Tag Archives: forgiveness

The Power Of The Cross – Redemption Through His Blood

Gospel, , , ,

THE POWER OF THE CROSS – REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. (Eph. 1: 7)

I think this is the best place to start, don’t you? Everything that God has done for us flows from His grace but through the cross. I said yesterday that Jesus foretold the fact but did not give the reasons for His death. It was Paul who received the revelation from the Holy Spirit to explain the depth of meaning that the cross has for us.

Before we go any further, let’s sever, once and for all, the connection between Jesus’ death and Easter with all its pagan trappings. No self-respecting believer in Jesus should ever celebrate Easter (or Christmas, for that matter) because everything Easter and Christmas stand for are an intrusion into the truth.

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.’ (2 Cor. 6: 16)

The death of Jesus is rooted in the Passover feast. God gave His people seven annual feasts to celebrate, in anticipation, the work of Messiah. Each feast foretold, in picture form, an aspect of what Jesus would do for His people. The first of the annual feasts was Passover which told the story of their redemption from Egypt.

Just as the Israelites were slaves to their cruel taskmasters in Egypt, so the human race was enslaved by the devil when Adam chose to believe his lies over the truth of God. God created the first pair to be one with Him. He made them in His image and filled them with His Spirit (breath) so that they would enjoy fellowship with Him and live in perfect harmony with Him as their Father and with the world in which they lived.

God gave man one gift which put both Him and man at great risk – the gift of choice. Without the freedom to choose, people would be robots, programmed and controlled by their Creator. True freedom involves the right and power to make choices without the control of anyone else, including both God and the devil.

Satan lured Adam and Eve into believing that God had short-changed them; that He had withheld from them something that would be to their benefit, independence. God never intended that freedom to choose would involve freedom to make the rules. The moment they capitulated to the devil, they were hooked. They did not understand that the depth of true freedom lay in their oneness with God, doing His will and living in perfect harmony with Him because only He is truly free – from everything imperfect that enslaves the heart.

They were enslaved to a nature that was corrupted and could no longer serve its purpose – to have fellowship with the Father in the perfection of His untainted nature. They had a new nature, corrupted and evil, and a new master – a cruel taskmaster who drove them through shame, guilt and fear to hate God and to run from Him. They no longer recognised or experienced God as their Father, but they hid from Him because they were afraid of His wrath.

Their imperfection became an impenetrable barrier between God and them. They could not reach Him and He could not reach them. They were enslaved, body, soul and spirit to the devil, and no amount of self-effort could remove the barrier.  Even if they tried to be perfect, their past disqualified them from access to Him.

God built into His instructions for living – His Torah – a sacrificial system which would teach His people how serious the problem of sin was, and that the death of a perfect lamb was demanded to pay the debt of sin and free the sinner from his enslavement to the devil. Animal blood was only a picture of redemption. It could never pay the debt God required, but it spoke of one who would come – a perfect Lamb who would be qualified to pay the debt and free the human race from the penalty of death.

Every year, the Israelites celebrated their redemption from slavery in Egypt in anticipation of the one God would send to redeem them from even greater slavery – slavery to the devil.

When Jesus came, they refused to recognise Him or to acknowledge that He was God’s Messiah. He lived the life of a perfect Son before them, but they crucified Him. They did not realise that the very suffering they put Him through, in His life and in His death, qualified Him to be the perfect Lamb that would remove the barrier of sin between them and God and rescue them from slavery to the devil so that they could be restored to fellowship with the Father.

It was Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, who recognised Him to be that perfect Lamb.

The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ (John 1: 29)

Through His death, Jesus took sin away and broke its hold over the sinner. Satan can no longer hold us to ransom because the debt has been paid. He no longer has a claim on us. Jesus provides forgiveness for the whole world and for all time. Even the sins that lie in the future are taken care of by His blood.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2: 2)

This is the power of the cross!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

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Wild Prophet!

Bible Study, , , ,

WILD PROPHET!

