The point of these two passages is that God is quick to forgive our sins, and when He forgives our sins, He doesn’t hold them over us (as we are often wont to do). Instead, He removes our sins from us and He sees them no more. The relationship is restored and we move on, hopefully having learned from our ways and turned more to Him.
But even though God forgives our sins and removes them from us as far as the east is from the west, that does not mean He also removes the consequences of our sins. The person convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for life without parole will not, upon the genuine confession of his sin, suddenly find himself being set free to live his life as he sees fit. He is still a convict, the consequence of his foul deed.
Look at the life of David (2 Samuel 11-12). David was bored one day, walking on the roof of the palace. He looked down and saw a very attractive woman bathing on her roof. He had the woman summoned to him—her name was Bathsheba—and he had sex with her. As a result of his tryst, she became pregnant. The problem was she was married to a soldier in David’s army and he was away fighting. There was no way to explain away the pregnancy, so David summoned for her husband, Uriah, to bring him a report on how the fighting was going. The thought was that Uriah, upon giving his report, would then return to his wife, where he would make love to her and then the pregnancy could be explained away.
But Uriah was an honorable man and would not do what his soldiers under him were unable to do—spend an evening with the wife. So, David sent Uriah with secret orders to be given to David’s commander in the field. The order: create a situation where Uriah could be killed in battle. It was done.
David thought he had gotten away with the murder, and, after the appropriate time had passed, he brought Bathsheba into his home and she became one of his wives (yes, he had more than one). Seeming to have covered up his sins, David was visited by his priest, Nathan. Nathan told David a tale of a poor man who had a daughter and one sheep that was dearly loved as a pet. A rich neighbor with vast flocks lived near the man. The wealthy man had a visitor appear and, wanting to be the gracious host, the wealthy man ordered a lamb slaughtered for a feast. But the lamb was not be taken from his flock; instead, he took the poor man’s only sheep.
David “burned with anger.” He wanted to know the identity of the wealthy man so he would know justice. Nathan’s words to David: “You are the man!” As a result, Nathan told David the Lord’s decision: “Out of your household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Isreal”. (2 Samuel 12:11-12). In addition, the child Bathsheba carried would not live beyond a few days.
The turmoil in David’s house began when one of his sons raped a half-sister. The sister’s full brother, Absalom, took revenge for her and killed the half-brother. Absalom fled and lived in exile for a while until David was talked into forgiving Absalom. Later, Absalom plotted to overthrow his father. David fled the palace, leaving most of wives behind. Absalom’s advisers told Absalom the best way to demonstrate himself as the new king was to have sex with his father’s wives in front of all Israel. Later, David’s army routed Absalom’s army in battle, and Absalom, despite David’s orders to bring him home alive, was killed by one of David’s generals.
The sin was fleeting; the repentance genuine and the forgiveness real. But the consequences still had to be played out. We can receive forgiveness, but we suffer the consequences.
Can’t God alter the consequences? He could, but it is the consequences that remind us of the true evil that is sin. How do we learn lessons and regret if we never suffer consequences? If a child sticks his finger on a hot stove, will he learn not to do it again if the burn doesn’t linger for a while, if somehow the parent was able to completely remove the pain and the memory of the pain?
The parable of the prodigal son is the closest we can get to seeing how God reacts to the repentant believer once he or she has sinned. Found in Luke 15:11-32, the story speaks of a son who grows impatient and demands his inheritance from his father. The father agrees, giving the younger son his share of the estate. Soon the son leaves his home and travels to a far land. He quickly picks up friends as he is able to rent the finest place, buy the finest clothes and eat the finest foods.
But, as is all too often the case, unwise spending quickly separates us from our funds. With his cash gone, so, too, were the food, clothes and accommodations, along with the friends. The son realizes he has to find employment, but all he can find is tending pigs for a farmer. The wages must have been abysmal, because the son soon realized the pigs were eating better than himself.
As the son watches pigs living better than he, he comes to this conclusion: “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of the hired men’” (Luke 15:17-19). The son leaves to begin the long journey to seek his father’s forgiveness.
I’ve imagined what that long trip must have been like—weak with hunger, scrounging as he walks, eating what he can find. His fine clothes, already grimy by tending the pigs, become dirtier and soon an aroma is coming from them and from him. I imagine him turning the last corner as he nears his father’s house, barely recognizable—looking more like a homeless man than the healthy son that left the house not all that long ago.
And yet the Bible says that while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and recognized him. The Bible says, “. . . his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (v. 20).
The son has spent the long walk back rehearsing his speech, feeling himself to be unworthy to be called a son any longer. He begins his speech. But when he gets to the part that says, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son,” his father cuts him off.
Instead, the father called for his son to be washed, robed with the finest robe, shod with new sandals and given a new ring. A feast of celebration is prepared. Why? “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lot and is found” (v. 24a).
When a believer sins, he or she often feels as though the special relationship with God, when we have the Spirit that allows us to call, “Abba, Father,” has been broken. No longer do we feel worthy to be considered a child of God. But God sees it differently. He looks upon His repentant children and rejoices at their return. The relationship, though damaged, is restored. We never lost our place as His child, but we did place a barrier between ourselves and Him. We repent, and we are restored with great celebration.
What about Non-believers?
Even though I have used the parable of the prodigal son to describe how God reacts to the repentant believer, Jesus tells the story to explain how God welcomes the non-believer. This parable is the third in a trilogy of parables about the lost being found—a lost lamb, a lost coin, a lost son. In each of the parable, the lost are found and regained and there is great rejoicing in the reclamation of the lost.
The Bible tells us that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved (see Romans 10:9-10). We also read that when were still powerless, when we were still sinners, while we were still enemies of God, Christ came into our world and died for our sin and, as a result, are reconciled to God through Christ (see Romans 5:6-10).
The whole premise of God sending Christ was a demonstration of God’s supreme love and His act of reconciliation, to free us from the slavery of sin and set us free in Christ to worship, love and follow Him. That offer is extended to all, but is only given to those who believe.
Conclusion
Maybe I’ve become more cynical as I’ve grown older. (I know I have, and it makes me sad to be this way.) It seems to me we live in a world where we find hypocrisy in everything, particularly the things we do not fully understand or know.
I’ve heard too many non-believers question how evangelicals can gives such strong support to Donald Trump. I’ve heard people scoff at the mega-church pastors and staff who seem to be living high off the hog while their parishoners seem to not be doing as well. I’ve seen non-believers roll their eyes at the seeming excesses of the Church. And I acknowledge that there is much that the Church in today’s world has done to warrant such question and doubt.
But I also know that the God who sent His only Son is still active and alive in our world. I know He has a forgiving Spirit and that He wants to welcome us back into the fold as we seek Him with all our hearts. I understand what it means to walk away from His will, only to realize the horrible mistake and seek His forgiveness. I understand what Amazing Grace is all about, and I am here to say that I really am not perfect, just forgiven. I embrace that forgiveness not as an excuse to sin all the more, but to recognize that there is still so much more that I have to learn, so many more miles I need to walk, so many lessons I need to learn. I understand that the Christian faith is growth-walk, and that this growth-walk will not end until I see Him face-to-face.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty