Never Stop Forgiving (Please Read & Comment If You Want)

"Then Peter came to him and asked, 'Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?' 'No, not seven times,' Jesus replied, 'but seventy times seven!'" (Matthew 18:21-22 NLT)

"So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive." (Jesus quoted in Luke 17:3-4 NLT)

I remember what Jesus said about forgiveness in this verse of the Bible. There are a lot of different things the Bible says about forgiveness and it usually concludes with, basically, "you need to forgive." It is an odd statement for Jesus to use the phrase "seventy times seven." Why would Jesus say that? Was He trying to say that you should forgive someone more than seven times (in reference to Peter's question), however only up until whatever seventy times seven is. I'm not very decent at math. But, I found out that 70 X 7 = 490 in math. So, was Jesus trying to say that you should forgive someone obviously more than seven times, but only up until 490 times. And, 490 times is a lot by the way. However, if you really think about how easy it is to do or say or think something not right in the eyes of God, then we have definitely done not the right thing more than 490 times. We would need to be able to be forgiven by God, at least, more than 490 times. I am not a perfect person myself. I try to be really good and do what's right. I have a strong belief to live right in life and "be on the good side" - so to speak. In very Biblical terms, I choose to live my live by God, through Jesus and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But, despite all of that, I know that I have not done completely right - by the standard of God's completely holiness - more than 490 times. So, was Jesus really saying that we can only be forgiven and should only forgive up until 490 times? It doesn't seem to be that way.

So, if that is not the case, then it would seem that Jesus must have said "seventy times seven" simply as a phrase - maybe metaphorically, not literally. In other words, maybe Jesus was not saying "you must forgive literally only up until 490 times," but rather using 490 times metaphorically to mean "forgivness is something you need to always do, no matter how many times someone wrongs you, because I have done the same for you and if I hadn't done it then you would have never been able to receive forgiveness for you sins. Look what I have done for you." So, then, this is just something that we should do because it's right, it's good for not only the person that wronged you but for yourself, and because Jesus did it for us.

I was also reading a very interesting article that I wanted to publish on here, but the website said to not republish it. So, I can't. But, the article pointed out something very interesting about the seventy times seven phrase. The person who wrote the article explained that God revealed to him more of an insight into the phrase. He goes on to explain that it is a reference to Daniel 9:24-25 which is about forgiveness of all sins of God's chosen people at the end of the world - which is actually a specific time in the future. He did a word study of the original Hebrew of the Old Testament in the Daniel quote. The word used for "seventy weeks" there is the same thing as "seventy sevens." Given the context of the Daniel quote - forgiveness of all sins at the end of the world for God's chosen people - the person who wrote the article concluded that what Jesus said about "seventy times seven" is actually a reference to Daniel and that what Jesus meant was not just some oddball phrase but that Jesus was literally telling Peter that he needs to forgive someone of their sins until the end of the world. I just thought that was a very interesting point, and it appears to be likely that Jesus was referencing Daniel, as He was always referencing Old Testament Scripture in His teachings.

So, in conclusion, forgiveness is very important for many reasons. It brings peace and it heals. It is good for everyone involved. Yes, there needs to be justice, but at the same time there needs to be mercy. There is a certain way to handle situations. Some people want all forgiveness to the point that there's no justice. Others want justice without forgiveness and there is always bitterness. But, what people often forget is what God has done for us and if He, being as perfectly holy as He is, can do that for fallen humanity, then we, as fallen humanity, should be able to forgive others. And, not only others, but ourselves. This is something else that people often forget. We need to be able to forgive ourselves even if no other person does because 1) God forgives us and we should believe Him and 2) without forgiving yourself you would never be at peace. When it all comes down to it, forgiveness is essential to living out our lives because without it we would all be miserable, bitter and hateful, and it would be very hard to live out our lives and receive forgiveness if we did something wrong towards someone. My "golden rule" in life has always been "treat others the way you would want to be treated." I don't always live by that. Sometimes I get caught up in emotions - whether it's anger, fear, sadness or whatever. And, I don't make the right choices sometimes. But, I still try to live by that rule. Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going, if I feel really down, is the hope that things can be better and knowing that I will always have God because the love of God never dies and He is always there and I can always turn to Him even if it's hard to see Him sometimes.