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1: 4-6)

What a sensation this man must have caused! His appearance, first of all, must have been startling. Camel’s hair clothing! I am sure he had not sat painstakingly weaving cloth from camel hair. He probably wore a tunic roughly cobbled together from a camel hide. His diet sounded revolting – locusts and honey, unless of course he ate the pods of the carob tree, the “locust”, which was what they were called. Perhaps his diet wasn’t quite so out of the ordinary after all. What else could he eat in the wilderness?

His message was equally unusual. Forgiveness of sins? Was he calling people to sacrifice at a rival altar which he set up in the desert? They only knew the forgiveness of sins through animal sacrifice. I don’t think he was setting up a rival religion. Whatever he said to the people drew the crowds. He was swamped by people who wanted to join his movement. Calling them to repentance was familiar to them. God often called His people back to His “way” through His prophets when they had wandered off the path of His instructions and done wicked things in the name of their false gods.

His preaching made a big impression on them because he was making them aware of their sin. Perhaps they had grown so familiar with their never-ending sacrifices that the reality of sin no longer no longer impacted on their lives. He brought the importance of the forgiveness of their sin right up close. Repentance meant returning to the way of Yahweh, to faithfulness to the terms of His covenant with them, to a way of life that reflected who He was in their nation – their God, and to walking in the light of His word.

Why did he baptise them? Baptism or mikvah, ritual washing, was a common practice in Israel. Archeological digs have uncovered baths for ritual washing everywhere. It was a symbol of cleansing, of leaving the old life and starting a new life, of identifying with the one who was leading a movement. Even a young bride-to-be had to go through a washing before her bridegroom concluded the courtship period with a proposal of marriage. She was washing away her old life and starting a new life as a betrothed and soon-to-be-married woman.

Considering what he had to say to them, why was his ministry so popular? He spoke some harsh words to the religious types according to the other gospels, calling people a basket of snakes, for example! Who would want to listen to preaching like that? Not a “seeker-friendly” ministry, I’d say! He didn’t have gentle words for the Roman soldiers either. Imagine that! A Jewish prophet who drew pagan Romans into the mix. There must have been something more than just a charismatic preacher that drew them.

He might have been a lone voice crying in the wilderness from a human point of view, but he was in partnership with the God who sent him and anointed him with the Holy Spirit while he was still in his mother’s womb. He was a miracle child, remember? Born to a childless couple in their old age, he was raised to be a priest and prophet by godly parents. He knew why he was on this earth and he gave his all to fulfill his calling.

His years alone in the wilderness waiting for the cue to preach prepared him for that moment. Trained as a priest, he knew the Torah intimately. God’s word was in his heart. He spent years in the awareness of God’s presence, listening to His voice, hearing His purpose through the coming Messiah. He was so familiar with Messiah in his spirit that he instantly recognised Him when He appeared on the bank of the Jordan River.

His ministry, extraordinary as it was, was owned and empowered by the Holy Spirit from the moment he opened his mouth. He knew what he had to do. He had to introduce the Messiah to the crowds – and they came in droves to meet Him. Their expectation was high. They were tired of the Romans. They were tired of religion. They were tired of being tired! Messiah sounded exactly what they needed to change things for them.

Not even John’s harsh words could keep them away.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

No Blood, No Forgiveness

Bible Study, , , ,

NO BLOOD, NO FORGIVENESS

When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which God commanded you to keep.’ In the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in the ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:19-22).

Blood as a cleansing agent? Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it! Blood is one of the most difficult stains to get out of fabric. Forensic scientists know that, even after a murder has been committed and the blood cleaned up, the evidence remains. A substance called Luminol, sprayed on the place where blood was spilt, will cause the stains to glow in the dark, revealing the crime that the murderer tried to conceal. Blood spilt by a murderer will still cry out even when the stain has been washed away. It’s a bit like the blood of Abel, isn’t? His blood cried out from the ground for vengeance and God heard.

But blood within the body, both human and animal, serves a different purpose. Blood is vital for life. Without blood, nothing can live. Blood has many functions within the body. It forms an efficient transport system, carrying oxygen and nutrients to the remotest cells in the body. It can flow through tiny tubules no bigger than a hair, its red cells moving in single file to do their work.

