by William Ward Ayer F o r g iv e n e s s —a magic word—one of the great words of the Christian faith. Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel message. Forgiveness of sins was the startling offer of the apos tles— forgiveness of sins through faith in the crucified and risen Son of God. What a remarkable offer, an unheard o f thing in Apostolic times, that free and full forgiveness for sins should be offered by any religion. That God should be a forgiving God and not merely a stem deity who loves to hurl thunderbolts at those who transgressed His laws was a new idea, and it swept multitudes into the kingdom in tearful repentance and regeneration. God’s forgiveness broke the heart of millions of pagans and sent them forth to live and to die for so generous a Saviour. Forgiveness (literally, the remission of sin) is not a judicial word merely, but one of “ action,”— the separa tion of sin from the sinner. Forgiveness reveals the other side of a just and judging God. God is holy, He is just, He can never tolerate sin nor wink at evil. A ll sin must be brought into judgment somewhere either in time or in eternity. Our God, how ever, delights in forgiveness and, if men would permit Him, would meet all sin in mercy. Christ illustrated this in His parable of the returned prodigal. The father obviously had long waited for the return of his wandering boy. When the returning lad confessed, “ Father, I have sinned,” the father spoke no word of condemnation, nor was any penalty prescribed. Completely forgiven, the wayward one is restored to full family relationship. Christianity is the only religion that tells of divine atonement and forgiveness. Free and full forgiveness of sin is impossible in the ethnic religions for they have no atoning sacrifice. How then does a holy God forgive sin? The answer is inescapably important: He forgives through a substitu tionary sacrifice. The penalty of sin must be borne by someone, somewhere. Justice identifies itself with the unjust and pays the penalty of sin. God’s sinless Son
became a member of the human race in order to redeem us. Words seem so weak and inadequate to express the truth that Sinlessness was made Sin in order that sinners might become saints. Dr. Augustus Strong once told of a strange happening in one of the courts of his day. A young man was con victed of a crime and asked by the judge why the extreme penalty should not be passed upon him. At that moment the culprit’s grey-haired father stepped into the prisoner’s box unhindered, placed his hand affectionately upon his son’s shoulder, and said: “We have nothing to say; the verdict which has been found against us is just. We only ask for mercy.” W e? queries Dr. Strong. There was nothing against the old father. Yet at the moment he identified his very being with that of his wayward son. “We,” he declared, “ ask for mercy.” So God, in the person of His Son, identified Himself with the whole human family and “ bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” Jesus pleads for mercy in our behalf. “ He saw me plunged in deep distress, And flew to my relief; For me He bore the shameful cross, And carried all my grief!” The greatness of God’s forgiveness is seen in the Bibli cal passages which tell of it. Many and meaningful are the figures for sin’s forgiveness. God says that having forgiven our sins He puts them behind His back. That must mean that He puts them where He can’t see them. Again He says that He will bury them in the depths of the sea. That seems quite significant for the sea is five miles deep in places. If our sins are at the bottom of the sea they can never plague us. Many years ago I heard the dean of Methodist evan gelists of his day, Dr. L. W. Munhall, say to a group of ministers in Chicago: “ Seventy-six years ago God buried my sins in the depths of the sea, and in all the years since I’ve never wanted to put on a diver’s suit and go down
12
THE KING'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook Annual report