A God Who Forgives

Genesis 12:1-4a.   Psalm 121.   Romans 4:1-17.   John 3:1-17

A God Who Forgives

The fundamental foundation underlying everything we are and believe and do as the Church of Jesus Christ in the world is the simple fact that our God is a God who forgives. The bedrock upon which this foundation has been laid is, of course, the truth that this God is love. 

It is amazing to think that the one who created everything that exists, seen and unseen, not only loves us but loves us so much that He is willing to forgive us even when the sins we commit are, in essence, rebellion against Him. Keep in mind that in order for Him to forgive us He had to do what we couldn’t do…we couldn’t pay the penalty imposed upon us at the time of the Fall (or perhaps self-imposed upon us is a better way of describing what really happened in Eden as our ancestors knew full well what their flagrant disobedience would lead to)…we couldn’t pay that penalty because the penalty was death and we all have only one life to live and one life to give. So, the Scriptures tell us that in the fullness of time, God sent the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, into the world to take upon himself the form of a human so that He might pay the penalty as a human for humans. Unlike Adam and Eve and unlike us, the Son, Jesus, did not sin…and therefore the penalty of death did not apply to Him. So, through His sinless death He was able to cancel the penalty of all those who come under His protection, so to speak. 

We are all born into Adam at the time of our entrance into this world. Adam and Eve are our common ancestors and, as such, their sin was passed on to us through our connection to them like a deadly genetically transmittable disease. Paul tells us in Romans 5:12 that “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” But Jesus came as the second Adam…the second head of humanity, if you will…and His one act of righteous obedience brought all those who believe in Him into a right relationship with God once more.

This is what Jesus meant by telling Nicodemus that he needed to be born again. He was born once into Adam and therefore into death. But by faith in Jesus and in His finished work on the cross, we can be reborn spiritually into life. We are then no longer in Adam, but in Christ…and the penalty of death has been cancelled as it was paid by Jesus Himself.

That, dearest beloved brethren, that is how much God loves us. Doesn’t that just blow your mind? To give your life for the sake of a friend is commendable…but to give your life for your enemy…that’s a totally different ballgame, no?

And this was always God’s intention…from even before the moment Eve took the first bite, God was planning to make it possible for the human race to be reconciled to Him through Jesus. Right there, as He spoke out the penalty as recorded in Genesis 3, God said that one day the Seed of the woman would come to undo through obedience what had been done through disobedience. He repeated this when He told Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him and through his Seed…his descendent (singular – read what Paul has to say about this in Galatians 3)…the one who, in the fullness of time, would be born of a woman to redeem those who under the law were condemned to die…so that we might receive the adoption into God’s family as sons and daughters.

Now, I want us to pause to think about this. We live on a tiny planet in a huge solar system. What’s more, the people with more brains than me have discovered that our universe isn’t all there is…some even speak about a ‘multiverse’…although it is debatable whether such a things exists…others say that there are even more galaxies out there…I’m told that our universe has 2 trillion galaxies 1X10^24 stars…more planets…bigger and bigger…and yet, they have not found any other life form like that found on planet earth. Think on that for a moment. Whatever the truth may be as to the size of what’s out there beyond our atmosphere…out of this vast expanse…some beyond what we are able to see even with our strongest telescopes…the One who created it all looks down at this tiny wee speck we call home and He loves us…loves us enough to die for us. 

But this love is not a general love. It is very specific and particular. In the Psalm we read today we were told that the God who made heaven and earth cares for us in a very real and tangible way. He will not allow us to stumble as He watches over us all the time…He neither slumbers nor sleeps…He is always vigilant and attentive. This God stands beside us as a protective shade…He keeps us from all harm as He is conscious of every aspect of our lives. 

Of course, we may not always be aware of this love…at times we may wonder if God has forgotten about us. Some people even believe that God is not intimately involved in the world at all, much less our lives…that He created everything and then left it to its own devices. But this is not what Scriptures teaches us. Yes, we do all go through trials and tribulations…we all suffer and struggle at various levels, some more than others…we will all die one day from something unpleasant. 

But have you ever considered what life would be like if God was not on our side? If God was not for us or with us? That would be hell on earth and hell for eternity.

So, how do we unravel this apparent contradiction? Jesus told Nicodemus that we live in a world where darkness is cherished by those who do not want to come to the light. In other words, on this side of eternity, light and darkness exist side by side. This darkness does attempt to encroach on our lives from time to time…and so we will suffer while we are still in the world…but we must always remember that Jesus has overcome the world…he has overcome the darkness…and those who are in Jesus have light even in the darkness…and we have eternal life. The darkness is real but temporary and, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 23, we know that He is with us even when we walk through the valleys of shadows. 

We see this once again so clearly in the Eucharist, don’t we? Behind the Table there will always be the shadow of the cross…after all, these elements represent His Body broken for you, His blood shed for you…but it is through that very shadow that we see the Light! The judgement that was ours by right was absorbed by Jesus…because our God wants to forgive us because He loves us.

So, as you come to receive the bread and wine this morning, come with thankful and grateful hearts…let the arms that once were stretched out on the cross enfold you in an eternal embrace. Know that in Jesus you are forgiven and you are accepted in the beloved…know that you are loved…let that wash over you this morning…and go to share your gratitude with those who have yet to hear about the God who forgives.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2020