Blood also has a unique function as a cleansing agent. Where there is an injury, it rushes cells to the spot to plug the hole, stop the bleeding and transport soldier cells to fight invaders that would move in to contaminate the entire body. Its transport system also does an efficient job of removing waste products from the cells via the lungs and kidneys. A build-up of the waste products of breathing, eating and burning fuel will kill as surely as an assassin’s bullet, without the blood.

But human and animal blood cannot cleanse the soul of the pollution caused by sin. God’s covenant with Israel gave them clear instructions about living God’s way but it also made provision for failure. And fail they would because their hearts were tainted with the rebellious nature of Adam. No amount of self-effort would satisfy God’s perfection. His standard demanded nothing less than perfection. There had to be provision for forgiveness for their sheer inability to live up to His holiness.

Was God being too demanding? Why couldn’t He just lower the standard a little, taking into account their human frailty? He cannot change His own nature and the nature of sin. His solution was to pay the penalty for sin Himself because He is the only one who can measure up to His own standard. How did He do that? He became human in the person of His Son.

Sin demands the payment of blood, but pure blood, unblemished by sin. Of course we understand that blood represents life. The life in is the blood. When blood is shed, life is sacrificed. When the life of a sinless person is given in sacrifice, the demand is met and paves the way for forgiveness.

Animal sacrifices prescribed for forgiveness under the old covenant were a picture of what had already taken place in the eternal realm – Jesus, God’s provision for forgiveness and cleansing to remove sin. The old covenant came into effect through the sprinkling of animal blood, providing ceremonial cleansing from sin. The new covenant came into effect through the sprinkling of Jesus’s blood, providing eternal redemption, the forgiveness of sins, for all sin, for all people, for all time.

How tragic that so many of God’s children have not grasped this truth. When bad things happen in their lives, the accuser cashes in. ‘God is punishing you for this, that or the other that you have done,’ he whispers, and they believe him. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He can only speak the language of lies. Why listen to him?

God is perfectly just. Even in our human systems of justice, no one can be punished for the same offence twice. Since Jesus has paid for the sin of the whole world, God will never judge His children, not even those who do not acknowledge Him, unless they refuse to accept His forgiveness. How He must grieve that the blood of His Son has been wasted on so many who will not embrace His forgiveness and live in His love!

No blood, no forgiveness! Yes, it is true, but . . . blood has been shed, pure, unblemished human blood, for the forgiveness of sins. All it requires is acknowledgement that I, the sinner, need forgiveness and cleansing for breaking God’s law and from the pollution of my sin, and grateful acceptance of the blood of Jesus that He shed in my place so that I can go free.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Why Did He Come?

Christian life, ,

Ebenezer Family Church

Sunday 15th December, 2013

            WHY DID HE COME?

INTRODUCTION

Everyone knows that Nelson Mandela passed away last Thursday night. I heard the news early on Friday morning from a friend in California who heard it on the news from President Obama! Since then there have been snippets of his life and achievements on every TV channel and every newspaper around the country.

People everywhere are urged to celebrate his life and honour him for what he did for the country but I have read not one word about his birth! Funny, isn’t it? Every time I log in to FNB, the first page I have to get past has a picture of Nelson Mandela’s face with these words written across  his forehead – SACRIFICE, FORGIVENESS, FREEDOM.

Don’t these words sound familiar? They belong to someone else who is worthy to wear them.

When the apostles went out to take the good news of God’s kingdom to the world, they had to contend with claims made by the Roman rulers of their day. Because they refused to honour Caesar as Lord, and preached that Jesus, not Caesar, is the Son of God and the Prince of Peace, they lost their lives, as did thousands of people who believed their message and followed Jesus.

Without detracting anything from the greatness of the man who is being buried today, I want us to focus on the One whose sacrifice brings true forgiveness and freedom. Madiba may have modelled and propagated forgiveness and freedom because he was prepared to make sacrifices to bring about political transformation in South Africa but he could never do anything to effect change in the hearts of the people.

