FORGIVENESS - TO GIVE OR RECEIVE

---

God forgives us by choosing to pay our deserved penalty—death—and taking upon Himself the pain that sin causes. He doesn’t hold that pain against us. 

When Jesus knew His crucifixion was happening soon, He agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was feeling that pain. It weighed on Him so heavily that He sweat drops of blood and felt like He would be crushed by it (Luke 22:44; Matthew 26:38). 

When He took our sins upon Himself (1 Peter 2:24), He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). He was absorbing the pain of separation that sin causes between humans and God. 

But even then, He murmured the words that reach down and embrace us today:

Father, forgive them
Luke 23:34

That forgiveness is available to each one of us—no matter who we are or what we’ve done.

 The penalty of sin is death, as God explained to Adam and Eve before they disobeyed Him (Genesis 2:16–17; Romans 6:23). In order to forgive humans, Jesus would have to take on that penalty.

In doing this, Jesus demonstrated the ultimate act of love (John 15:13). Forgiveness was going to cost Him His very life (Matthew 26:28). But that’s how far God will go just for the chance to reconcile with us.

This was all part of the plan to save humans from evil and bring them back into connection with Him. He loves us so much that there’s nothing He won’t do for us, though always preserving our freedom of choice. 

But until that occurred, God gave the people a model. He set up an example of this process through the animal sacrifices the Israelites did in the Old Testament. 

A person who sinned had to bring an animal—often a lamb or goat—to the building in the Israelite camp known as the sanctuary. That person would place a hand on the innocent creature to symbolize the transferring of sin to it (or to Jesus), confess the sins, and slit its throat. (See Leviticus 4:27–35.) 

Yes, it was an awful ritual. 

Death is always awful. But it shows us what we asked to learn about back in the Garden of Eden—evil. Our choice to know about both good and evil means that we now see it all. Yet God is still willing to save us from it.

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins
Hebrews 9:22, ESV

For a time, animal sacrifices served that purpose because they symbolized and pointed forward to Jesus’ death—which would pay the penalty of eternal death and provide forgiveness and eternal life (Romans 6:23).

We could compare these sacrifices to a postdated check.  

If you wrote a check to buy an item but didn’t have enough money in your account, the seller might allow you to put a future date on the check. That check is a promise of your payment, although it won’t be cashed until later. 

Likewise, the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were like God’s postdated checks for the penalty of sin. 

Whenever people brought their animal sacrifices to the sanctuary, they came burdened with the guilt of their sins. But after the sacrifice, they could leave with a clear conscience and experience God’s transforming guidance.