Forgiveness

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. –II Samuel 12:13

No man deserves to be forgiven. This confrontation with God shakes David from the stupor of his sin. His eyes are enlightened and he knows what he has done. He does not make excuses, or speak of human weakness. He does not try to break down, or curse himself. All David does is confess that he has “sinned against Yahweh;” but this is the reaction God has desired. Nathan hears David’s brief response – just two words in the Hebrew – and tells the king his sins are forgiven. David’s confession was acceptable. Nathan tells him “the LORD has put away your sin.” The offenses of adultery and murder, yea, the despising of God and his provision, were taken away by the one offended. God’s wrath was incurred, and yet it was God who made all right.

It does not seem just that David gets off as he does; his is answer is not long enough and his demeanor is too staid. There is no emotion – the sinner does not even weep. What is more, even if he reacted to our liking it still seems that he deserves death. The problem, however, is not with God, it is with us. Grace has saved David. God has shown him favor he does not deserve. Truly something extraordinary has happened, but we in our pride are inclined to miss it. We like the idea of grace with regard to our simple sins, but it offends our sensibilities to think that David could be forgiven his offense to Uriah and Bathsheba. Very few of us are able to read this passage and accept that the right thing was done to the sinner. We are inclined to think God let David off too lightly with his sin; but the reality is we do not consider our own sin enough. David’s forgiveness is extraordinary because all forgiveness is extraordinary.

We are right to condemn David, but the truth is all of us should be condemned. All sin is an offense to God and reason for death. What David received we have received also. All of us have come under God’s condemnation and like David deserve judgment and death. But like him, our sin has been removed by God. We no longer stand condemned. More than David, we understand the reason for this – Jesus Christ. We are spared death because he died. Our great error is not considering that confession and forgiveness of sin is a supernatural act. Repentance defies our natural understanding of the world. We do not fully comprehend our sin and are inclined to think that what we have done is not deserving of death, or that it can be remedied by the way we act when we repent. True repentance involves being confronted and convicted by the Word of God, the humble acknowledgement of our guilt, and the miraculous pardon of our sin by the one offended for the sake of the sacrifice of his Son. May we not cease to marvel that such an extraordinary thing happens in our lives daily. And, may we be the more diligent in how we view and approach the miracle of repentance.