There is a sense in which our sins are never forgiven. They are like the free lunch – free to you perhaps, but somebody has to pay down the line. It is usually the one who is innocent who pays when the accounts are called in.
Sin is like the free lunch and when we hear the words, ‘thy sins be forgiven thee’ perhaps we hear the wrong word being emphasised.
Come back with me to those famous words of Jesus from the cross. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” They linger in our minds, they enter into transactions of life and I quote them to myself whenever I find opposition to Scripture.
However I am altogether wrong in my thinking about Jesus’ words because I emphasise the wrong word. I say, ‘Father, FORGIVE them,’ and it is a weak and silly request. In effect, I am saying, ‘God, they are doing something that is supremely stupid. Please be kind to them and do not punish them for it. Just turn a blind eye. Please.’
God has said he will in no way clear the guilty. He has promised punishment for sin, he has undertaken to wipe out sin and sinners. He is not going to let sin or sinners off the hook, he cannot turn a blind eye. If you notice carefully the words I emphasise, you see I ask God to do the impossible and he will not do it.
Now read the same words with a different emphasis. “Father, forgive THEM. They are doing something supremely stupid. Please be kind and do not punish THEM for it.”
Come back to Jesus on the cross. “Father, forgive THEM for THEY know not what they do.”
What is Jesus really saying? I believe he is saying, ‘Father, I know you punish sin, you cannot simply turn a blind eye. It must be dealt with in a proper, legal way. Remember, sin invokes the death penalty as you said in the Garden of Eden, so it is no slight thing. I am asking you to let them off, but because sin must be punished, punish me instead of them. Give me their sin and punish it in me. Father, forgive THEM. THEY do not know what they are doing, but I do and I will take responsibility for them.’
Job illustrates the situation. His was a family that had it all; wealth, status and a Godly home. Every evening his children held dinner parties in their homes for each other. In true eastern culture, the brothers and sisters would gather for good food and good entertainment.
Job did not go to their parties because he was appointed to a more strict discipline. It was a discipline he could not follow if he was tired or if his mind was clouded and he could not concentrate properly. He dared not let anything impair his commitment, it took everything he had.
Early each morning he would present himself before God in worship and offer sacrifice for sin. He would take upon himself any possibility of sin committed by his children, even so slight a misconduct as oversleeping, and he would take their sins to God.
He went guarantor for them even while they slept, as Jesus did centuries later for his disciples in the garden. They slept while he impounded himself to God on their behalf.
“Stop here and stay awake with me,” Jesus said to Peter and James and John in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Three times he went guarantor for all those he loved until the hour of betrayal. And three times they slept through it all just as Job’s children may have slept through his prayers for them.
One evening, Job’s children died in a terrible calamity and Job’s accounts were called in. The account book was in order because he had already done what a good father does. He had taken their sins upon himself and he knew what to do with them. He had come before God in the early morning bearing the sins of his children and he laid their sins on the sacrifice.
So when you and I weep and pray for those who do not understand what they are doing, and especially for our children, we are comforted by Job. We lay the sins on the sacrifice. The accounts are in order.
References: Genesis 2:17, Exodus 34:7, 2nd Thessalonians 1:9, Hebrews 10:14
Elizabeth Price
Team writer with “Just a Minute