Then came Peter to him, and said, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Jesus saith unto him, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
— Matthew 18:21-22
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Our last post was on Sin… an idea, a spiritual concept, that has wreaked actual and REAL physical and mental havoc on mankind since the beginning. The eldest son of the first human being created killed his little brother because he was jealous!
Even if you don’t believe in religion, if you say man evolved from a single celled organism —- we hope you will grant that man, and man —alone— has both conceptualized, and made real, the ideas ( good or bad ) and concepts we are familiar with today…. In this context, religious texts are as made up by man as anything else man has ever done, right?
Where did we get the concepts of mercy and forgiveness from? There is also pity and compassion to consider …
Are these survival instincts? Are they mental crutches we need to justify our evil actions ? Are they deep seated mental desires for self fulfilment? Are they simply abstract opposites of a cruel reality? —- no… we KNOW these things, or are taught them….
We submit, that inwardly, every human aspires to, or recognizes — the worth and —intrinsic— value of these ideas, and the spiritual loveliness they reflect.
Christs words to Peter in our text would be laughed at on TV and the media today … what … are you nuts? Forgive someone who sins against me 490 times? OK i’ll be a nice guy and forgive them a few times, but after that, you know they’re asking for it !!!!
Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness and compassion do mot make logical sense… man did not invent these !!
In the book of Proverbs (our study series here) you will NOT find the word forgive …. instead, in 8 verses, You will find 3 words all translated as Mercy in the KJV….
Ra-cham == Be Merciful, show Pity
Ch-anan == Stoop in kindness to an inferior ( eg poor )
Ch-esed == Loving kindness
These are things we are ENJOINED to do by the Word!
“ Let not mercy ( Che-sed ) and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” - Proverbs 3:3-4
Where is the Lords mercy and kindness most on display than today of all days… at the cross where Justice and Grace met!!
How Amazing is that Grace, that powers through the temporary pain and suffering of His creations willing bondage to sin.
Only the wisdom of God could solve the age old riddle of —- Immovable objects ( Sin and free will, the absolute Righteousness and Holiness of God) meeting —Irresistible Forces( the will of God to redeem His creation, the Love of God) by both teaching and showing us what Sin is, then paying for it Himself!
The pain and suffering humanity has been undergoing is great …The cross and the torment on it was agonizing, the period of the Great Tribulation will be like labor pains…
But all of that is TEMPORARY. Let that hope be in you this Easter Sunday, that the God who shows us what Sin is, who willingly gives of Himself for SINNERS, who is so spiritually lovely, has the power to restore to us, LIFE ETERNAL!!!
For as Christ declared on the cross… “ IT IS FINISHED!!”
And He rose on the third day to PROVE ..that WE ARE ETERNAL BEINGS!!… having a temporary experience.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:18-39
Hallelujah!!