December 26, 2021

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22

Jesus, ever the master teacher, used an unusual and very memorable phrase, seventy times seven, referencing the lavish patience and forgiveness being divinely extended to the nation of people who had agreed to bear His message to the world. Gabriel had relayed to Daniel:

Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Daniel 9:25

With Jesus, the anointed Most Holy, now on the scene, clearly 483 of the 490 determined years had passed. Some translations read “seventy sevens” in reference to the 490. It is the number of perfection and completion, seven, multiplied by ten (the number of testing) and multiplied by seven again. So now, in the last seven-year stretch of time graciously determined for the Jews, Jesus was highlighting the generous amount of time laid out for a “stiff-necked and stubborn” people.

If we are to learn about ourselves from the Scriptures, we must recognize our own tendency to be “stiff-necked and stubborn.” His Holy Spirit gently brings to our attention the habits or traditions that are placed ahead of His will. Too often, instead of agreeing with Him and altering our course, we test His patience! It is a precarious way to live, beloved! The sin of presumption is right next to pride in leading people to perdition. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he used a partial, incomplete quote* from Scripture. Beware! We are to live by every word of God.

If I do not live up to the light that God has brought to me, then I, like those in the church at Sardis, am warned of incompleteness which leads to the blotting of my name from the Book of Life. I must make it my goal to hear and obey Him fully, not partially. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15  

You have a name [reputation] that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect [or complete] before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Revelation 3:1b-3a

*compare Satan’s words in Matthew 4:6 to Psalm 91:11-12