Studies Page

  Shalom
  to you,

Wellsprings of Torah,  www.TorahWellsprings.org
Rick Wills - Messianic Elder,  Mishareth@TorahWellsprings.org

Forgiveness
by Rick Wills

    Everyone has a private sense for what forgiveness is. But our opinions are usually based on a reaction to personal experiences. And since those experiences might not be pleasant, and we may not have a real understanding of why certain things have happened, our private sense may not be our best reference for defining forgiveness.

    So we should ask ourselves, "What is forgiveness by how God defines it?"

    Many will tell you that you need to be forgiving, but what they are meaning is ... you need to leave me alone. Again, many might say, "Please forgive me," and what they mean is ... I don’t want you to bother me about this any more.

    But when God brought the Jews out from the land of Egypt, he was forgiving them, but he did not leave them alone. Rather, he sat down on a mountain with them, and he outlined an extensive list of corrections to their behaviors that they needed to adopt.

    When Yeshua (Jesus) offered salvation to all the Jews, and thereby carried it to all the Gentiles, he initiated it by walking among the Jews for three years. And while doing so, he was explaining how they could improve on their lifestyles and attitudes in order to better experience God's love.

    In both cases, God on the mountain, and Yeshua in Jerusalem, forgiveness was necessary ... but everyone was being bothered by the process. Everyone was being drawn into an intelligent interaction. They were also being challenged to make a purposeful change in their lifestyle. And the process was time consuming and very costly. But through these interchanges, we begin to see God's perception of what forgiveness is.

    There are three words in Scripture that are employed to express forgiveness. And these words are not abstract. They are defined and supported by the various experiences we read in the Bible stories. But the curious thing is that our first introductions to these words are not usually obvious indicators of forgiveness.

The 1st Word for Forgiveness

    The first word is Kafar. It means "to atone." And any time you see Atone or Atonement, it is this word, Kafar. But the first use of this word was with Noach (Noah) and the Flood. Noach constructed his Ark (boat) out of Gofer wood. Then he sealed the cracks between its planks with a tar or pitch made from tree sap. That tar was called Ko'per, and its name is derived from the word Kafar.

    As it was used there, the Ko'per was covering the wood and sealing open cracks to ensure that the Ark would float above the flood waters. It floated for over a year until it rested on a high mountain. Then the Ark released Noach and his families, and all the creatures that God had spared. He had forgiven them. But he had accomplished that forgiveness with a great tragedy, a year of solitude ... and by the protection of a worthy covering ... the Ko'per. And this experience illustrates for us what Kafar means ... a covering. Likewise, that is what Atonement actually means ... a covering.

    The Day of Atonement (Yom Ki'pur) is one of the commanded Feast Days of Israel. On that day, they were to abstain from sexual relations, not dance or sing, and not eat or drink anything. And if they did all of this, on this particular day of the year, God would Kafar ... cover them with his forgiveness.

    The Talmud attests that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies on that day, he called upon the Holy Name of God. God responded by pouring out his Spirit (Ruach) upon everyone that was in Jerusalem. It says that the Spirit pressed them down upon the ground, and they all laid prostrated beneath the Holy presence. That is Kafar, and that is a covering, and it is what a forgiving Atonement actually is.

    This is also the Atonement we discover in Yeshua the Messiah, and it is the Atonement Jerusalem experienced when Yeshua died. The earth cracked under the weight of it. The sky darkened because of its thickness. His disciples wept with fear, and Yeshua became silent in its presence. A silence that would be in the disciples hearts until the Atonement was going to be complete, and it involved 49 additional days. After those days, and upon Shavuoth (Pentecost), the Holy Spirit poured out from Heaven and "covered" the disciples.

    As it was for Noach, and as it was on the Day of Atonement ... time is always required. So if I forgive you with Kafar, with covering, I will spend a great deal of time with you. My covering will arrest your bad behavior, and I will teach you something new. I will lead you into another way of managing your time. But my forgiveness will be very costly to both of us.

