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Forgiveness
Luke 17:3-4 “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
We clearly see how Yeshua is repeatedly preaching the importance of Forgiveness. It is in most of His parables and teachings. Without forgiving others, you can forget that you will be forgiven. It is so easy to forget the errors we have, the logs in our eyes, while we always want to focus on the specks in other’s eyes (Matthew 7:3-5). But forgiveness is actually taught right from the beginning with Creation, it is the major theme and reason behind Torah. Torah is about teaching to love and forgive, Yeshua said, “Love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”, Matthew 22:37-40. All these laws, including the two greatest commands, come from the Torah. Here is just a quick list of other laws that teach about love and forgiveness:
- Exo 21:2-11 : Freeing slaves and treatment of their families.
- Exo 21:18-19 : If injuring another person that he loses wages, you are to pay for lost time/money and see to it that he is completely healed.
- Lev 5:5 : If you are guilty or made aware of guilt, you have to confess
- Lev 19:16 : Do not gossip.
- Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am YHWH”
- Deut 24:8 : Leprosy is a result of unforgiveness and gossipping
- Deut 24:16 : Do not blame your parents or children for your life issues, each is responsible for his own sin
- Deut 24:17-22 : Do not twist judgements and rules for those who have less than you. Always be fair/righteous. Leave extra/forgotten harvests for the strangers, fatherless and widows.
Not only are all the laws hanging on Love and Forgiveness, YHWH instituted the following as well, to enforce and teach Forgiveness:
- Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) : Once every year everyone have to take the whole day off, and afflict yourself. Review your own heart and life, and ask forgiveness. Think how you can change and be better. But also who do you need to forgive, and who do you need to ask for forgiveness and then go and do it!
- The year of Jubilee : every 50th year, the whole year is set apart to celebrate that slaves and prisoners would be freed, and debts would be forgiven. One can imagine NOT everyone would be happy about this, but YHWH insists on this for a whole year… A sure way to test the heart and motives. Click here to read more about the Jubilee from Leviticus 25.
- Atonement Lid in Tabernacle (Exodus 25) – it is the lid that covers the Ark of the Covenant. One cannot partake in the covenant if not cleared with forgiveness – Atoned. Forgiveness for us, and us forgiving everybody else. It is the thing that covers all, bears all, clears all, frees all. Click here to read more from the post in Exodus 25.
Kingdom of YHWH
Luke 17:20-21 “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.””
In Matthew 13’s post, we explained “What” is the Kingdom, with some translation differences that occur in Scriptures. In Matthew 19 a man asked Yeshua “How” do we get to enter the Kingdom. Please go to those posts to read more. Here, the Pharisees want to know “When” will this Kingdom come. Yeshua answers them, that it is clearly Spiritual, it is not a worldly kingdom, so no one can say “it is here or there”. Also, Yeshua says in verse 24 and 25 that He must suffer first, be crucified, and then He will come with His Kingsdom as sudden as lighting.
John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Yeshua and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Satan will make war against the Kingdom, as it says in verse 9, “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” And then the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and the final Judgements will begin.
