Forgiveness

FORGIVENESS

 

Col.1: ¹⁴ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

The words roll from our lips like saying “I want fries with that”. This issue of forgiveness is so often treated as kindergarten theology and a bumper sticker phrase. Oh but my dear friends, divine forgiveness is not just some magnanimous wave of the magic wand. Forgiveness from a Holy God carries with it a monumental price without which no sinner can enter the Gates of Splendor.

Inherent within this act of forgiveness is a transaction and redemption purchased by an unsearchable act of selfless suffering, pain, and death. This has never been doctrinal child’s play. This enters a realm where angels dare not enter and in truth might never understand. The blood that was shed was the blood of God, and the motivation for such a sacrifice was the heart of Almighty God. Who really can know it? Who among us dare suggest we have it figured out and can smugly stand and elaborate the finest detail?

If Christ had died for just one vile sinner like myself it still would be a colossal wonder and the mystery of all mysteries. But to know by Scripture that the Lamb of God died for all of us should make our hearts tremble and strip of us of a single molecule of pride as well as allowing us to surrender as eternal servants of the Glorious Savior. Let us never allow forgiveness to become a mundane issue from which we who are now so mature we have moved on from that word and from that reality. That a vicious and wanton sinner should stand forgiven in the presence of infinite holiness cannot be completely fathomed by any so called theologian.

One seemingly minor infraction by Adam thrust the entire human race into spiritual death. It was so easy and required just one bite of the forbidden fruit. There was nothing sinister with that fruit, but there was the betrayal of the ages in Adam’s act. And in order for any man to have the Father’s forgiveness it would be a divine path that led the Suffering Servant through untold horrors and rejection. And from Emanuel’s veins we worthless rebels would find the only forgiveness that could ever be found. And that blood, that precious and holy blood, was tapped by punches and thorns and whips and nails and swords. And a human frame, beaten without mercy and covered in His own blood, slumps in death upon two Roman planks.

You want forgiveness? Then you must not turn away from this gruesome spectacle. In fact you must gaze upon it with true faith even though it may be through eyes filled with tears. No amount of remorse will do. No penance will bring you one step closer. No resolutions to do better can forgive even one sin. No, this sacrifice by God’s Holy Lamb is the only gate through which forgiveness is even possible. And once by faith we step into a land we never deserved and could never earn, let us never speak glibly about the glorious and gracious essence of our forgiveness. Again this is not some theology 101. This is the pinnacle of God’s revelation and the zenith of all the acts of the Creator God.

This is God, dressed in human flesh, and unveiling Himself and His love in a way which is foreign to human minds but which can free the imprisoned soul and place in his heart and upon his lips the word…forgiven. Selah.