December 29: UNFATHOMABLE FORGIVENESS

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 a distinctly memorable phrase, seventy times seven, referencing the lavish patience and forgiveness divinely extended to the nation of people who had been chosen (and they agreed, by the way – see Exodus 19:8 & Deuteronomy 5:27) to bear His message of salvation to the world.

God had relayed to Daniel through the angel Gabriel:

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 9:24

The anointing of the Most Holy was the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16). This event occurred exactly at the end of the sixty-ninth week, dramatically launching the 70th. This final, climactic week is an emphatic display of the forbearance of our merciful God. Some translations read “seventy sevens” in reference to the 490-year period. Seventy times seven is equal to the number of perfection or completion, seven, multiplied by ten (the symbolic number for testing) and multiplied by seven again. So now, in the last seven-year stretch of time graciously determined for the Jews, Jesus highlighted for Peter the generous amount of time for repentance that He had laid out toward His stiff-necked and stubborn people. To love Jesus requires our forbearance toward others, regardless of stubbornness!

Peter probably thought that his question regarding forgiveness up to seven times sounded like a beautiful gesture on his part. But we must be reminded—often!—of the incomprehensible generosity on the part of God Almighty in His forgiveness towards us, the depth of which we do not fathom; and all for the purpose of setting us free from our past and guiding us into a glorious, endless future with Him!

When I forgive others who have consciously or unconsciously hurt me, I am exercising my will to become more like Christ. Simultaneously, I am providing a glimpse of what He is doing in me. This exercising of my will allows Him to do His work through me. He stands ready to move heaven and earth on behalf of a willing heart! Such a heart is tender and malleable. With Him, His bride continues to propagate this long-standing invitation to the weary world “in sin and error pining”*:

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17

*borrowed from the song lyrics of O Holy Night