The Message Of G-d Is Forgiveness
by PJ
 I saved for many months to purchase an exquisite vase. It was a piece of artistic perfection and my friend, Miel, came to visit me and fell in love with the vase. Miel couldn't keep her hands off the vase. She picked it up, turned it around, looked at it, sat it back down and in a few minutes went to pick it up again and clumsily dropped it and it shattered on the floor. She was broken-hearted and very penitent because she knew how long I had scrimped and saved in order to purchase the vase and she also knew there was not another like it anywhere. It was a one-of-a-kind. There was literally no way to replace that vase.
Instead of getting revenge, I forgave Miel and walked in love. I told her to forget the vase because it wasn't as important to me as she was and I did not make her repay me. I let her go free. But after Miel left rejoicing that she was not held accountable for the vase, I realized there was a price to pay. There was a broken vase and money had been paid. Someone had to assume the cost of the vase. In this case, it would be me
This is a hypothetical story to give you an illustration of what Yeshua did for you and for me. ADONAI separated the penalty of sin from the price of sin. He released us from our debts and canceled the penalty of our sins. But there was a price to be paid and the price was the Blood of Yeshua. There was no way for G-d to forgive us without a debt being incurred for the penalty of our sin. On-the-other hand, He could not just let the sin go unpaid. So Yeshua came to bear the fullness of the judgement of G-d's wrath.
What was the price? Yesha'yah / Isaiah 53:3-8 AMP records, "He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains (of punishment), yet we (ignorantly) considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God (as if with leprosy).
But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement (needful to obtain) peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes (that wounded) Him we are healed and made whole."
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, (yet when) He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living (stricken to His death) for the transgression of my (Isaiah's) people; to whom the stroke was due?"
As receivers of such a great forgiveness, we are commanded to forgive. Yochanan-Makabi / Mark 11:25-26 AMP puts it this way, "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it; let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your (own) failings and shortcomings and let them drop. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings."
We cannot be recipients of G-d's forgiveness unless we extend forgiveness to others. When we are hard-hearted toward men, we are hard-hearted toward G-d. When we speak and pray "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" while carrying unforgiveness, we are actually asking the L-rd for the same mercy we have given which is to hold resentment and hold acts against us and to plot our ruin with revenge. Revenge is something G-d has withheld for His own purposes. It's a tool only He is able to use without harming innocents. If we refuse to forgive others we participate in selfishness because our desire for justice is greater than the person needing forgiveness. If we refuse to forgive others, in our imperfection we are demanding perfection from others and that's a double-standard. If we fail to forgive others, we show we are nothing like G-d because we are known as a people without love. Ultimately, when we don't forgive those who have sinned against us, we have no gospel to preach because the message of G-d is forgiveness.
The price that has been paid for our salvation, our healing, our reconciliation with G-d was immense. Every year I
learn a little more about the price Yeshua paid and it's far beyond what we are able to comprehend. None of us can comprehend the deity and glory that Yeshua laid down to even come to Earth. And G-d asks of you and me to walk in love with our brothers and sisters.
Only in true forgiveness and love can the power of G-d attract a lost world. You see, forgiveness leads to love and love leads to unity and unity leads to power and in that power the life of G-d flows and heals and saves.
Yeshua came and cancelled the penalty and paid the price....and we should be looking just like Him!
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