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Lessons Of Forgiveness In Heaven’s Kingdom

Monday, May 27

Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭21‬-‭27‬ (TPT)
““Later Peter approached Jesus and said, “How many times do I have to forgive my fellow believer who keeps offending me? Seven times?” Jesus answered, “Not seven times, Peter, but seventy times seven times! The lessons of forgiveness in heaven’s kingdom realm can be illustrated like this: “There once was a king who had servants who had borrowed money from the royal treasury. He decided to settle accounts with each of them. As he began the process, it came to his attention that one of his servants owed him one billion dollars. So he summoned the servant before him and said to him, ‘Pay me what you owe me.’ When his servant was unable to repay his debt, the king ordered that he be sold as a slave along with his wife and children and every possession they owned as payment toward his debt. The servant threw himself facedown at his master’s feet and begged for mercy. ‘Please be patient with me. Just give me more time and I will repay you all that I owe.’ Upon hearing his pleas, the king had compassion on his servant, and released him, and forgave his entire debt.”
Devotion
The God of infinite mercy is very ready, out of pure compassion, to forgive the sins of those that humble themselves before Him (vs.27). The lord of that servant, when he might justly have ruined him, mercifully released him; and, since he could not be satisfied by the payment of the debt, he would be glorified by the pardon of it. 

The servant's prayer was, have patience with me; the master's grant is a discharge in full. He that had nothing to pay with (vs.25) thought he could pay it all in time. Yet the King knew the servant could never pay his debt no matter how much time he was given. So it is when we turn to Christ to cancel our debts that we could never hope to pay on our own and receive eternal life in him. 

The Apostle Paul explains, "He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). The words of David echo this same truth: "Know that the Lᴏʀᴅ, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture" (Psalm 100:3). When we turn to faith in Jesus, we then know who and whose we are. We receive the gift, as Paul states, of being rescued and brought freely by grace into God's Kingdom by no work of our own.

There is forgiveness with God for the greatest sins, if they be repented of. Though the debt was vastly great, He forgave it all (vs.32). Though our sins be very numerous and very wicked, yet, upon Gospel terms, they may be pardoned. The forgiving of the debt is the loosing of the debtor; He loosed him. The obligation is canceled, the judgment vacated; we never walk at liberty till our sins are forgiven. 

Now since we are forgiven people, we must be forgiving people. We who have placed our trust in Jesus, having responded to the radical and unimaginable mercy of the Father need to now exemplify Christ by living lives of mercy. Jesus commands us to accept godly discipline and to forgive in abundance in the fashion of our Father (Ephesians 4:31-32). 

Colossians 3:12 compels us to “as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity".

Choosing forgiveness and living in humility is the faithful work of reminding ourselves daily whose we are and what an abundance of mercy we freely have in the Kingdom of light. 

Jesus has taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12). There is a connection repeatedly in the Scripture. We must forgive others if we expect our sins to be forgiven. For us not to is as absurd as the servant later in this parable (Matthew 18:27-35). Jesus’ lesson in this passage is very clear; people who are forgiven, forgive. What relief there is knowing that God has also promised to give us sufficient grace to obey His Word (2 Peter 1:3). Freely we have received, now freely give (Matthew 5:8).

Today’s Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Jesus' clear teaching on my need to forgive brothers and sisters who sin against me. I confess that this is often difficult. Convict me and remind me by Your Holy Spirit to plead the blood of Jesus so that I can forgive others. Does Your word not say, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness?” (Hebrews 9:22) Help me plead the blood of Jesus every time I struggle to forgive others. May the forgiveness and healing of relationships that flowed from the cross when they pierced Jesus' side with the spear flow to me and through me to reach all who have sinned against me. And help me to forgive, even when I’m wrong and hold a grudge without cause. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Apply It Today

We experience opportunities to take offense every day. For many of these, we can heed Scripture’s truth that the wise person overlooks an insult (Proverbs 12:16). Close relationships especially provide ongoing opportunities either to forgive or to build up an account of resentment that we will be tempted to call in for payment. Followers of Jesus are not to overlook evil, but let us be careful to forgive as we want to be forgiven (Matthew 6:12).

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