Ninth Forgiveness Saying
- The Ninth Forgiveness Saying
- Forgiveness from the Accursed Tree
- The summit of God’s Love
- Only the heavenly Father will ever fully understand what took place at the accursed tree
- Atoning Sacrifice
- The Sacrifice of Redemption that covers our nakedness (sin)
- Restoration of Unity with the Eternal One
- A ransom must be paid
- For Love and for Joy!
The Ninth Forgiveness Saying:
Lukas 23:33-34
וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּאוּ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם הַנִּקְרָא גֻּלְגָּלְתָּא וַיִּצְלְבוּ אֹתוֹ שָׁם וְאֶת־אַנְשֵׁי הָרֶשַׁע אֶחָד מִימִינוֹ וְאֶחָד מִשְּׂמֹאלוֹ׃ וַיֹּאמֶר יֵשׁוּעַ אָבִי סְלַח לָהֶם כִּי אֵינָם יֹדְעִים מָה הֵם עֹשִׂים וַיְחַלְּקוּ בְגָדָיו לָהֶם וַיַּפִּילוּ גוֹרָל׃
אם כן למי מהם תהיה לאשה בתחית המתים, שהרי היתה אשה לכל השבעה? השיב להם ישוע: בני העולם הזה מתחתנים. פ
אִם כֵּן לְמִי מֵהֶם תִּהְיֶה לְאִשָּׁה בִּתְחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים, שֶׁהֲרֵי הָיְתָה אִשָּׁה לְכָל הַשִּׁבְעָה? הֵשִׁיב לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: בְּנֵי הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה מִתְחַתְּנִים. פ
Forgiveness from the Accursed Tree:
When they came to the place called Gulgata (The Skull) they crucified him there with the two wicked men (criminals), one on his right and the other on his left. Yeshua – the Salvation of Adonai said, “My Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
The summit of God’s Love:
The purchase of forgiveness by the Savior-Redeemer Yeshua came at a much higher price than the temporary forfeiture of his physical life. There at Gulgata (גֻּלְגָּלְתָּא-Golgatha), the place of “the Skull,” the wrath of the Father was poured into the innocent one’s consciousness like one pours wine into a cup, a cup of death.
Our Messiah sacrificially drank all the contents of the cup of our sin and the righteous wrath of God that was mixed with it. The Messiah was filled to the full with our sin that had somehow had mysteriously become his sin. The crucifixion of our kinsman redeemer is a witness both to the Righteous Father’s hatred of sin and to His great love of us.
We should never think of the accursed tree as though it simply involved an innocent person dying for guilty persons.
On the accursed tree the heavenly Father sacrificed His own Self, in the person of His Beloved Son, to bear the judgment for both Jew and gentile. It was at the place of the Skull that the non-offending one died to set us the offenders free. Rabbbeinu Yeshua’s sacrifice on the accursed tree was, is, and always will be the summit of all of the revelation of our heavenly Father’s great love for us.
Only the heavenly Father will ever fully understand what took place at the accursed tree:
No one but the heavenly Father will ever fully understand what took place at the accursed tree. No one but God Himself can adequately explain the nature of what took place on that day. We cannot fathom the indignity, the shame, and the physical and spiritual anguish that was endured by the Messiah, God’s Suffering Servant.
The Messiah of God was stripped naked. He was flogged. He was spat on. He was repeatedly, violently, struck in the face. His beard was literally torn off—pulled out by the roots—from his already battered, bloody, disfigured face. His head was garlanded with thick, piercing, thorns. Yet, in compassion and mercy he cried out to God
Avi (אָבִי), forgive them for they know not what they do.
Messiah’s tortured voice still echoes down through the corridors of time; and beyond, even into eternity. This sacred, somber, and singularly most troubling event in all human history will forever remain shrouded in mystery. Beyond the reach of any created being’s comprehension.
Our heavenly Father alone knows just how truly great the redemptive sacrifice of His Beloved Son has been.
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of God? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that He should repay him? “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!” Amen.
Atoning Sacrifice:
In re-visioning humankind’s dead-end story of sin, our heavenly Father decided to send His Son to justly provide through his atonement a common and saving grace for the salvation of any person who would repent of his sins, and believe on Messiah Yeshua ‘s name. For it is written:
.כי אין שם אחר נתון לבני אדם תחת השמים, ובו עלינו להרפא
“For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be *saved.”
*Cured (להרפא) of the disease of sin!
The Sacrifice of Redemption that covers our nakedness (sin):
The Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar (כָּפַר), meaning to “cover over,” “atone,” “propitiate,” “pacify.” In the Torah the verb kipper (כַפֵּר) is used to convey the meaning of turning away wrath; the wrath of God directed at humankind’s sin.
The paradox of the Tanakh is repeated in the Brit Chadashah when God provides the only effective means of removing His own wrath.
Then the transgressor – believing humankind – is allowed to receive the blessings of God’s paternal love without infringement of His holiness and moral government. In other words Messiah’s death was a substitute for sinners like you and I. God the father imputed the guilt of our transgressions onto His Strong One. The Messiah who is our Kinsman Redeemer bore for us the just punishment that we deserve.
Restoration of Unity with the Eternal One:
The accursed tree that is configured in the ancient Hebrew Sign of the Tav—indicating covenant, purchase, and ownership—provides, therefore, propitiation of the Righteous Father’s wrath and the just grounds on which our fellowship with Abba Avinu is restored.
