ChristLight: FORGIVE HIM .... HOW?

But how can I forgive, when he ...?
January 1997

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against US" ... and only as we forgive them? Is this what those words mean? How terrifying!

(The word "trespass" does not mean to walk across someone's property, it means to actively cause damage. We should remember this. Trespass - sin - is not only committed against God, it is committed against other people; it is something that damages someone else.)

As Jesus hung on the cross, in burning, tearing agony, knowing that He was about to descend from this physical hell of a single day into the Hell of Satan for three days, in the camp of the enemy, He found the time in his last moments to consider and to love those standing below him, cursing and spitting on him, who had sent Him there...

... enough love, enough compassion, to see beyond their hatred to the misery behind the mask ...

... enough love to know, even in his own unhappiness, that they did not KNOW what they were doing!

... and to take even those final moments to beg his Father, "forgive them! They just don't know!"

As He hung on the cross, my Saviour saw not just my face through theblood that trickled down His forehead, but your face, too. And not just your face, but also the faces of those who mocked Him, who mock me now, whomock you now. He saw the face of my greatest enemy; he saw the face of the one who raped me, the one who murdered my dearest friend or child, the one who steals from me, the one who lies about me or to me, the one who cheats me, the one who curses me ... each and every face, He saw.

And each and every soul, He bled for, His heart burst with pity for, for they knew not what they did! He took not just my sins to His account that day, but their sins too. How bitter He could have felt, looking down on their rejection! Instead, He loved them. He took the action of loving them. He made the choice to love them.

I took another look at Jesus on the cross - I took a look through God's eyes. What I saw was soul-shattering. Among the mess of blood and shattered chips of bone, their sins were nailed to His palms, right up alongside mine!

Jesus set me free that day, but He also set them free. And - His blood does not just cover their sins, it removes them! "He took away the sins of the world!" If He loved them so deeply, who am I to not love them, to not forgive them? The fact is, that they are already forgiven, already removed totally from their sins, in readiness for the moment they turn to Jesus; for this, He prepared; for this, He laid down His life; now He waits for their repentance. HE waits! I have no right to wait; I have not the power of salvation in my hands. They are forgiven and loved by the only One who matters. It matters not whether I forgive them except within my own spiritual life; but it matters that they come to know the incredible Sacrifice that was given for them - so that they can accept that forgiveness and thus avoid eternity in Hell, eternal separation from God!

Is it more important that I nurse my injured pride, or that they come into a relationship with Christ and accept what He did for them? Are their very souls so much less important than my hurt?

I must forgive them, purely because I love Jesus so much! He would want it of me, and He has already done it ... He is waiting for me to follow in His footsteps, so that He can heal my own hurts!

But it doesn't end there. God doesn't just ask us to forgive them. He asks us to be like Him. And what did He do, but die for them? He died for them while they were yet in their sins - not after they'd stopped sinning!

He took their trespasses upon His shoulders and said, "Father, look not at what they are doing - look at me! Look at the sacrifice I make; take ME, Father, take ME! Do not hold this to their account! Do not hold this against them! Father, I will go to Hell in their place - send them not!"

His pity and love for them made him cry out to God - be it on Me, Father! Be it upon Me! They don't know, Father, forgive them!

Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice of repentance for us - when I did not know how to repent, He repented for me.

They do not know how to repent. He has repented for them. I must do likewise.

Just as, likewise, Paul took the sins of Onesimus to his own account; in the book of Philemon he instructs those Onesimus had injured to hold it against himself, Paul, and not Onesimus - he says he will pay every debt Onesimus owes!

Hebrews 5:1-3.

We, the saved of God, are appointed to a royal priesthood. It is upon us to repent for the people; to take their sins to our own account and beg our Father, "Hold this not against them! I love them! For your love of me, Father, forgive them!" Then, truly, we are glimpsing His glory!

"My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign!
I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow ~
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now!"

May I always remember to take the thorns from their brows, and wear them on mine.

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