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Forgiveness and Salvation
(Is43:25; Mt18:21-35)
God is righteous and merciful (Ps116:5).
For He is righteous, He judges and punishes sin (Ps7:11) and
For He is merciful, He forgives the sin of those who turn back (Is44:22; Mi7:18-19).
Faith is receiving God’s forgiveness and
The life of this faith is forgiving those who sin against me and proclaiming the gospel of forgiveness
(Mt6:12; Jn20:23).
Forgiveness is freedom.
Those who forgive are freed from their past loss and
Those who are forgiven are set free from the price of sin.
This world would be heaven if there were only forgiveness
But the reality is that humans suffer from the incurable disease of not forgiving.
While the indebted, the convicted, those on death row desperately seek forgiveness,
For past financial, physical or emotional injuries or insult
Humans are not able to forgive their parents, children, siblings, spouse, friends, colleagues etc.
Consequently, they persistently resent, harbor anger and hatred.
With such feelings, however, they cannot enter the Holy City, the Father’s house (Mt5:26, 8:12).
The Bible distinguishes the three types of sins:
The original sin (Ge3:6; Ps51:5; Rm5:12-14), self-committed sins (Rm3:23, 5:15; Jas2:10), and
The sin of desire (Ge4:7; Mt5:22, 28).
The inclination of the original sin committed by Adam was resentment (Ge3:11-14), and
The inclination of Cain’s self-committed sin was envy and anger over other’s prosperity (Ge4:8).
The Law defined breaking the commandments regarding God (1-4) as sin,
While breaking the commandments regarding men (5-6) as iniquity.
Because God is righteous, the commandment was to not forgive iniquities or sins (Jos24:19).
Because God is merciful, given in the Temple were the atoning sacrifice and the scapegoat, that is,
For God’s own sake, He promised to blot out their transgressions and
Remember their sins no more (Lev16:8-10, 21-22; Is43:25).
Yeshua said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days,” because
Through the death and the resurrection of the temple of His body (Jn2:19-22),
Not in the name of Jehovah but in the Father’s name of Yeshua (Jn5:43),
Not animals but the Son of God would redeem (He9:12, 10:2-4),
By giving His life as a ransom, an atoning sacrifice (Mt20:28; Jn1:29).
For such, the Word became flesh and came as the Son of Man (Jn1:1, 14).
As He died, He said, “It is finished” (Jn19:30), declaring that He:
1) Declared the Father as the righteous God, who made the Son to be sin for all mankind and punished Him in
their place (Ps7:11-13; Jn10:18; 2Co5:21);
2) Repaid the origin of sin, the devil (Is14:12-15; Ge3:4-6; 1Jn3:8); and
3) Redeemed all men and asked the Father for His forgiveness (Lk23:34; He10:17-18).
Yeshua resurrected and ascended to heaven, and
Sat on the throne as the Lamb who eternally has the scars of redeeming sin (Rev5:12).
The Holy Spirit comes to those who
Believed in the redemption of the Son and received the forgiveness of the Father, and
Lets them forgive those who sin against them for
On this day, they must be forgiven of their sins by the Father (Mt6:12).
Therefore the Christian:
1) Inevitably preaches the gospel of forgiveness to unbelievers (Jn20:23; Ac2:38, 10:43; 1Co9:16);
2) Infinitely forgives the iniquities of his brothers (Mt18:21-35), not slandering or speaking against them
(Jas4:11), not letting the sun go down while he is still angry (Eph4:26), and being kind and compassionate
to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave him (Eph4:32),
For the forgiven is saved, and the saved forgives.
O Lord,
Like foolish children, we all suffer from the incurable disease of not forgiving others for petty things.
For the sinless Son of God was hurled insults and crucified by worthless humans
And yet He declared forgiveness…
Father, give us the power to forgive!
For the salvation of my soul, let me preach the gospel of forgiveness.
For the salvation of my soul, let me forgive my brothers. Amen.