Can God "just forgive"?
I remember a short conversation with a Muslim friend. I asked him how Allah forgave sins. He told me that Allah who is merciful can just forgive wrongdoing at his own choice. He just has to say "I forgive" and the deed is done. End of.
Can the God of the Bible "just forgive?"
Well no, no way, not at all.
Just as a court judge cannot just decide to pardon a murderer, so the God of the Bible cannot just decide to forgive sins. To do so would be to overlook sin. To do so would be to be guilty of injustice, for then there would exist, somewhere in the cosmos a wrongdoing that was never paid for, a criminal set whimsically free.
A judge who simply, at his own free choice or whim sets a guilty man free is not a good judge, he is an evil judge.
All wrongdoing must be paid for, somewhere, somehow. That is the principle of human justice, which is an echo of divine justice.
The Way of Forgiveness
For God to be the Just Judge over the Cosmos, which he is (Genesis 18:25), every single sin must be punished. Big Hitler Sins and little "white lie" sins. All sins, every sin.
And the penalty for all sins, "little" and "big" is death. "When you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:17). The wages of sin is death. There is no forgiveness of any sin without the shedding of blood. (Hebrews 9:22)
That puts you and I in dire straits. For our sins are many.
The two main intertwined categories of sin are not loving God and not loving our neighbour. Next, sins can be catalogued as sins of commision and sins of ommision. So even if we always did right, which we can't, we would still be guilty of the good we could have done but did not do.
Our sin is great, our sins have "overwhelmed us" (Palm 38:4), "like a burden too heavy to bear."
Old Testament saints went to the temple with their sacrifical animal, laid their hand on its head, symbolising that the animal was dying in their place. Once the animal was killed they were "forgiven."
Well, not quite. For the blood of animals cannot take away sin. The Old Testament sacrifices were signposts to the One Sacrifice which alone can take away sin. Old Testament saints faintly saw the cross by faith and longed for the true sacrifice.
"Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:28)
A Person has to die for people. A Perfect Man if he is to be dying for the sins of others, rather than just his own. And a Divine Man has to die for the sins of God's people, for a mere man could not bear the load of nigh-on infinite punishment.
All our Psalm 103 verses today must be read in the light of Jesus' Death;
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
The Many Splendoured Sides of Forgiveness
Let's explore the many sides of God's unique forgiveness, revealed in these verses:
God is no longer angry at us (verse 9)
God was once angry at us - not human angry, which is a mixture of righteous anger and over the top sinful revenge / hatred / etc. Divine anger is the automatic self-controlled revulsion of God's pure Being towards all wrongdoing. God can't even look at iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13).
But when God gave us the gift of faith in his Son and true repentance, his anger was turned away from us - for good! (It was turned onto his Son who absorbed and extinguished it in full on the cross).
Brother, sister! God is not angry with you anymore!
God does not treat us as sinners (verse 10)
God doesn't have a wrong attitude towards us. You know how if someone has done you wrong, it is all too easy to harbour a wrong attitude towards them which can so easily come out in wrong behaviour. God does not treat us as our sins deserve!
The prodigal son is given a ring, robe, shoes and a banquet!
God loves us as high as the heavens are above the earth (verse 11)
Now David does two comparisons. The first is up and down. How high are the heavens? Well, a long way up! That's how much God loves us.
Remember?
Wide, wide as the ocean,
high as the Heaven above;
deep, deep as the deepest sea
is my Saviour’s love.
I, though so unworthy,
still am a child of his care,
for his word teaches me
that his love reaches me ev'rywhere.
God has put our sins away from us (verse 12)
Now the other comparison - not up/down now, but East/West. How far is the East from the West? Well, infinite! This time the span of space is not related to how much God loves us but how far he has removed our sins from us.
He has disconnected our sins from us. When he thinks of us, he does not also think Sin A, Sin B, all the way to Sin Z.
He has removed those sins from us. He has chosen to forget them. That is incredible, since God is all-knowing.
God deliberately chooses not to remember, not to bring to mind, not to recall all our wrongdoing.
Summing it All Up
This quality of forgiveness has no parallels under heaven. No human being can forgive like this. This divine forgiveness flows directly out of the love of God for sinners, and was forged in the dark moments of the cross of Jesus Christ.
So we end with two applications. Number 1, "thank you for the cross."
And Number 2, if we are asking ourselves, "How should I forgive my brother?" we have much to learn from God's forgiveness.
Let us not be angry with them, let us not treat them as they deserve, let us love them and try our best not to bring their sins back to mind.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
It would be hard to find a better suited one than Matt Redman's:
Jesus Christ, I Think Upon Your Sacrifice
You Became Nothing, Poured Out To Death
Many Times I’ve Wondered At Your Gift Of Life
And I’m In That Place Once Again
I’m In That Place Once Again
And Once Again I Look Upon The Cross Where You Died
I’m Humbled By Your Mercy And I’m Broken Inside
Once Again I Thank You
Once Again I Pour Out My Life
Now You Are Exalted To The Highest Place
King Of The Heavens, Where One Day I’ll Bow
But For Now I Marvel At Your Saving Grace
And I’m Full Of Praise Once Again
I’m Full Of Praise Once Again
And Once Again I Look Upon The Cross Where You Died
I’m Humbled By Your Mercy And I’m Broken Inside
Once Again I Thank You
Once Again I Pour Out My Life [2]
Thank You For The Cross
Thank You For The Cross
Thank You For The Cross, My Friend
You can hear it HERE.
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our prayer today comes out of the Common Book of Prayer:
Almighty and most merciful Father,
We have wandered and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended against your holy laws.
We have left undone those things that we ought to have done; and we have done those things that we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us.
But you, O Lord, have mercy upon us sinners.
Spare those who confess their faults.
Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may live a disciplined, righteous and godly life, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.
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