Jesus extended forgiveness before it was asked for and before it was even deserved. There's really nothing that humans can do to warrant deserving forgiveness, but Jesus did it anyway.
Forgiveness is something that's required for a believer, and contrary to popular opinion, it's not supposed to be a burden. When we forgive, we actually free ourselves.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (The Message) says, "Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you."
God does everything for our benefit. Let's think about this... events in the Bible that seem like punishment or retribution from the Father are really showing us love and grace, instead.
For example, we can look to the very beginning of humankind and see this play out. Genesis 2:16-17 (The Message) says, "God commanded the Man, "You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don't eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you're dead."
Now, I do not know how much time passed between God breathing life into Adam's body and the Fall (Genesis 3:6), but what I do know is that it had to have been a good amount of time because we read in Genesis 3:8 that God was strolling in the garden- this means He came down from Heaven to be with Adam and Eve. They had probably done this many times- maybe even every evening walking around together and talking. The point being they had a relationship with each other.
Do you have a friend that you hang out with often? Let's think of Adam and Eve and God's relationship as a close friendship.
With the background knowledge of a close friendship perspective, we can see that Genesis 3:6 was a very deep betrayal. It says, "When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it- she'd know everything!- she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate."
What happened here is like your best friend doing the one thing that would completely separate your friendship forever. When we bring it close to home, we see it from a different vantage point.
When Adam and Eve ate from the one tree that God said not to eat from- the only thing He asked them not to do- it was for their benefit. They didn't even know of evil until that moment- think about that for a second! What if you lived in a world where there was no knowledge of evil- a perfect world. Yes, the Enemy was definitely there, that's why they were deceived to begin with, but God protected them from knowing and at the same time gave them a free will.
Back to the thought of your friend doing the one thing that would betray your friendship- what if you knew ahead of time that that friend would do that to you? God knew Adam and Eve would betray Him. He knew! Not only did He know but He loved them so much that He even created a plan of great forgiveness and redemption before they (you and I included here) were even created.
This sin they committed was so great that they did die- not physically but spiritually, which is worse. Being spiritually separated from God means you cannot be in communion with Him and definitely cannot one day be in Heaven with Him.
It was that serious.
In Genesis 3:22, we read why it's so crucial that God get Adam and Eve out of the Garden and quick, "God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never- this cannot happen!"
It was right after that God drove them out of the Garden. For punishment? No- quite the opposite- for protection. He knew that if they ate from the Tree-of-Life in a fallen state, they would stay separated from Him forever.
Jesus was and is the great plan of forgiveness and redemption. Jesus was there, in Heaven with God when all of this happened, and He knew that one day He would come to earth to be born as a human and endure all of the human things but yet not sin, so that He could become sin for us to satisfy the restoration of relationship between humans and God.
What a miraculous plan God had from the beginning. You see, without forgiveness, there's no chance at any kind of restoration- with God or with people.
Ultimately, forgiveness between God and people was so that God could have close relationship with us again. God is completely trustworthy but of course, that doesn't mean people are. It is possible to totally forgive someone and not have friendship with them.
Forgiveness is clear conscience toward another person- meaning, you truly have no ill will toward that person. When someone has betrayed you, talked bad about you, or treated you wrongly, forgiveness is only possible through Jesus- we cannot do it on our own.
Therefore, forgiveness does look different on the outside depending on the person, but on the inside, it looks the same.
This is such an important topic for believers because we will all experience the opportunity to forgive. When we go to church, we are walking into a group of individuals who are flawed- they will disappoint, they will make mistakes, and you are not the exception- none of us are.
We cannot see ourselves as never needing forgiveness and only giving out forgiveness- we will most definitely be on the receiving end, too.
Forgiveness is an incredible gift from the Father. It's a gift we have so graciously received and a gift that we are able to give all because of Jesus.
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