Answer

Greek philosophers already pointed out that if the cause is a sufficient condition for the effect, then there cannot be any time gap between them, since during that gap the cause exists but the effect does not, and that contradicts its being a sufficient cause. But today, after infinitesimal calculus and field theory, we understand that the effect develops over time and does not happen all at once. So, for example, there is a gravitational force between two masses, but that does not mean that the moment one mass arrives at a certain place it immediately exerts force on the second mass. It takes time for the effect of the force to reach the second mass. What happens immediately is the beginning of the force’s effect and its propagation toward the second mass.
In the legal and spiritual plane this is something else entirely. There, discussion, evidence, and a legal ruling are required. Therefore, the transgression in itself does not yet create the liability, and time must pass first (though apparently Tosafot and Rabbi Akiva Eger disagreed about this in Makkot 5—whether there is liability by virtue of the transgression even before the court’s ruling, or not—and this is not the place to go into it). Therefore, even in the heavenly court there is no reason to assume that this must happen immediately.