by As prophesied in Isaiah 53:7, Jesus “opened not his mouth,” speaking no words as He went to the Cross. On the Cross, though, He fulfilled Isaiah 53:12, speaking seven phrases to make “intercession for the transgressors.” With seven Sundays until Easter, I want to write concerning His seven phrases which were the beginning of the Gospel message, starting with “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” in Luke 23:33-34.
The first truth in this first phrase is that man cannot forgive himself, only God can forgive sin (Isaiah 43:25; Acts 8:22). This truth reveals that Jesus is God, seen as Jesus forgave the sins of the woman at Simon’s house in Luke 7:48. The Pharisees also witnessed this in Mark 2:1-11, when Jesus forgave the sins of a man that was “sick of the palsy.” Furthermore, as God is in Heaven, Jesus is at His right hand forgiving sins in Acts 5:30-31. This first truth is therefore a clear declaration of the Trinity.
The second truth in this first phrase is why we need forgiveness of sins, “for they know not what they do.” This does not mean we don’t know when we sin. In context, Jewish leaders knew exactly what they were doing by sending Jesus to the Cross. They understood Jesus was God, as He made this claim over and again, with miraculous proofs before them. Yet, sin has alienated man from God since the Garden of Eden, and so “death by sin” has been “passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Today, our sins continue to separate us from God, as our “sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). We do know sin, but what we do not know is the impact of sin. To restore this impact, our broken fellowship with God, our sins must be forgiven. This is for both salvation and sanctification.
Receiving forgiveness of sin for a believer is outlined in 1 John 1:9. It begins with confession, which is agreeing with God about our sin. Confession requires repentance, which leads to forsaking what we are confessing, which opens the door to God’s mercy that we can “be clear from this matter” of sin (Proverbs 28:13; 2 Corinthians 7:9-11). The process of forgiveness is similar for the unbeliever, requiring repentance and faith as in Acts 20:21, while applying faith unto salvation in Romans 10:9-13,17.
As we approach celebrating the day Jesus took our sins to the Cross, let’s begin by keeping a short account of our sins against Him and restore the impact of sin, our broken fellowship with God.
