The Master Key (continued)

The two passages wherein Jesus most impacts us with the power and the importance of forgiveness are found in Matthew 18:21-35 and in Mark 11:22-26. Let us delve into these words of our Lord together!

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven time?” (Matt. 18: 21) This seems to be both an honest question in the first place: “How many times shall I forgive . . .?” and a most insightful response posed as a second question in response to the first inasmuch as seven is the number of spiritual perfection! (Seven – seven days of the creation account, seven Jacob’s years of service to Laban for his bride (twice!), seven lamps atop the Menorah in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle / Temple, seven weeks of Unleavened Bread between Passover and Pentecost, seven Spirits before the throne of God in Rev. 1:4, the seven golden lampstands in the midst of which walked one like the Son of Man of Revelation 1:12-13 which were the seven churches, and the seven stars in His right hand which were the angels (messengers) to whom the Ascended Christ addressed His seven exhortations in Revelation, chapter 2-3.

Surely, Peter was about to receive praise from his Master for this two-fold insightful and spiritual combination of the questions and the answers thereto. Instead, Peter must have been utterly stunned by Jesus’ response of, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matt. 18:22)! Understand, please, that in the use of this numerical concept, Jesus was not stating that one must forgive his brother / sister 489 times + 1. The impact of this statement was clearly apparent to Peter and all others who heard the Master’s command: We are to live out a lifestyle of forgiveness!

Every decision in life is a “building block” for the creation of a habit. The habits we construct in life become our pattern of living – our lifestyle, and it is this, in turn, which builds our character! In this case, Jesus is exhorting us to systematically build the character within ourselves of one who is a Forgiver! There are so many rabbit trails of teachings on forgiveness that we could take off upon and pursue at this point, but we will resist the temptation and, instead, we will home in on that one key point that Jesus wanted us to understand which He makes abundantly clear in the parable He shared at this point. Please read Matt. 18:23-35; the parallels will become instantly clear. The king is God, who in His mercy and benevolence forgives the servant (that is, you, and me!) who is unable to pay the insurmountable sum of a “thousand talent.”

“For God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been save),” (Eph. 2:4-5, emphasis added). So it is with us, as it was with the servant, that we often then turn around and want to “throttle” a brother or sister in the Lord, who by comparison owes us a mere pittance! Get the point?

(to be Continued . . . in the next installment, we will look at one of the most powerful "Word of Fatith" statements Jesus ever uttered!)