THE CHILDREN'S FORGIVENESS

A perfect fulness marks the forgiveness of God. Believers on the Lord Jesus who were in Colosse were assured by Paul in his epistle to them that all their offences had been forgiven them. Their sins, as indeed ours also, had stood out against them in the sight of heaven like the note of a debt in the handwriting of the person owing it. But the Scripture says about this writing that Jesus, in dying, "nailed it to the cross". This refers to an ancient Eastern custom. When a debt was settled, the written evidence of it was crossed through and nailed to the door of the debtor. In this way heaven and earth could witness that there was no longer any debt owing. How happy must the debtor have been!

The forgiveness of God is free, not only in being costless to us, but in that it is so readily granted for the sake of the name of Jesus. The Scripture speaks of the "remission" of sins, meaning that our sins are 'sent away' as not belonging to us because He has borne them. In the type of the day of atonement a goat's blood was shed to represent a covering for sins, but also those sins were confessed over the head of another goat which carried them away to a land without inhabitants. This had to be repeated yearly whereas the sacrifice of Christ to which it looked forward has complete and eternal value.

We can therefore thankfully say that forgiveness has been secured for us by the blood of Christ, is received by us through the faith that God gives and is assured to us by His word in the Scriptures. It is by the riches of His grace that these things are so; by the glory of His grace He takes the believer into His favour in the Beloved - the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John wrote to those whom he lovingly called his children because their sins were forgiven them "for his name's sake". Even the little children who might not understand these things had the privilege of knowing the Father from whom all blessing comes. Do you?

J.C.Evershed