At this time of the year the people of the world, even those who do not acknowledge Jesus, celebrate the birth of a baby in Bethlehem by the worst of human behaviour — overindulgence, debt, carnage on the roads, suicide etc., without ever realising why He came. Now South Africa is celebrating the life of a man who made sacrifices, forgave and was part of the initiation of political freedom in this country. But none of this would be possible without the sacrifice that Jesus made that brought the forgiveness of sin and freedom from our worst enemy, ourselves to become sons and daughters of God.

1. SACRIFICE

Nelson Mandela made many sacrifices to achieve his dream of political freedom for his country. He spent 27 years behind bars because he believed in what he was doing. No one can play down what he did or what he suffered to make the day possible when he stood before the nation to take the oath of office as president of a new South Africa. Everything he suffered was geared towards one goal, the right of his people to vote. On 28th April, 1994, in spite of the fear of civil war and a bloodbath in South Africa, the people voted and a new era began in this country.

But Nelson Mandela’s sacrifice could never pay for the sin of the world. Even if he had shed his blood, it would not have brought us back to God. He was a human being like us. He was responsible for his own debt of sin he could never pay. What did his sacrifice achieve?

Now, after almost 20 years of so-called democarcy, what do we have? We have a nation that is free to vote in the same corrupt government run by the same corrupt politicians and civil servants as we voted in in 1994. Nelson Mandela’s sacrifice won political freedom but it did not change a single heart. It could not because Nelson Mandela was only a man.

The world also celebrates at this time of the year — with trees and ornaments and tinsel, and turkeys and ham, and snow and reindeers and sleighs and presents, and Santa Claus and toys! What are they celebrating? A baby born in a stable and asleep in a feed trough! Shepherds and wise men and a star!  And we hear Christmas carols blaring out in the supermarket while people shop to indulge their children and their appetites with money they need to pay their bills and buy school uniforms and books for next year, all in the name of Jesus!

Is that why Jesus was born?

In a few months time the world will celebrate Easter. How will they celebrate Easter? With Easter bunnies and Easter eggs, with crosses and mournful songs, with communion or mass. Some will even carry crosses and beat themselves. But what will that accomplish? Most will carry on as usual the next day, no different from the day before.

Is that why Jesus came?

We can celebrate great people’s lives and even learn lessons from them; we can celebrate great religious events and even go to church but unless the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice enters our souls and changes our lives, it will mean no more in the end than the sacrifice Madiba made to give his people political freedom.

2. FORGIVENESS

The world also admires and celebrates the forgiveness Madiba exended to those who arrested, tried, and had him incarcerated for 27 years, sometimes in solitary confinement and sometimes doing hard labour for his crimes. I often wonder whether there was a Gideon Bible beside his bed. Did he pick it up and read it when he sat alone in his prison cell,? Did he capture the heart of Jesus when He said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing?”

The debt South Africa owed Madiba is a drop in the ocean compared with the debt the world owed God because of its offences against Him. No one person could pay that collective debt. We all have to pay our own. But God’s solution was to send His own Son to live as a human being, debt free in His relationship to God and then to pay our debt so that we can go free.

This is the miracle of God’s forgiveness. There is no longer any debt to pay. Jesus paid for all  the sin of all people for all time. The means that there is nothing we owe God, not even the debt we owe Him for the sins we will commit in the future. That clears the obstacle between us and God forever. That means that Madiba owes God nothing, whether he knew it or not.

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. He didn’t spend 27 years in prison to pay for our sin. He shed His blood and gave up His life as an atoning sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath and the settle the debt we owed Him so that we can go free.

But He was not only a sacrifice of atonement to guarantee our forgiveness. He was also a terumah offering, the firstfruits offering which belongs to God, guaranteeing our resurrection. Let me explain.

God requries the first portion of everything we gain through our work. In the old Testament that meant that the first portion of their crops and the firstborn of their flocks and herds belonged to God. It became an offering when it was given to Him and was His guarantee that the rest of their crops and animals would be blessed. For it to become ‘terumah” or an offering, it had to to lifted up, i.e., offered to God and then given to the high priest for him and his family to live on.

