The glory of God's forgiveness

413 the glory of God's forgiveness

Although God's wonderful forgiveness is one of my favorite subjects, I have to admit that it's hard to even begin to grasp how real it is. God has planned her from the beginning as his generous gift, a costly act of forgiveness and reconciliation through his Son, culminating in his death on the cross. Not only are we thus acquitted, we are restored - "in tune" with our loving triune God.

In his book Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, TF Torrance put it this way: “We keep having to put our hands to our mouths because we can't find the words that could even come close to satisfying the infinitely sacred meaning of atonement”. He regards the mystery of God's forgiveness as a work of a gracious Creator - a work so pure and great that we cannot fully understand it. According to the Bible, the glory of God's forgiveness is manifested in multiple blessings related to it. Let's take a brief look at these gifts of grace.

1. With forgiveness, our sins are forgiven

The necessity of Jesus' death on the cross because of our sins helps us to understand how seriously God takes sin and how seriously we should take sin and guilt. Our sin unleashes a power that would destroy the Son of God himself and destroy the Trinity if it could. Our sin required the intervention of the Son of God to overcome the evil it produces; he did this by giving his life for us. As believers, we do not view Jesus' death for forgiveness simply as something "given" or "right" - it directs us to a humble and deep worship of Christ, taking us from initial faith to grateful acceptance and finally worship with our whole lives.

Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we are utterly forgiven. This means that all injustice has been erased by the impartial and perfect judge. All falsities are known and overcome - nullified and made right for our salvation at God's own expense. Let's not just ignore this wonderful reality. God's forgiveness is not blind - quite the contrary. Nothing is overlooked. Evil is damned and done away with and we are saved from its deadly consequences and have received new life. God knows every detail of sin and how it harms His good creation. He knows how sin hurts you and those you love. He also looks beyond the present and sees how sin affects and harms the third and fourth generations (and beyond!). He knows the power and depths of sin; therefore, he wants us to understand and enjoy the power and depth of his forgiveness.

Forgiveness allows us to know and know that there is more to experience than we perceive in our presently transient existence. Thanks to God's forgiveness, we can look expectantly into the glorious future that God has prepared for us. He did not allow anything to happen that could not redeem, renew and restore his work of reconciliation. The past does not have the power to determine the future to which God, through the reconciliation work of His beloved Son, has opened the door for us.

2. It is through forgiveness that we are reconciled to God

Through the Son of God, our eldest brother and high priest, we know God as our Father. Jesus invited us to join in his address to God the Father and to address him with Abba. This is a confidential term for dad or father. He shares with us the intimacy of his relationship with the Father and leads us close to the Father, who desires Him so much with us.

To lead us into this intimacy, Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit we can become aware of the Father's love and begin to live as His beloved children. The author of Hebrews emphasizes the superiority of Jesus' work in this respect: "The office of Jesus was higher than that of the priests of the old covenant, because the covenant of which he is now the mediator is superior to the old one, for it is founded for better promises...For I will have mercy on their iniquities, and remember their sins no more" (Heb. 8,6.12).

3. Forgiveness destroys death

In an interview for our program You'r Included, Robert Walker, nephew of TF Torrance, pointed out that the proof of our forgiveness is the annihilation of sin and death, confirmed by the resurrection. The resurrection is a most powerful event. It's not just the resurrection of a dead person. It is the beginning of a new creation - the beginning of the renewal of time and space... The resurrection is forgiveness. Not only is it evidence of forgiveness, it is forgiveness, since according to the Bible, sin and death go together. Therefore, the annihilation of sin means the annihilation of death. This in turn means that God blots out sin through the resurrection. Someone had to be resurrected to take our sin out of the grave so that the resurrection became ours too. That is why Paul could write: “But if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins.” … The resurrection is not just the resurrection of a dead person; rather, it represents the beginning of the restoration of all things.

4. Forgiveness restores wholeness

Our election to salvation puts an end to the age-old philosophical dilemma—God sends the one for the many, and the many are incorporated into the one. That is why the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, as his testimony in due season. For this I am appointed as preacher and apostle..., as teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth" (1. Timothy 2,5-7).

God's plans for Israel and all mankind are fulfilled in Jesus. He is the faithful servant of the one God, the royal priest, the one for the many, the one for all! Jesus is the One through whom God's purpose of bestowing forgiving grace on all people who have ever lived was accomplished. God does not designate or choose the one to reject the many, but as the way to include the many. In the saving fellowship of God, election does not mean that there must also be implicit rejection. Rather, it is the case that Jesus' exclusive claim is that only through him can all people be reconciled with God. Please note the following verses from the Acts of the Apostles: "There is salvation in no one else, neither is there any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4,12). "And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2,21).

Let us pass on the good news

I think you will all agree that hearing the good news of God's forgiveness is very important for all people. All people need to know that they are reconciled to God. They are called upon to respond to that reconciliation made known through the Holy Spirit's empowered proclamation of God's Word. All people should understand that they are invited to receive what God has worked for them. They are also invited to participate in the present work of God so that they may live in personal unity and fellowship with God in Christ. All people should know that Jesus, as the Son of God, became man. Jesus fulfilled God's eternal plan. He gave us his pure and infinite love, destroyed death and wants us to be with him again in eternal life. All mankind needs the gospel message because, as TF Torrence notes, it is a mystery that "should amaze us more than could ever be described."

Full of joy that our sins are atoned for, that God forgives us and truly loves us forever.

Joseph Tkach

President
GRACE COMMUNION INTERNATIONAL


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