A Forgiving Messiah
Notes
Transcript
A Forgiving Messiah
A Forgiving Messiah
Sarah’s question kicked off this series
We looked at the OT last week
We will look at the NT this week
We will look at Church history next week
We will look at the practical nature the following week
Last week we looked at how the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible dealt with forgiveness.
We learned that God was all about forgiving.
He sought for his people to return to him
And he would forgive them
So much that their sin would never be remembered
I made the point that since we are the Image of God, then how should you and I, as images, function towards others in regards to forgiveness?
So, let me ask this question like I did last week.
Where is the first place we encounter the word forgive in the NT, generally?
It is in a passage that we call the Lord’s prayer:
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
If you grew up in and around church, you have likely heard this.
Okay, don’t look…what are the next two verses?
***NEXT SLIDE***
How many of you are surprised?
Have you noticed that in the Lord’s prayer itself, this formula is included?
‘Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors’
The gymnastics done by Christians over these two verses are legion!
Here is a summary of what most commentators say about these last two verses.
It cannot mean what it says!
Taken absolutely, the Matthean wording of v. 14 is seriously in danger of being excessively formulaic (the forgiving person is automatically forgiven by God!), but that will not be Matthew’s intention. The readiness to forgive is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one.
(John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2005), 294.)
It is not that the act of forgiving merits an eternal reward, but rather it is evidence that the grace of God is at work in the forgiving person and that that same grace will bring him forgiveness in due course.
(Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 149.)
Let me walk you through looking at this in a different way.
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
How will things go for you if you HATE God with your heart, soul, and mind?
Okay…
How will things go for you if you HATE your neighbor?
Now, I spent time on this because it will be CRUCIAL when we get to next week.
When you seek bread, forgiveness, and deliverance for yourself, but not for others, then, in God’s equation, you hate your neighbor.
That may seem stark, but that is how scripture is arranged.
You cannot love God and hate your neighbor.
***NOTE:***
There are far more to this we are going to cover in a moment…
Okay, let’s move on…
Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
We saw something like this last week. Here is what it means:
You cannot worship another god. Period.
Second, you cannot worship another god and call that God Yahweh.
If you remember…
Shedding of innocent blood
Worshiping another God
Question:
Is forgiveness an easy concept to figure out?
Second, how can Jesus say people will be forgiven every sin except this one?
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
A good example of Peter not listening to the Lord’s prayer…
Let me tell you why this verse is interesting…
Here is another English translation…
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
So, which is it?
It probably does not matter because the lesson is in the number
The question is: Which number
77
490
Okay, I want you to keep those numbers in mind.
So there are two things I want you to hold:
The Lord’s prayer, about you being forgiven as you forgive
And this question from Peter about how often you should forgive someone who offends you
Which should catch our attention today, because this is how we think.
This question of Peter and Jesus’ response is, to me, the KEY to unlocking some things about forgiveness.
We will return to this…
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Again, we will look at this next week too…in light of the Lord’s prayer.
BTW, this is one of the locations that Roman Catholic Church draws its Apostolic Authority for the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.
Let’s carry on…
We are not doing every verse, there are like 160 of them!
Even though by the time we are done it is going to feel like it!
When we get to Acts…
Repent and be baptized…forgiven
Repent and pray…forgiven
Believe in him…forgiven
Now, that is an oversimplification, but it shows a development as the Apostles spread the gospel.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Sounds like the Lord’s Prayer.
That may seem like just a few, like there should be more:
Use of forgive in the New Testament:
Matthew (47), Mark (33), Luke (31), John (15), Acts (3), Romans (2), 1 Corinthians (3), Hebrews (2), James (1), 1 John (2), Revelation (3)
Total=142
In the gospels=126
In the letters=16
These are the times that are most associated with two Hebrew terms:
Noah
Selakh
Now there is another form of the word forgive that links directly to something called Jubilee.
Use of jubilee forgive in the New Testament:
Matthew (1), Mark (2), Luke (5), Acts (5), Ephesians (1), Colossians (1), Hebrews (2)
Total=17
What is Jubilee: It is the great reset in Israel
The purpose of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 is to provide restoration, freedom, and economic reset for the Israelite community. The Jubilee year occurred every 50th year and served several key purposes:
Freedom for the Enslaved – Any Israelites who had become slaves due to debt were set free (Leviticus 25:39-41).
Land Restitution – Any ancestral land that had been sold due to financial hardship was returned to its original owners (Leviticus 25:10, 13).
Economic Reset – The Jubilee prevented generational poverty by ensuring that land ownership was not permanently lost (Leviticus 25:23-28).
Rest for the Land – Like the Sabbath year, the land was not to be farmed, allowing it to rest (Leviticus 25:11-12).
Justice and Mercy – The Jubilee reflected God’s desire for social equity, fairness, and trust in His provision.
When you read that, you can understand why we don’t preach this in America.
Where are some of these specific terms used in the NT regarding forgiveness?
Well, that is very interesting…
This idea and concept of Jubilee freedom, forgiveness, and national reset.
Which, we have no evidence Israel ever did!
However, God took observing Sabbaths seriously.
He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
I won’t read it, but when we are done today, go and read Leviticus 25, the entire chapter, and see if you can pick up some themes that sounds very much like the New Testament and the Gospel of Christ.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight,’ ” so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The concept of forgiveness is ‘setting free, like setting a slave free, permanently.’
Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Again, freedom.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Jubilee is to be proclaimed to ALL NATIONS!
Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers and sisters, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
That sounds very much like something more than what was available through the priesthood as defined in the Old Testament.
We will return to this next week to
But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Paul giving his defense to Agrippa, retelling of his meeting Jesus, quite striking!
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” and he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
You would be right to ask why we should make this distinction between individual and Jubilee ‘forgiveness.’ You should also ask why you never hear about this.
I have an opinion on why we don’t hear about this, from Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, etc.
We should make this distinction because of Jesus’ own statement about his purpose for being on earth:
The purpose of the Jubilee is as follows:
“You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.
Recognize that “Seven times Seven” formula?
And Jesus says this about himself…
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Isaiah 61:1-2, is the first part of that quote
Leviticus 25:10, is the second part.
He is quoting that his purpose for coming IS to bring about a Jubilee
What do we make of this?
Jesus addresses sin between people
He addresses individual sin
Against God
Against others
He applies Jubilee forgiveness
To a person
To the nations
A Forgiving Messiah
A Forgiving Messiah