When Jesus was crucified, He was “lifted up” on the cross, and He placed His spirit into the hands of His Father. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, explained the significance and implications of what He did. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…for as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn; Christ the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him.” 1 Corinthians 15:20,22-23 (NIV).

Jesus’ sacrifice not only made provision for the debt we owe the Father; His resurrection also guarantees that we will be resurrected when He comes again, to live with Him in perfected human bodies.

But what about the debt we owe one another? Are we still liable for the offenses we commit against each other? Can we still demand payment from those who are indebted to us?

Unless we realise that all sin is against God, we will think that those who have offended us owe us. When we refuse to forgive, we don’t understand that the debt someone else owes us had already been paid. We allow our feelings to dictate to us because what we believe is false.

The first miracle is that God has forgiven us.

The second miracle is even bigger, not that we HAVE TO forgive, but that we MAY forgive. We have the privilege and honour of forgiving any debt against us because Jesus has cleared it away and the other person owes us nothing. The opposite is equally true. Whatever debt we owe others has also been paid. We owe no one anything and, if he or she refuses to forgive, they pay the penalty, not we.

3. FREEDOM

This leads to the third word  written on Madiba’s forehead – freedom. What is freedom? Is it freedom from all laws and restrictions? Are people free when they can do as they like? No! This is what the Hebrew people called hell. Hell is a situation where there are no boudaries. Your home can be hell if the members of your family live as though there were no boundaries. Society can be hell if everyone does as he pleases without considering anyone else.

I drove to East London in the pouring rain on Wednesday. It was a nightmare trip. In spite of the poor visibility, many of the drivers, especially those with red number plates, drove at breakneck speed. As if that were not bad enough, instead of staying in the fast lane after they had passed another car to stop the spray from making visibilty worse, they pulled in front of the car they had just passed, shooting up a cloud of water on his windscreen. Thoughtless and careless — the attitude of many people who think they are free..

The forgiveness Jesus bought for us provided freedom from guilt and the pernalty of our sin but that is only half of the story. How can we enjoy the freedom God gives us through His forgiveness when we still hold other people accountable for the debt they owe us? When we try to make others pay for what had already been paid, we are out of sync with God; we are sinning and God’s forgiveness no longer applies.

My friends, the greatest freedom we can ever experience is not the freedom to vote, or the freedom to do as we like. It is the freedom to forgive because that is the only thing that sets us free to enjoy the blessing of fellowship with God. Jesus paid all debt but He said that we can only enjoy the benefit of God’s forgiveness when we forgive others.

Madiba experienced that because he forgave, even if he may not have understood why he was free to forgive. He sat in prison a free man long before he came out of prison a free man, He would have been free had he been in jail for the rest of his life. It was not what he did for South Africa or what FW de Klerk did for him that set him free. It was Jesus, who died on the cross to pay his debt that set him free.

Madam Jeanne Marie de la Motte-Guyon was imprisoned for her faith in France in the seventeenth century. She wrote these words in her prison cell:

“A little bird I am,

Shut from the fields of air;

And in my cage I sit and sing,

To Him who placed me there;

Well pleased a prisoner to be,

Because, my God, it pleases Thee.

 

Naught have I else to do;

I sing the whole day long;

And He whom most I love to please

Doth listen to my song;

He caught and bound my wandering wing,

But still He bends to hear me sing.

 

Thou hast an ear to hear,

A heart to love and bless;

And though my notes were ere so rude,

Thou would’st not hear the less;

Because Thou knowest, as they fall,

That love, sweet love, inspires them all.

 

My cage confines me round;

Abroad I cannot fly;

But though my wing is closely bound,

My heart’s at liberty.

My prison walls cannot control

The flight, the freedom of the soul.

 

O, it is good to soar

These bolts and bars above,

To Him whose purpose I adore,

Whose providence I love;

And in Thy mighty will to find

The joy, the freedom of the mind.

