Greetings,
We live in a world where people are living outside of the glory of God, but no one needs to. God did not send Jesus to give humanity an excuse for their sins. He sent Jesus to heal the root of sin and see the earth filled with His glory. As I stated last week, “many people who are under the power of the air are not living in the inheritance that comes from God the Father by His Spirit to His Son.” It is not a matter of being rejected by God. God’s love is fully in tact for all people. It is the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ that is hindered when people choose to live lives that are outside of the character of Christ. It is not a question of human needs or desires. It is a matter of the character of God and the ability to eradicate the power of iniquity among the nations and the generations of men.”
God put the motion the antidote to the root of sin in the world. Sin is not a matter of being evil, it is a matter of being disinherited. In Exodus, Chapter 34 we find an account where God passed before Moses and declared His name. Let’s look at this passage to understand the goodness and the power of our Father’s love in removing our sins.
Exodus 34: 5-7 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Here we find the introduction to the name of God is “the Lord, the Lord God”. In the Stone’s edition of the Hebrew Torah, the rabbinical commentators address this double “Lord” as implying to the love and goodness of God. They state that when the Lord is put in this double context it implies two things. It means that God is the one who forgives us of our sins knowing the full extent of everything we are ever going to do and He forgives us after we sin knowing the full extent of everything we have ever done. The very first experience, atmosphere, ambiance, and reality received by God’s coming is that of forgiveness. What a wonderful thing! The verses go on to read that God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness, and abounding in truth. These are all wonderful experiences that flood our lives when God comes to us. Jesus made a way for us to come near to God and experience all of these things! We have been reconciled to God in Him. The final verse of this passage reads that God keeps His mercy for thousands. The term “thousands” is an interesting symbolic and prophetic number in Scripture. It implies an aspect of eternity. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10), meaning He owns all the cattle. God is God to a thousand generations (1 Chr. 16:15; Ps. 105:8), meaning He is God forever. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, meaning His day has no end. Here we see that God wants to show mercy for thousands. He wants to show mercy forever!
God forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. These three things are often confused, but they are different. They are progressively linked, but it is the testimony of sin that leads to death. Iniquity is the weakness that leads to transgression. Transgression is a rebellion in the human heart that leads to sin. The wages of sin is death. God does not kill sinners; sin kills them. Being disconnected from life results in the consequence of death. Where there is iniquity there will be transgression, where there is transgression there will be sin. God in His amazing character, nature, way, power, and authority comes to forgive us fully. This is even to the root of our sin, the weakness of our hearts.
The next phrase in this verse is not out of context with the preceding descriptions. It says that God does not clear, but rather visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation. The words “the guilty” are not in the original, but are meant to clarify what He does not clear. It is somewhat accurate, but it must be taken into consideration in the context of the previous descriptions. It can only be understood in the context of forgiveness, mercy, grace, longsuffering, abundant goodness, abundant truth, and eternal pardon.
If your Bible translation uses the word “sin” for “iniquity” here it is in error to the original. It is the Hebrew word “avon” (iniquity) and not the word “chattaah” (sin). It is the flaw within us that causes us to come to sin. It is the weakness, or the propensity to transgress that leads to sin. Think of it as a characteristic that has the potential of becoming your character. You may have inherited a negative characteristic, but it doesn’t have to become your character. God wants to visit the place of weakness and transform it to become a place of His strength and testimony. The weakness is your place of dependency upon God that can lead to greater life when you depend upon Him. It doesn’t have to become your character. You can be a scribe in the kingdom of God that unlocks the door to new things in your family line that have never been seen, heard, or thought before. You can restore things antique and lost before your time in your family destiny.
Mt. 13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
God doesn’t just offer forgiveness for iniquity, transgression, and sin. He offers the cure to the root of our sin. He promises to “visit” the area of weakness in our hearts that has been inherited from our fathers in the flesh. He promises to be God to the future generations of our family and to ultimately heal the manifestations of sin in our family DNA. This is good news! This is the complete taking away of the sins of the world. This is not excuse for us to continue to sin, but rather a hope for the complete cure. In Christ we find that cure. Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
This ought to give you some food for thought. God doesn’t come to judge us. He comes to heal us. The judgment we find ourselves in is because we hold on to things that God has already judged. Jesus made a way for us to have life and that life more abundantly! These things are not just automatic; they must be appropriated in Christ. Jesus offers it all, but we must choose to receive all that He gives. He truly is good and we must simply receive the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Amen Pastor Ted.