The 2nd Word for Forgiveness

    The second word that represents forgiveness is Nasa. It means to elevate and to support something. It’s easy to remember because it can be spelled just like NASA, as in the NASA space program for the United States. That program is about shooting rockets into outer-space. The Hebrew word, Nasa, is also about lifting things up, and that is what it means by supporting and elevating things and people.

    The first occurrence of this word is also in the Noach and Flood story. When Noach had built the Ark and supplied its Kafar (Ko'per), a covering pitch, God supplied the tragic waters that would Nasa ... after 40 days of rain, the waters lifted the Ark above the terrible destruction. Lifting the Ark, Noach and animals away from an evil realm where they would have been murdered. And all life, even the animals, would have been murdered without this intervention.

    Forgiveness by Nasa always involves rescuing. At a later time, when Avrahom (Abraham) is arguing with God about Sodom and Gomara, Avrahom asks God ... "Will you destroy them all if there are ten righteous people among them?" And Adonai says, "I will Nasa ... lift and bear them all, if I find ten righteous souls among them." But God did not find ten souls. He only found Lot, his wife and two daughters ... and they were not pure, but he nevertheless lifted them away from that destruction ... as Noach had also been lifted.

    When you rescue people, they are downtrodden and often poor. They are so needy, and you look so rich and powerful. They will frequently look at you and ask for more ... more. So Lot asked for the village just above Sodom, in the hill country. He said to God, "Can you give me more."

    By all of this, we can understand that forgiving people with an action of Nasa will frequently involve a struggle with dirty stuff about people. You have to accept their weaknesses, and you end up accepting their whims and imaginations as well. So when we ask for forgiveness, as in the Lord’s Prayer of the Messiah, we should realize that we are accepting that same struggle. Therefore, Yeshua asks us to pray ... "Forgive us of our offenses, as we forgive the offenses of others. And do not test me, but deliver me from this evil" ... But the interesting part is the last part of that prayer. For we are told to close the prayer by saying, "Aren’t you the one with that great kingdom? the splendor that lasts forever?" And we are saying, "Can you give me more?"

    We are being told by the Messiah to ask for more, because we are being invited into a Nasa experience ... because forgiveness by salvation is a rescue and intervention operation, and we are realizing that we are actually poor and desperately needing God's help.

The 3rd Word for Forgiveness

    The third word for forgiveness is the most important one. It is Selach, and it means to remove and extract something. The first occurrence of Selach is also in the days of Noach and the Flood. One of Noach’s children would become the forefather of the Cas'luchim. Their name is derived from the word Selach ... and they became the future Philistines.

    The Philistines are the people that God had asked Israel to remove from the land of Cana'an. He said to them ... "Extract them, expunge them, kill them and burn their lands." Remove them completely. Every trace. They are the heritage of the Cas'luchim ... the Selach people. And God said, "They are a Kafar (covering) that the land cannot Nasa (bear and support) any longer."

    The first word, Kafar, had a negative aspect. Mankind was destroyed. Their livestock, their cities, and the landscape with every wild creature was all devastated. Likewise the second word, Nasa, had a negative aspect. The Ark was lifted above that same terrible destruction, and the mercy of Nasa was accomplished by the same instrument that affected that judgment.

    Now, Selach implies an even more negative meaning. The families of the Cas'luchim must die, and all of their legacies must be destroyed ... but it doesn’t actually happen. Israel takes the land, but they let the Philistines remain. The result is that the Philistines reassert themselves, and the Books of Joshua, Judges, Kings and Chronicles, along with all the Prophets and Writings ... all describe the struggles of Israel with the Philistines, the Cas'luchim that "cannot be extracted."

    But this is all part of the definition for Selach. It involves a forgiveness by extraction that Israel could not perform.