CONCLUSION

Today a great man is being laid to rest at Qunu but we need to understand that without Jesus, Madiba could never have achieved greatness. However, his greatness has all the limitations of his frail humanity.

Whatever he may have sacrificed could achieve only one thing, the right of his people to cast their vote and choose their government. After that they were and are at the mercy of those who rule.

He could only forgive those who were indebted to him because Jesus paid the debt of all people including the debt Madiba owed others.

The freedom Madiba enjoyed was only his own. He could do nothing to set another single person free. The freedom he experienced was the freedom he gained from the privilege of forgiving his debtors.

Today is decision day. There are people in your life that you think still owe you. There are people you are still trying to punish when their punishment has already been taken by Jesus.

Start with your father. Will you recognise today that Jesus has paid the debt your father owes you for not being a perfect father. Will you look him in the face and tell him, “Dad, you owe me nothing?” When you do that, you will be free to embrace your heavenly Father as a perfect father.

What about your mother, your siblings, your teachers, your friends, your colleagues at work, whoever has wronged you? Will you look them in the eyes and say, “You owe me nothing?” When you do that. you will step into freedom you never would have believed possible.

Jesus’ sacrifice paid your debt so that God could forgive you and so that you can forgive others. When you do that you will step through the door into real freedom, freedom from bitterness, resentment, and anger, from being a slave to yourself; freedom to be kind and generous and to love.

Smooth Sailing

Christian Life, , ,

SMOOTH SAILING

“In the meantime, the rest of us had gone on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos where we planned to pick up Paul. Paul wanted to walk there and so had made these arrangements earlier. Things went according to plan. We met him at Assos, took him on board, and sailed to Mitylene. The next day we put in opposite Chios, Samos a day later, and then Miletus. Paul had decided to bypass Ephesus so that he wouldn’t be held up in Asia province. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost, if at all possible.” Acts 20:13-16 (The Message).

For once things were going according to plan for Paul. He had set his sights on Jerusalem in time for Pentecost and he was well on his way to getting there on time. The weather favoured the sailors; he was accompanied by his dear friends and behind him was the result of his faithful labour for Jesus.

He was still a Jew at heart, with the memory of Jewish festivals deeply ingrained in him. He had spent the most part of his life among pagans, gathering in the harvest of souls for the kingdom of God from city to city with toil, hardship and suffering — imprisonment, beatings, stoning, walking thousands of miles, experiencing the rigors of heat, cold, hunger and loneliness, but he was not daunted because he was gathering experience no one could take from him.

Jerusalem was his goal, the centre of the Jewish world and the city of his own people. Like Jesus, Paul was on a determined course for Jerusalem but, unlike Jesus, he did not yet know what awaited him there. He had been the butt of Jewish hostility throughout his travels. Many times he had been forced to turn his back on them and give his attention to the Gentiles because they had rejected him and threatened his life. He had been hounded from one city to the next and often had to change plans to escape their murderous plots but he still loved them and longed for their favourable response to the good news.

“‘I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit — I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” Romans 9:1-4a (NIV).

How could Paul say a thing like that when his own people had treated him so badly? Surely he must have held a grudge against them for the scars on his body and on his soul? Not at all! Paul, how could you be so forgiving and so caring in the face of all you have suffered at their hands?

Jesus uttered words on the cross that, if we would really take them to heart, would take the sting out of the things we suffer at the hands of others. “‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'” Luke 23:34 (NIV).

Like his Master, Paul realised that the way they treated him was just like the way he treated the believers before he met Jesus on the Damascus road, because he didn’t know what he was doing. Isn’t that true? Ignorance is not an excuse but often a reason for our foolish behaviour. If we really knew what the consequences of our words and actions would be, would we treat others the way we do?

One of the reasons why we withhold forgiveness from another is that we think we are better than he. What he has done to us we would never do to him. Really? We feel so outraged. How could he, she? But we forget that we are just as guilty because we are just as ignorant of the consequences.

Only a compassionate heart that really cared about the lives of those who hated him, could cause Paul to say, “‘I have great sorrow…'”