A God of Forgiveness
Notes
Transcript
A God of Forgiveness
A God of Forgiveness
Last week Sarah asked a wonderful question regarding going to a priest for forgiveness.
Her question was fantastic and needed more attention than I could give in a Q & A.
So, let’s take a look at the topic of forgiveness.
We will do this in at least four parts
Old Testament forgiveness
New Testament forgiveness
Historical Church forgiveness
Modern forgiveness
Question: Do you know the first place the term ‘forgive’ is used in scripture?
The term, selach, is used 50 times in the Hebrew bible and God is the only subject.
It is Exodus 34:9, and it is in a passage that is highly misunderstood and controversial.
Which is unfortunate, because the section it shows up in is CENTRAL to the character of God.
The setup for the passage is following the golden calf incident…
Chapter 32 is the Golden Calf incident,
Broken tablets
The plague that breaks out
The Angel of the LORD that will lead them
Chapter 33 is the command to leave Sinai, Tent of Meeting, and Moses’ intercession
Moses is a bit freaked out about the incident and wants assurance that God will go with him
God promises to go with him
Moses wants to see God
God says, okay, you cannot see my face, but you can see me once I pass by.
Moses agrees to be hidden in a rock and God will cover him with his hand as he passes
The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
Yahweh passed over Moses’ face. Yahweh called out, ‘Yahweh, a God compassionate, and gracious, long of nose, with great covenant loving kindness, and faithful truth, standing watch over covenant loving kindness for thousands, the one bearing iniquity and transgression and sin.’ Ex 34:6-7a
‘But the intentionally guilty, I will not make innocent, the one who visits iniquity of the fathers over sons, and over sons of sons, until the third or fourth.’ Ex 34:7b
And Moses was urgent! He kneeled towards the ground, and he bowed in worship. And Moses said, ‘If, please, I have found grace in your eyes, Lord, walk, please Lord, in our midst, because this people have concrete necks. Then you will **forgive** our iniquity, our sin, and you will take possession of us.’ Ex 34:8-9.
Perhaps I can ask you a question:
If you are the image of God…
How should you forgive?
So, after the golden calf incident, it is Moses who intercedes on behalf of the people to ask forgiveness.
Here is the thing…God never says he forgives them based on Moses’ request.
Instead, he commands Moses and the people to be faithful to the covenant.
The next several times it shows up is Leviticus.
It is for unintentional sin offerings
But Israel is not done rebelling against the LORD.
In Numbers 13, the people bring a bad report after spying out the land of Israel.
The people, in Numbers 14, freak out.
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
It is a bad day…Moses, again, is going to intercede.
Just as he did when they built the golden calf
But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’
Moses is going to appeal to the WORDS that God said about himself…
VERY IMPORTANT!
And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
And for a second time…Moses makes a request…
Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.
Now, here is a case where Moses asked for forgiveness on behalf of the entire people and it was granted.
Which sounds very much like the action of a priest
But there is a bit of a problem…
Moses is not a priest.
His brother Aaron is.
The people are forgiven…but there are consequences…
But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.
Then we get this long stretch of time that passes
Up to Solomon, who offers a prayer of dedication to the new temple he just completed.
1 Kings 8.
He makes five requests for God to forgive
See if you can pick up the theme…
“Listen to the plea of your servant and people when they pray. Listen in heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” “…hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people…” “…hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants…” “…hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive and act and give to each according to their heart, which you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of humankind).” “…forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and give them compassion in the sight of their captor, so they may have compassion on them.” (1 Kings 8:30, 34, 36, 39, 50)
What is the first, primary thing that must be done for God to ‘hear’ in heaven?
Confession
And notice here, there is no sense of a mediator
How about non-Israelites?
Namaan:
In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” He said to him, “Go in peace.” But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance,
How about really bad sinners?
Manasseh:
Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon.
There are two clear things that God seems to not forgive:
Shedding innocent blood
How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.
And worshipping other gods
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
Remember back in Numbers 14, when they wanted to choose a new leader to take them back to Egypt?
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
How about the wicked:
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
This method of back and forth according to the covenant of God, as you can see, could be wearisome.
Moreover, this is a covenant with Israel, not the nations.
We need something new for Israel that will work for the nations too.
Jeremiah predicts this as something that will come…
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
By the time you are done reading the Torah and Prophets, you are left to wonder if there is any hope for Israel.
Second, you wonder why, in God’s creation, God continues to pursue this people!
But he does...saying…
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
This is the setup for the new covenant that will come in the New Testament, which we will look at next week.
And how sure are we this will happen?
Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.”
I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.
In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
This is where we are left as we head into the New Testament.
Next week.
Notice a few things:
A difference between intentional and unintentional sin
None for shedding innocent blood or worshiping other gods
A time coming when:
All sin-guilt is cleansed
All rebellion is forgiven
It won’t exist in the land
As the image of God,
how should we forgive?