    When God visited Moshe (Moses) on Mount Sinai, God proclaimed his Name to Moshe. It was a very long name ... "Lord, Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow in anger, abounding in kindness and truth, keeping kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, but not clearing everything, visiting the iniquity of fathers, their children, and their grandchildren, for thirties and forties."

    In the Hebrew, it is written as "thirties and forties" ... not "three and four," and there is no mention of "generations." It means to infer a very, very long time that is almost open ended, because it leaves your mind groping for the "thirties and forties" of what?. And the only answer is that it will go beyond you, and beyond the names of your families.

    And this is a very, very long name. And it isn’t good for name tags or parties. But hearing it, you cannot mistake who he is ... nor what he is going to do. He is going to do one thing ... Selach, remove and take away their iniquity and sin. And when Moshe hears this very long name, he can only do one thing. He asks for more ... He throws himself down, crying out, "Selach me, and Selach Yisrael."

    Moshe knows he will have to Kafar (cover) and Nasa (support), but he only expects God to Selach. Indeed, all of us will have to Kafar and Nasa. But from this event, we all understand that God is the only one who can Selach. He is the only one that can completely "remove" sin from the "thirties and forties" of Israel.

    And this is how he wanted to demonstrate this Selach to Israel. He told them to bring an innocent animal, a lamb of their choice, as a sin offering. They were to kill it, and then burn its body outside their camps. Therefore a Priest would remove the lamb from your arms, you would confess your sin, and the lamb would be slain and burned to ashes. No one benefited from its meat. No one was comforted by its wool. No one made parchment from its skin. The lamb, the whole lamb, disappeared as smoke and ash. And all of it was lifted by the winds and carried away ... to never return to you again.

    When Yeshua saw a crippled man that had been lame all of his life ... a long time. He was moved with deep compassion. So he said to the man, "Rise up and walk. I forgive your sins."

    Yeshua had said, "I Selach ... I remove your sins completely." Not Kafar. Not Nasa.

    When the Pharasees heard him, they were justifiably outraged. Everyone knew that only God could Selach. So they called him a blasphemer. And Yeshua said, "Indeed. Is it easy to say, I Selach, or is it easy to say, Arise and walk." Then the crippled man walked, and Yeshua said, "I do have authority to Selach."

    Hearing this, you may feel the need to respond. If so, your own voice can be like the voice of Moshe. And if you haven’t thrown yourself down to the floor, do it now or do it later, but when you do ... say, "Selach me, and Selach Israel ... do the thing that only you can do, and I cannot, and I will watch and survive." Then say to God, "I will watch your Glory" ... and afterward, call upon the Name of Adonai in the manner that Moshe heard it ... say, "Lord, Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow in anger, abounding in kindness and truth, keeping kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, but not clearing everything, visiting the iniquity of fathers, their children, and their grandchildren, for thirties and forties." Because his Name is what he does, and he alone is this Name.

The Meaning of Forgiveness

    When we forgive someone, we are stepping into that Name. We don’t just say, "I forgive you." We don’t just say, "Please forgive me." Forgiveness is not a fuzzy warm feeling. It is a deep commitment to be involved with someone's troubles. Bearing their difficulties, and doing it for a very long time. You don’t do it because you are rich and can afford it. Because you aren’t rich enough, and it is going to cost you everything. And you don’t do it because it is convenient and safe. Because it isn’t easy, and it isn’t safe.

    Their needs will become your own, and their whims and desires must also become your own. But if you are so earnest, so faithful, so long suffering ... and you do it for a very long time, you will be there beside them, and you will have the rare privilege to actually see it ... You will see what Moshe cried out for. You will witness the Selach of Yeshua happening in their lives. For through him, the Messiah, the Father has chosen to cover us with "the Kingdom, power, glory and its splendor, forever and ever." And we will all say, "Amein," as we watch it unfolding in someone's life.

