By Kingsley Baehr
After languishing for months in Hitler’s prison Martin Niemoller emerged saying, “It took me a long time to learn that God is not the enemy of His enemies!”
-- Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations. Garland TX: Bible Communications.
Please take careful notice of the following passage from the Bible:
... You were [God’s] enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now He [will] bring you back as His friends... through His [Son’s] death on the cross in His own human body... – Col. 1:22,23a
While the Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on a Roman cross, a bloody mass, in excruciating pain, soon to be separated from His Father God while being made sin for us, He said,
“Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” – Lu. 23:34
God has mercifully and graciously initiated a reconciliation with you and provided the means for it! He certainly is not the enemy of His enemies!
When the Moravian missionaries first went to the Eskimo people many years ago, they could not find a word in their language for forgiveness, so they had to compound one. This turned out to be: Issumagijoujungnainermik. It is
a formidable-looking assembly of letters, but an expression that has a beautiful connotation for those who understand it. It means:
“Not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.”
—Minister’s Research Service
So what happens when God forgives your sin?
He removes our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west. --Psalm 103:12
[He] will have compassion on us. [He] will trample our sins under [His] feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! -- Micah 7:19
God says:
“I—yes, I alone—am the One who blots out your sins for My own sake and will never think of them again.” --Isaiah 43:25
“I have swept away your sins like the morning mists. I have scattered your offenses like the clouds. Oh, return to Me, for I have paid the price to set you free.” -- Isaiah 44:22
When God forgives sin, He forgets it and will never throw it up into your face again!
But what does one have to do to have God’s forgiveness applied to his/her account?
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 1 John 1:8,9
...I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone. -- Psalm 32:5
And finally, what should be the effect of God’s forgiveness in our lives?
... Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. -- Ephesians 4:32