0998. National Forgiveness Foretold
National Forgiveness Foretold
"That your sins may be blotted out" (Act_3:19)
We must not think of such a promise being made by Peter alone. The promise was inspired by the Spirit of God; the promise was one foretold by Prophets of old.
The offer was genuine. God meant it. Had Israel repented then God would not have turned her down. The fact is that God kept open His call to Israel for many days. In lovingkindness He gave Israel every opportunity to repent and turn, while He the God of all grace stood ready to forgive and to restore.
It seems to us that the final breaking off (comp. Rom_11:17-21) of Israel was not until we come to the closing verses of the Book of Acts. Let us read Act_2:27-28 : "For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."
"Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it."
Israel would not turn, Israel would not repent; therefore God turned to the Gentiles.
Now the question comes home to every one of us: "Hath God cast off His people? Are they forever to remain unforgiven?" God forbid. The promises of God as spoken through the Prophets cannot fail. Israel will yet repent and be forgiven. Let us gather up a few of the blessed promises to this effect.
What did Isaiah say? "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord" (Isa_59:19-20).
What did Jeremiah say? "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer_31:34).
What did Zechariah say? "For, behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the gravings thereof, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day" (Zec_3:9).
What did Paul say? "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
"And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
"For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom_11:25-27).
Surely we need not doubt that Israel shall be forgiven. The day shall yet come when God will send them two witnesses who will begin to turn their hearts back again. When Israel is in her time of trouble, a trouble greater by far than she has ever known; then will she begin to cry:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
"Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people.
"Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation."
"Our holy and our beautiful House, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
"Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us very sore?" (Isa_64:6, Isa_64:9-12).
Israel will weep and mourn, and God will surely forgive her. She will be cleansed from all her iniquity. Listen to the promise as recorded in Ezekiel:
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
"And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them" (Eze_36:21-25).
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR