“But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…”
(Nehemiah 9:17)
The term pardon is a legal term meaning “to use executive power… to forgive a person convicted of a crime, thus removing any remaining penalties or punishments and preventing any new prosecution of the person for the crime for which the pardon was given. Further, a pardon strikes the conviction from the books as if it had never occurred, and the convicted person is treated as innocent.”[i]
This definition portrays a beautiful picture of the great gospel of God! One in a position of authority with executive power to enforce the law chooses, instead, to demonstrate mercy and impart forgiveness to another who has broken the law and is rightly due judgment and sentencing.
Isaiah 33:22 says, “For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king…” God, the ultimate authority, has every right to execute judgment on those who have broken His law as we have in all points. And yet He stands ready to pardon because of His infinite goodness and mercy and grace.
If we Christians have experienced that heavenly pardon, we should be continually thanking and praising and adoring God – for His pardon of our sin is the choicest privilege this side heaven.
Consider again the particulars of a pardon: 1) it removes any due penalties or punishments and prevents any new prosecution of the person for the crime for which the pardon was given, and 2) it strikes the conviction from the books as if it had never occurred, and the convicted person is treated as innocent.
This is exactly what God does for those He pardons. The just punishment for breaking the law of God and sinning against His righteousness is eternal death in hell. And yet a pardon from God removes the penalties rightfully due us and, instead, qualifies us for eternal life in His presence, because He transfers the penalty due us to Christ.
In addition, when Christ cried out from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He confirmed that payment had been made in full for all time. We can never be tried and sentenced anew for our sin if it is under the blood, thus disallowing opportunity for new prosecution.
Finally, when God forgives our sin, He strikes our initial conviction from the record books and we are, from that point forward, innocent in His eyes because we are covered by the blood of His Son (Matt. 5:20).
However, sometimes the pardoned sinner still feels guilty. Sometimes we need assurance that God’s pardon is real and that nothing can reverse it. This assurance can be found in God’s Word. We are persuaded by the Holy Spirit who lives in us that the truths we read in the Bible are true for us. Allow God’s words of comfort, forgiveness, cleansing, and grace to wash over your soul, as you continually become more and more assured of the God who pardons through Jesus Christ.
John Arrowsmith, Westminster Divine said, “God knows on whom He bestows His forgiveness. Unbelieving, unrepenting sinners never obtained it; faithful penitents never yet went without it.” And so, may we heed Isaiah’s call… “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” (Isa. 55:7).
- Lord, I know I often grieve Your Spirit because I don’t have a biblical understanding of pardon. Help me not rely on my feelings, but on Your truth, on Your Word, on Your Christ. I believe in Christ alone for my salvation, and I know that to be justified and reconciled to You is only by a free pardon. You pardon me, but You also make me just in Your sight through Christ. Christ Himself is my righteousness.
- Lord, You are the eternal God who gives life to me. When You saved me, You took me out of the kingdom of darkness and made a sea change in my nature. Justification and sanctification are inseparable… so that when You received me into Your favor, You gave me the Spirit of adoption and changed me into a new image – the image of Your Son. You have freely regarded me as righteous in Your beloved Son. You have, in fact, renewed me and made me a new creature. Your pardoning mercy has saved me, and Your Spirit continues to cultivate a righteousness that I could never improve. Help me adore You in this.
- Christ is made to me “righteousness and sanctification,” (1 Cor. 1:30). There I find the eternal love of Christ and Your grace given freely to me. But I am also called to holiness and purity. Yet what I want to do to please You I often do not do, and that which I hate, this I keep on doing. What a miserable sinner I am! To be justified is to be made a new creature. Do I act like a new creature? Or would I rather retreat into my old ways of sin? What a wretched thought!
Further References for Neh. 9:17
Exod. 34:6; Ps. 86:15; Num. 14:18; Joel 2:13; Nah. 1:3
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