Justice, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

 Reconciliation is God's plan. Discord is not part of his nature. He does not bear grudges.

God is love and he loves all people.

God sent his only eternal Son to suffer and die for you and me.
Why did Jesus have to die to forgive us?

We need forgiveness and God always wanted and wants to forgive, but God is also just.

Jesus was humble and always sought reconciliation, but he never stopped demanding justice.

God's way of thinking is radically different.

A young woman in America was raised Christian, but she fell in love with a man who led her astray.

Her Christian mother never stopped praying for her, but one day she was confronted with a nightmare. Her daughter was murdered by her boyfriend.

The man had to stay in prison for years.

The mother of the deceased young woman was heartbroken, but then she received an unthinkable instruction from the Holy Spirit.

She was not only to forgive the murderer, but to visit him in prison. She was to help him and learn to love him as her own son.

Little by little, the evil man felt God's love and grace more and more until he finally repented and converted.

He was released from prison, and the mother of the murdered woman helped him to rebuild his life. Now they are travelling around and giving their testimony.

The murderer had to suffer in prison for years. That was justice.

But the mother of the deceased young woman adopted him and loved him until he repented and received God's grace. That is reconciliation.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Rom 5:10 NRSV

Why did Jesus have to die? Because God demands justice. Sin must be punished.

Jesus died to take our punishment upon himself, so that if we repent, we will not suffer God's punishment in hell.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God loves all people, but you are not just a specimen of humanity. God loves you personally.

Do you want to repent now and ask for God's forgiveness?

Paul was very religious but not a nice person until he had a visitation from Jesus Himself.
Years later he wrote.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Cor 5:20 NIV

Blessings Break Curses

 Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch woman who loved Jesus. During the Nazi occupation of Holland, her family provided a refuge for Jews.

Her family was betrayed and she and her sister were deported by the Nazis. She was in Ravensbrück concentration camp in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. A very hard fate.

She began to encourage the other prisoners with her biblical faith. She held fast to St Paul's admonition to be thankful for everything.

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Th 5:18 NASB95

What, really? For the disgusting food? For the cold?

She began to speak aloud an unthinkable thanksgiving. ‘Thank you for the bedbugs.’

But after saying this nonsensical prayer, she had a revelation.

Because of the bedbugs, they were not bothered by the cruel guards in their unsavoury dormitory. The guards wanted to avoid these disgusting vermin at all costs.

She also had to pass another tough test.

She had to overcome her hatred. Jesus taught that we must love and bless our enemies.
Her beloved sister became seriously ill and died in the concentration camp.

Then Corrie was allowed to leave the concentration camp. That was a miracle. Someone in an office in Germany had made a mistake, and she was released from the concentration camp early because of it. That was a miracle from God.

But she had suffered terribly and lost her family.

After the war, Corrie became a travelling preacher.
God also sent her to minister in Germany, which was also a hard test for her.

After a sermon in Germany, a guard from the concentration camp approached her and asked for forgiveness.

Corrie was frozen with shock. Traumatised.

But she forced herself to shake hands.

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Lk 6:28 NIV

Corrie was a victim of the Nazis, but she refused to take upon herself the identity of a victim.

Are you perhaps a target for cruel attacks in your family or at work?

God forbid, but it may also be happening in your church. In the Bible, the Pharisees were not nice people, but not all Pharisees are Jews. Unfortunately, there are also Christian Pharisees.

You can get used to expecting bullying. You can be despised and then start to disrespect yourself.

That's a false identity. You are not that person, no matter how many times you have failed.
God is your creator and he made you good.

It could be that your family were Nazi criminals, or persecuted Jews. I met a wonderful preacher who had been a gangster and a pimp. I know a lovely Christian woman who was a prostitute.

No matter where you come from, God has made you good. God has a good plan for your life, and He wants to fulfil His plan.

But you must recognise yourself as God's good creation.

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Lk 6:28 NIV

You know, those who are used to being despised and cursed often learn to despise and curse themselves.

You must learn to bless your tormentors, but also to bless yourself.
Start saying blessings over yourself.

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Num 6:24–26 NIV

God Rescues Ruined People

There are terrible people who repent and God forgives them.

Hermann Zaiss was a very blessed German evangelist at the end of the war. As early as 1945, thousands and thousands of people from all regions of Germany and other countries came to his meetings.

Many gravely ill people were miraculously healed, but these were not the greatest miracles.  

He was a young soldier in the British army of occupation. He had a burning hatred of the German people.

His commander was a Canadian officer who looked upon this young man with Christian compassion because his uncontrollable bitterness was poisoning his own soul.

This young man was no monster. A Jewish child from Germany, he had found refuge in England, but his entire family was murdered by the Nazis.

The Canadian officer brought the emotionally wounded young soldier to the meeting where the German evangelist was preaching.

Also among the audience was another seriously injured man. He was a hardcore Nazi from the Waffen SS, a loyal disciple of the Führer.

In the last days of the war, he was hit by an artillery shell explosion.

When he woke up from a coma, he saw a black American nurse smiling at him with Christian compassion.

He no longer understood the world. One of his legs had been torn apart, and he was permanently crippled.

The helpless SS officer and the embittered young Jew listened to the sermon, saw the healings, and felt the presence of God with his love and mercy.

Then their hearts became warm and soft. They turned to Jesus and testified of their experience.

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. Ps 147:3 NASB95

Then the most amazing of all miracles took place. They became firm friends.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 1 Jn 3:14 NRSV

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Rom 5:1 NLT

You need the peace of God!

God's will for you is peace.

Peace in Hebrew is SHALOM. That includes safety, healing and complete well-being. This peace comes only from God. 

Herrmann Zaiss was a dedicated evangelist in Germany who was deeply hurt in spite of amazing success. He was full on charismatic. His ministry resulted in numerous conversions and healings, but in 1924 the resistance of the anti-charismatic Christians was much stronger than it is today.

The persecution by other Christians was very hard to take. His wife had a complete nervous breakdown and his marriage failed. His wife was apparently permanently psychotic in a psychiatric institution.

Herrmann Zaiss was a broken man despite his amazing faith.
How is that possible? In the Bible, Elijah became desperate and asked God to let him die.

Herrmann Zaiss could not take it any longer.

He did not want to have anything to do with God anymore. He still believed in God, but he did not want to live as a Christian. God could kill him, he knew that. He told God he could call him back after 20 years if He so willed. That was up to God.

Zaiss became a successful entrepreneur and married again.
In 1944 he was in Solingen and Germany was falling to pieces. In Solingen and elsewhere, allied bombs rained down day and night.

His wife told him that despite everything, he was a man of God. The time had come to re-activate his faith to encourage the suffering people around them.

Exactly twenty years after turning his back on God, he knelt with his wife, and they gave themselves completely to Jesus.

God forgave him and restored his miraculous ministry. His faith was stronger than ever.

One day they heard a bomber attack on Solingen from England was on their way. Herrmann Zaiss took to the streets and ordered the aircraft to return to England. Then they heard that the bombers had actually turned back.

His ministry increased. Hundreds of desperate Germans came to hear his message. Many were converted.

After the war, a businessman provided him with a bomb-damaged building.

People came from near and far, even from Holland. They saw amazing healings. Where despair reigned, new hope rose up.

Among the British occupation forces was a young soldier. His entire Jewish family in Germany had been wiped out by the Nazis. He was accepted as a refugee in England, and now as a British soldier he hated the Germans.

A Canadian officer was Christian and wanted to help the young Jew. He took the tormented you man to one of Herrmann Zaiss’s meetings. The broken-hearted young soldier heard the wonderful message and saw the amazing miracles. He felt the love of God and God gave him a new heart. Instead of blazing hatred, there was now a burning love.

At the same meetings there was an ex SS officer who had adored Hitler. He had been seriously wounded during the last days of the war, and he was cared for in an American hospital. He could not understand the love of American Christians, but Jesus also transformed his heart.

The young Jew and the no longer hate filled Nazi officer became close friends.

"I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near," Says the LORD, "And I will heal him." Isaiah 57:19 (NKJV)

What is Forgiveness? Part 2.

If a husband violently attacks his wife and then apologises. Should she forgive him?
If he then bashes his wife and apologises and then does it again and again, and each time he asks for forgiveness, should she forgive him?

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

• Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21-22 (ESV) 

Does this mean if he bashes and hurts her every week for a year and each time asks for forgiveness, she should stay with him and not leave?

Jesus is our example. What can we learn from his life?

When the time came for Jesus to lay down his life by dying on the cross, he did not resist violence but gave himself up. 

However, on other occasions, God protected him and he escaped. 

• When he was a baby and Herod tried to kill him, Mary and Joseph escaped with him to Egypt. 
• When he grew up, God protected him from premature death.

And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. Luke 4:29-30 (ESV) 

Jesus never bore a grudge. 

He was always willing to forgive but that did not oblige him to submit to violence or physical danger until the time came for him to offer himself as a sacrifice on the cross.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

• But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 
• and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. John 2:23-25 (ESV)

Jesus was never bitter or unwilling to forgive but he did not trust untrustworthy people. He did not put his life in the hands of dangerous people until the time came for him to die.

Christians are often told never to defend themselves or speak up against abuse because Jesus did not resist evil when he was arrested and killed. Christians are told they have no rights.

• Is this true? 

Jesus used very sharp language to speak against his enemies on many occasions. It was only when the time came for him to die, that he laid aside his rights and laid down his life.

When the Apostle Paul was arrested savagely beaten, he defended his rights as a Roman citizen.

Acts 16:37-39 (ESV) 37  But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38  The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39  So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 

It is a sad irony that some preachers who teach Christians not to protect themselves are very quick to speak against anyone who challenges them. 

So it is clear that you must forgive every time someone attacks or abuses you, especially if they say they are sorry, even 490 times. 

However, that does not mean that you have to stay in a situation where you are certain to be attacked again and again, even if each attack is followed by an apology.

You can forgive and pray for blessing on your persecutor but you can do it from a safe distance.

Some might say that if you forgive, you must forget and not talk about the offender. 

However, if you are badly injured, you need to talk about your injuries to a doctor. If you are under threat, you need to talk about it to the police and to lawyers.
If you are damaged emotionally and spiritually, you need friendship and spiritual support. 

So, of course you need to talk about your persecutor but at the same time pray for blessing and help for him.