
So it is with God and His children down here in this world. He gives them so many chances, He is so wonderfully gracious; and after a failure they repent and say, "Now I have learned my lesson." Perhaps a little later the same thing occurs, and then God says, "Now I am going to lay My hand upon you." Perhaps there is a long siege of illness, and they have an opportunity to bring it all to God in sincere confession, but the Lord says, "You have sinned unto death; I am going to take you home."
I once knew a splendid young man who left his home in obedience to what he believed to be the call of God to engage in Christian work in a needy district. He had not been there long before a proposition for a very good temporal position came between him and the Lord. Then too the young woman whom he desired to marry declared that she would never marry a preacher, and so he decided to take the position. He settled down, made money, and got ahead, but inwardly was always very unhappy. He knew that he had sinned against the Lord because he had been called to a different service. By and by tuberculosis laid hold of him. He gave up his position and spent the earnings of years in a sanitarium, where he lay flat on his back. I was near by, and he sent for me and said, "My brother, I want you to pray with me, but not that the Lord will raise me up, unless He should make it very clear to you that it is His will. I have been facing a great many things here lately. I see my failure now as never before. I believe I have sinned unto death." I looked to the Lord asking, if it was His will, to lift him up, but if not, to give him great joy in departing. Two weeks later I saw him again and he said, "I will never see you on earth again. I have had two very wonderful weeks. The Lord has been very near to me, but He has told me that He is going to take me home, that I lost my opportunity, and that inasmuch as I chose my own comfort instead of His will He can’t trust me here any more. But, thank God, I am perfectly resigned to His will. I am going home!" And, sure enough, three days later he died. He had sinned unto death, and it was useless to pray for his healing, but he went home happy in Christ.
(Reprinted from Addresses on the Epistles of John.)