Courtroom forgiveness

Why do we forgive the sinner in the courtroom who has been judged guilty? We’ve been told that we forgive for our own sake, so we don’t carry bitterness in our hearts. While that is true, there is more to it, it is not just about you; but for everyone involved.

There may come a time when that prisoner is in prison & he realizes the depth of what he has done & feels sorrowful & repentant; but if everybody in the courtroom declared their hatred for him and that they wish that he would just burn in hell; he will give up all hope and he will agree with them. He will perish without hope, instead of asking God to forgive & save him.

But if somebody in the courtroom had said, “What you did was wrong and it’s worthy of the penalty, but I forgive you.” Then, when that person in prison has his sorrowful moment of reality & repentance, they will not be afraid to come before the Lord in tears & shame & repent & ask forgiveness.

Because someone has already forgiven them, so maybe, just maybe, God will forgive them too. They will have hope.

God desires that no one perish, so we are to forgive others, so that the path is still open for them to come to him & repent. And so they don’t give up all hope that they ‘can be’ forgiven by a Holy God.

Where ‘License to Sin’ Began.

The Nicolaitans were those that followed the teaching of Nicolaus, an elder in the church chosen as one of the seven in Acts 6:5 to wait tables in the administration of the food to the elderly. He taught eatting food that had been offered to idols & the license to sexual sin abusing God’s Grace. In the book of Revelation when Jesus speaks to the seven churches He says he hates the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans.