Perhaps the most powerful entity in all the world is the transformative power of true forgiveness. Forgiveness is defined as " the act of excusing a mistake or offense, a pardon, as if the offense had never occurred." When Jesus Christ hung upon the executioner's cross, having been tortured by Roman authority and betrayed by Jewish brethren, one of His last utterances was, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." A request so filled with selfless compassion and love, that the world draws in it's breath in awe two thousand years after it was spoken. It's message has reverberated through the corridors of time, back to the dawn and forth toward the dusk, sounding forth the mercy of a holy God, like a clarion call, to a sinful world. While the civil and religious authorities of the day bore their responsibility, it is also true that the Lamb of God came to offer Himself in atoning sacrifice for the trespasses of all men, dead, living, and yet to live. God, in His eternal and infinite nature, could not extend a temporal and finite offer - His promise was, and remains, both all surpassing and all inclusive, and thus the hope and the power are as well.
To fully comprehend forgiveness, one must also clearly discern the desperate need of mankind and the wonderful provision of God. Three passages from the New Testament reveal both man's inherent sinful condition and the Almighty's inherent benevolence and healing power. Every human life, because of sin, is an object, awaiting the wrath of God, a life lived upon a line bent toward hell; yet, the offended One, God Himself, reveals the endless depths of His love and breadth of His power by bending the curve of man's life toward heaven - a miraculous truth upon which the world itself can rest:
Romans 3:10-25:
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17And the way of peace have they not known:
18There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.
Ephesians 2:1-5:
1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved...
Titus 3:3-5:
3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
These marvelous words reveal to mankind the richness of God's grace and His sovereign choice to intervene on our behalf, not because He was compelled to, but because He wanted to - a fact that makes the offer all the more remarkable. As author Jerry Bridges notes:
" Paul draws a gracious contrast between our ruin and God's remedy. The contrast could not be more bold and complete. Our foolishness, disobedience, and enslavement to all kinds of sinful passions is met by God's kindness, mercy, and love. The utterly unrighteous are declared righteous by His grace...Grace does not supplement our good works. Instead, His grace overcomes our bad works, which are our sins. God did this by placing our sins on Christ and by letting fall on Him the wrath we so richly deserved. Because Jesus completely paid the awful penalty of our sins, God could extend His grace to us through complete and total forgiveness..."
Psalm 103:12:
12As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
He (God) removed our transgressions from us because we could not do it ourselves - only He as the Supreme Judge has the power and authority to pardon to an infinite extent - east and west never meet and thus, for those who receive His forgiveness, their transgressions and their souls are eternally and infinitely separated. How can this be so? Bridges asks:
"How can God so completely disregard our sins as to say He removes them an infinite distance from us? The answer is by His grace through Jesus Christ. Because of Christ's death in our place, God's justice is now completely satisfied, and He can now, without violating His justice or His moral law, forgive us freely, completely, and absolutely."
Isaiah 38:17:
17Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
Micah 7:19:
19He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Notice again, God is the one who intervenes, who initiates the actions of deliverance, compassion, and the casting out of sins, for this, only He can do. Our sins are placed behind His back, eternally out of sight; they are trampled under foot or subdued forever, hurled into the depths of the sea, never to be retrieved. God wants them gone forever - he wants forgiveness to be complete and irreversible and has the power to make it so. We do not have to do penance or serve a period of time as probationary subjects before God can use us for His glory - all of our sins have been forever paid in Christ and by Christ!
Rejoice Christian! But rejoicing is not enough - we are also called to extend such love, grace, compassion, and forgiveness to one another, over and over and over again. There is no limit and no restriction to God's forgiveness and there should be none with our own. There is no place for grudge holding and selfish anger in the heart of the believer - if we have received His forgiveness for our mountain of debt, how can we demand that others repay their molehill to us? We must not be like the ungrateful servant who, after having been forgiven an unpayable debt by his master, then went out and refused to forgive the one who owed him a pittance:
Matthew 18:23-34:
23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Indeed, the act of forgiveness must be a present, continual action, gifted unto others by His imitating servants, 'seventy times seven, and more' (Matthew 8:22). Once having received God's gift of pardoning grace, we give up all rights in ourselves to hold another accountable and we must never again refuse to forgive. To act in such a callous and ungrateful manner is to incur the anger of a holy God whose love and lesson must never be spurned.
Isaiah 43:25:
25I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will remember thy sins no more.
Colossians 1:21-22:
21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and free from accusation in his sight.
These passages get to the heart of forgiveness and answer the question we often have regarding the act: "Can we truly forgive as God forgives? Can we look on one who has sinned against us and ever completely forget what they have done? To fully forgive, do we also have to fully forget? Is that even possible?"
The prophet speaks of God blotting out our transgressions and remembering them no more. The slate is wiped forever completely clean of sin and covered with the righteousness of Christ and those sins are remembered no more. Does this mean that God, seemingly with amnesia, doesn't recall we have sinned or still sin? It cannot mean this, because God is omniscient. What then does it mean? The phrase literally means, "he no longer holds our sins against us." God has both legally pardoned us from any eternal judgment for our sin and personally promised that He will never hold them against us - never! As Bridges, notes,
"It is the act of giving up by an injured party all sense of being offended or injured. It is the promise never to bring it up, either to Himself, or to you again." he notes a vast difference between forgetting and "not remembering: Forgetting is passive and is something that we human beings, not being omniscient, do. Not remembering is active; it is a promise whereby one person, or in this case, God, determines not to remember the sins of another against Him. To 'not remember,' in this case, is simply a poignant way of saying, 'I will not bring up these matters to you or to others in the future.'
Also notice that Isaiah states that the Holy One does this for His own sake! He does not HAVE to forgive - He WANTS to forgive, so that He might have joy - the joy of OUR love and fellowship for all eternity. This highlights the relational aspect of true Christian salvation. He is not only our Lord and Master, He is our Father, our Savior, our Brother, and our Friend for all eternity - It is not just we, but He, who wanted it that way - in fact, He wanted it long before we did and brought it about on our behalf!
Finally, the apostle states that God presents us holy in His sight - do you feel that way every moment of every day? God sees us that way! Paul states that he presents us without blemish to Himself - do you feel that way every moment of every day? God sees us that way! We come before Him, by His power, imagine it, free from accusation! Do you feel that way every moment of every day? God sees us that way!
If we acknowledge the truth of these verses, we must also live by them - we must not just receive grace and forgiveness, but extend it as well. We will experience the peace and joy of the Lord in our lives only when we emulate our gracious Lord's love to others. I confess that I have found myself woefully lacking in this area of my life and have always found it perhaps the hardest area to yield to the Lord. In those rarefied moments, however, when I have modeled His example, I have never failed to be awed and blessed by the result - I believe that receiving and giving forgiveness is perhaps the most potent and freeing thing we can ever experience. How can it not be so? It comes from the heart and soul of the Almighty, is worked through His omnipotent arm, and alters the eternal destiny and temporal moments of men - what could be more powerful? Bridge's words so eloquently conclude the matter:
"The person who is living by grace sees the vast contrast between his own sins against God and the offenses of others against himself. He forgives others because he has been so graciously forgiven. He realizes that, by receiving God's forgiveness through Christ, he has forfeited the right to be offended when others hurt him, and thus can then truly forgive."
Reading the holy Scriptures, I was often puzzled by the fact that the gospel accounts state that when He suffered on the road to Calvary, our Savior chose not to respond when men abused Him with hurtful and demeaning words; truly, His wounds encompassed body, spirit, and soul to such an extent that we, this side of the veil, will never truly comprehend. Why did he not respond? Why did he agree to go silently, like a Lamb being led to the slaughter? So that His life would be in fulfillment of all prophecy to be sure, but there is more to it than that: Was it not also because His responses would have to involve two things He neither needed nor wanted to convey - He had no need nor desire to justify Himself before men and no need nor desire to judge others for sin. Justification and judgment met upon His altar of sacrifice so that the righteous requirement of His holy law might be fully met in us! He was judged that we might be justified! In the words of the hymnist: "Amazing love! How can it be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me!
To waste one moment on bitterness, anger, and resentment is to waste one moment not living according to and in light of God's redeeming grace. I don't know about you, but my moments are too precious - and so is my God...
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