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“search the scriptures” John 5:39
Each of the seven sayings of the Saviour from the cross reveals a fundamental truth about God. In this article, we shall be thinking of ‘The God of forgiveness’ - ‘Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’, Luke 23. 34.
The enormity of the crime The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus was the most heinous crime ever perpetrated on earth. Of all acts of cruelty that have stained the pages of history, none can compare with man’s treatment of the Son of God at Calvary. In that foul deed, the extremity of the evil in the heart of man was revealed. The four Gospel writers each use an economy of words to describe the act of crucifixion.1 Campbell Morgan referred to the use of these few words as ‘reverent reticence’.2 May we be ever mindful as we draw near to the cross that we stand on holy ground.
Mark is the only Gospel writer who records the time of the crucifixion, ‘And it was the third hour, and they crucified him’, 15. 25. Immediately following the crucifixion, Luke records, ‘Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’. The soldiers must have been amazed at these, the first words spoken by the Lord on the cross. Not the unsavoury utterances that they would have expected from someone being crucified; but this man was different. Peter wrote, ‘Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not’, 1 Pet. 2. 23.
His prayer was not for Himself but for the soldiers. In the words, ‘Then said Jesus’, the verb is in the imperfect tense, indicating that they were repeated again and again.
With one word He could have called more than twelve legions of angels, Matt. 26. 53. But that word remained unspoken. The Saviour’s prayer was in accord with His teaching on the mountain, ‘pray for them which despitefully use you … that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven’, Matt. 5. 44, 45.
The first saying from the cross revealed the magnanimity of God’s grace, ‘Father, forgive them’. ‘But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound’, Rom. 5. 20. What the soldiers did, represented man at his worst: he could stoop no lower. By contrast, in His prayer we see man at his noblest and best in the man Christ Jesus.
The words were a prayer. His public ministry had begun with prayer, Luke 3. 21. His ministry on earth concluded with prayer. He prayed three times on the cross: the first, the fourth and the seventh sayings. The first prayer and the third prayer were addressed to His Father. His life on earth was lived in unbroken fellowship with His Father in heaven. Only He could say, ‘And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him’, John 8. 29.
On no occasion had He to pray, ‘Father, forgive me’. He never sinned in thought, word or deed. But rather, He prayed, ‘forgive them’, referring to the soldiers.
In this one verse, two prophecies were fulfilled. The first, ‘[He] made intercession for the transgressors’, Isa. 53. 12. The second was fulfilled in what the soldiers did. In Psalm 22 verse 18, more than 1, 000 years before, David wrote, ‘They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture’, and this was fulfilled as John records, 19. 23, 24. They divided the other garments in four parts, ‘to every soldier a part’, v. 23, confirming that there were four soldiers. There were four women at the cross. They were there because of their devotion to Christ, but the soldiers were there out of duty. They divided His garments at the foot of the cross, considering Him to be as good as dead, with no further need of clothing.
The fact that they turned so soon to divide His garments showed that they had little thought for the man on the cross. It was all in a day’s work for them. They joined with others who mocked the Saviour, approaching Him and taunting Him, offering Him vinegar to drink.
They were, albeit unwittingly, guilty of the greatest possible sin in crucifying Christ. Those who gave the order for the execution were ignorant of who He was, 1 Cor. 2. 8. After the day of Pentecost, Peter said, ‘And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers’, Acts 3. 17.
Was the prayer of the Lord Jesus for the soldiers answered? Matthew records, ‘Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake … they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God’, 27. 54. ‘Whosever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God’, 1 John 5. 1.
On the night prior to His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper in the Upper Room. After He had broken the bread, He took the cup, saying, ‘For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’, Matt. 26. 28. Paul emphasized that the forgiveness of sins is a great blessing, which the believer enjoys presently, Eph. 1. 7.
How significant, then, that the first words from the lips of the Saviour on the cross were ‘Father, forgive them’. He was referring to the soldiers, but His work on the cross has ensured that forgiveness is available to all who are willing to receive it. After His resurrection, He commanded that ‘repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’, Luke 24. 47.
One word for forgiveness in the original language is nasa, meaning, ‘to lift up, or away’.3
How glad we should be that the burden of our sins has been lifted up, and that they are taken away forever. ‘As far as the east is from the west’, Ps. 103. 12; ‘cast … into the depths of the sea’, Micah 7. 19. The meaning is, ‘the removing of sin from the sinner’. Here is the secret of happiness; not a secret concealed, but clearly revealed. ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered’, Ps. 32. 1.
A few of the multitude of references in scripture to God’s forgiveness cover:
‘Great God of wonders, all Thy ways
Display Thine attributes divine; But the bright glories of Thy grace Above
Thine other wonders shine.
Who is a pardoning God like thee,
Or who has grace so rich and free?’
[Samuel Davies, 1723-1761]
The first mention of forgiveness in scripture is in Genesis chapter 50 verses 17 to 21. Jacob was about to die; he sent a messenger to his son, Joseph, saying, ‘Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil’. Joseph acceded to his father’s request and said to his brothers, ‘Fear not … he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them’. This was forgiveness within a family. Joseph forgave their sin in so far as it affected him, but he could not forgive their sin against God. He asked, ‘Am I in the place of God?’ v. 19.
Our sins are forgiven the moment we believe, ‘Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins’, Acts 10. 43. May we never lose the wonder of that glorious fact. A lifetime of sins, forgiven in a moment of time: our sins are dealt with fully, finally, and eternally. The Apostle John writes of the necessity of continuing to examine our lives and to confess our sin, to maintain fellowship with God, 1 John 1. 9.
The first is a once-for-all forgiveness of sins past, present, and future; thereby we have union with Christ. The second is an ongoing forgiveness that is promised to those who confess all known sin to the Lord and forgive the wrongs of others towards them, Matt. 6. 12, thereby restoring communion with Him.
‘Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him’, Luke 17. 3, 4. In their desire to rise to such a challenge, the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’, v. 5.
Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 says, ‘And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you’. We should never be looking for a reason not to forgive, but rather to show a forgiving spirit to all. The Lord has forgiven us, and with that thought in our minds, we ought to forgive others. Those ‘forgiven’ should be ready to forgive. In Matthew chapter 18 verses 23 to 30, the Lord spoke of a king who forgave one of his servants an enormous debt of ten thousand talents. The servant who had been forgiven had a fellow servant who owed him one hundred pence, but he refused to forgive him that small amount.
If we harbour hard thoughts towards another believer, it causes bitterness within our own soul, and robs us of the full joy of salvation. The ‘root of bitterness’ mentioned in Hebrews, 12. 15, spreads, and affects others. As with all root systems, if left unchecked it becomes more difficult to eradicate. Bitterness corrodes the container in which it is carried. One of the heaviest burdens to carry in life is a grudge against another believer.
It is as a warning against the harmful effects of bitterness to us that the Lord prefaced the section in Luke chapter 17 by saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves’. When the Lord taught His disciples to pray, the only thing they were asked to profess was, ‘as we forgive our debtors’, Matt. 6. 12.
An unforgiving spirit hinders prayer, ‘And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses’, Mark 11. 25; ‘ought against any’ includes everyone and excludes none.
The words of the Saviour from the cross should fill our hearts with the joy of our forgiveness, and challenge us to show a forgiving spirit towards others.
‘Thy foes might hate, despise, revile;
Thy friends unfaithful prove.
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love’.
[Edward Denny 1796-1889]
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