    Forgiveness, as we see it unfolded in Torah and the Gospel, lives in actions. It is not simply words or thoughts. And its activity will painfully prove that you love someone ... as God has shown that he loves us. Moreover, his love preceded every action of repentance. Rather than waiting for repentance from us, God has acted, and his love became our encouragement for repentance.

    Nevertheless, those stories also dramatized lives that did not repent. And, simply because forgiveness encourages repentance, it does not insure repentance. Consequently, many sinned after Noach’s day. And many of Israel sinned after Moshe’s day. Moreover, very few have repented since Yeshua’s suffering. But the forgiveness that was installed by their lives is what is necessary for a community, and it is necessary for the Kingdom of God. But neither a community, nor the Kingdom, suffers any loss of integrity when any of us fail to respond. The Kingdom kept cranking from the days of Noach and Moshe unto Yeshua, and it has continued to crank unto our own days.

    And the backbone of the Kingdom is forgiveness by generous coverings, uplifting support, and God’s personal removal of sins from our lives. Again, Yeshua asked us to pray this way ... "Forgive us of our sins, as we are forgiving the sins of others." We may not be able to Selach, extracting sins as God can, but we can do the other two, Kafar-Cover and Nasa-Support ... and God does these other two as well, for he does all three.

    Therefore, if we forgive by Kafar and Nasa, we are laboring along with God’s own labors, even though we have to completely depend upon him for Selach. Yet when we do the two, and observe the third, we are being elevated and comforted, and we are being released from the evil of this world ... because we are living in the Kingdom activity of God. That activity and release is what forgiveness is all about ... being released, as Noach was, and as Moshe was. And you can only experience this personal forgiveness when you are willing to swim in its living (and very vibrant) waters.

    Additionally, since this forgiveness and salvation is evident with Noach and Moshe, we should realize that they experienced the same thing that is offered to us through Yeshua the Messiah. Moshe may have known more about God than Noach, but he didn’t experience any more forgiveness than Noach did. And through Yeshua, we can all know things that even Moshe did not know, but to say we ever have more grace than Moshe or Noach is contrary to the nature of forgiveness itself.

    Yeshua has insured that you and I, who had not known God, may know God with the same connection that was common for Noach, Avrahom and Moshe. Rav Shaul (Apostle Paul) said, "This knowledge is for the Jew first, and afterward, it is for the Gentiles." So we can’t boast that we have a better forgiveness ... we only have forgiveness, and there is no boast, only a reason for trust.

    Therefore, with the trust of this salvation, we need to act in its forgiveness, which becomes evident when we have humility. We need to act in it because too much action is always happening without it. We also need to act in it because we have done the very actions that have happened without it. Yet even the Patriarchs struggled with this same issue. The reality is that Noach was a very troubled man. Avrahom was very frustrated. Moshe never realized all of his dreams. All of them hurt people's feelings, and sometimes even devastated people's lives. David ignored the dignity of some, and he violated the commandments of God. Yeshua, though he displayed the very power of God's salvation, did not make everybody feel good. And the people that were outraged at Yeshua, were also justified within the limitations of their community perception.

    So, who should forgive who? And should God forgive any of us? Did all those other people let everyone know that they have repented, and that they have also forgiven others? Likely not. But God has made it abundantly clear that he has forgiven us. He has posted his forgiveness upon a tree ... with Yeshua hanging upon it. And when Yeshua said, "Father, forgive them of their sins, because they don’t know what they are doing" ... I think they didn’t know what they were doing.

    And I don’t really know what I am doing either.

    But if God has made this so clear, that he forgives us, and he has done this with the death of his trusted Son, then we should present our lives with as much zeal as we can afford. We should be fools for the sake of this good news. We should throw our lives at each other. Throw our lives as Yeshua threw his life for us. But if we don’t ... it has not stopped God. God has thrown Yeshua for the sake of us all. And the one thing we have to keep in mind is that Yeshua was a life, a Jewish life, and God's living son ... and not an idea ... and not just a prophecy fulfilled.

    Baruch Hashem.