A ransom must be paid:
Redemption is the specific means by which our salvation is achieved. It is the payment of ransom.
The efficient cause of redemption is the Spirit of God. In the Torah the Hebrew terms pada (פָּדָה) and gaal (גָּאַל) indicate to redeem or free by paying a price and thereby affecting a release by ransom. In the Brit Chadashah these Hebrew terms are translated as “buying,” “procuring,” “loosing,” and “freeing.” The noun redemption speaks of the emancipation that occurs through payment of a very high price. Occasionally in ancient times the word redemption is used to denote the act of purchasing in a market, especially a slave market.
.וְהוּא יִפְדֶּה אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִכֹּל עֲוֹנֹתָֽיו
And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
God promises in the Torah to redeem Israel from all her sins (Psalm 130:8). Jeremiah 33:8 declares the impossibility of self-ransom and the fact that God must unilaterally save us through His own strong right arm:
וְטִהַרְתִּים מִכָּל־עֲוֹנָם אֲשֶׁר חָֽטְאוּ־לִי וְסָלַחְתִּי לכול־עֲוֹנֹֽותֵיהֶמ אֲשֶׁר חָֽטְאוּ־לִי וַאֲשֶׁר פָּשְׁעוּ בִֽי׃
“I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.”
Therefore, the Messiah was sent by the heavenly Father to us to redeem us from the “curse” of the law that we ourselves can never perfectly live up to. The meritorious cause of redemption is foreshadowed in the blood of the Tabernacle and Temple sacrifices. These are symbols of the blood of Messiah. However, the blood of the Suffering Individual Messiah cries out a better message than that of Cain. Instead of vengeance, the blood of Messiah cries out, “I love you.” “Father forgive!” For redeemed humankind is the “object” of God’s reconciliation.
Through our faith in the Messiah of God we are substantively changed from enemy to friend. We who formerly feared God’s wrath now rejoice in the safety, security, and love of our heavenly Father’s compassion, mercy, and favor.
For Love and for Joy!
Why did the heavenly Father make all of these incredible sacrifices to redeem you and I from sin and reconcile us to Him as our Father and as our friend. Yes, for love but also for Joy! It is for the eternal Joy of returning things back to the way they were always intended to be that Abba Avinu went through all of this trouble. No doubt the prize of the eternal Joy that is ahead in the new heavens and the new earth is so great that God considers all of this loss as nothing in comparison to the Great Joy that is in store for Him and His children. We will forget completely this time of sin, suffering, and death. We will remember it no more. The taint of it will be completely removed from our conscious being. Jeremiah informs us that the reason why our heavenly Father endured the insults and the shame, why He sacrificed so very much is for JOY!
וְהָיְתָה לִּי לְשֵׁם שָׂשֹׂון לִתְהִלָּה וּלְתִפְאֶרֶת לְכֹל גֹּויֵי הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁמְעוּ אֶת־כָּל־הַטֹּובָה אֲשֶׁר אָֽנֹכִי עֹשֶׂה אֹתָם וּפָחֲדוּ וְרָֽגְזוּ עַל כָּל־הַטֹּובָה וְעַל כָּל־הַשָּׁלֹום אֲשֶׁר אָֽנֹכִי עֹשֶׂה לָּֽהּ׃
“It [this redeemed community; literally city] will be to Me a Name of Joy (Shem Sasson-שם ששון), praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the shalom (השלום) that I make for it.”
Therefore, what have we learned in this the Ninth Forgiveness Saying of the Messiah? We have learned that he for the Joy that was set before him endured the suffering on the accursed tree, and despised the shame.
The suffering of an atoning death was considered as nothing to the Father and the Messiah in comparison to the Great Immeasurable Joy of returning us to a righteous, safe, secure, joyous loving relationship with God our Father and each other. This is why the Messiah said just hours before his time of sacrifice:
אָמֵן אָמֵן אֲנִי אֹמֵר לָכֶם כִּי אַתֶּם תִּבְכּוּ וּתְיֵלִילוּ וְהָעוֹלָם יִשְׂמָח הֵן־אַתֶּם תֵּעָצְבוּ אָכֵן עָצְבְּכֶם יֵהָפֵךְ לְשָׁשׁוֹן׃ הָאִשָּׁה כִּי תַקְרִיב לָלֶדֶת עֶצֶב לָהּ כִּי מָלְאוּ יָמֶיהָ וְאַחֲרֵי לִדְתָּהּ אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד לֹא־תִזְכֹּר עוֹד אֶת־עִצְּבוֹנָהּ וְהִיא שְׂמֵחָה כִּי־אָדָם נוֹלַד לָעוֹלָם׃ וְגַם־אַתֶּם כָּעֵת תִּתְעַצָּבוּ וַאֲנִי אָשׁוּב אֶרְאֶה אֶתְכֶם וְשָׂשׂ לִבְּכֶם וְאֵין־מֵסִיר שִׂמְחַתְכֶם מִכֶּם׃
“Amen, amen, I say to you that you will weep and wail, and the world will rejoice. Yes, you will be grieved; but surely your grief will be turned to SASSON-JOY (ששון). The woman that is about to give birth has pain because her days are fulfilled, but after she gives birth to the child she no longer remembers her pain; she is SIMCHA-HAPPY (שמחה) because a person was born into the world. You too will now be grieving, but I will return and see you, and your heart will REJOICE, and nothing will take your HAPPINESS away from you!”