More Than Forgiven
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak lovingly to the heart of Jerusalem, yes, cry to her that her warfare is done, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has taken from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins. Isaiah 40:1-2
Pardoned – “You are pardoned.” What comes to mind when you hear these words? Do you think of a prisoner whose guilt is set aside? Do you think of a debtor who no longer has to pay? If images like this crowd your consciousness, you’re in good Greek company. The contemporary Christian church has placed so much emphasis on the debt-paying, prisoner-freeing side of forgiveness that we no longer realize what is buried in the Hebrew word rasah. But we should.
Rasah is actually not about prisoners and debts at all. It is about God’s delight and favor. Its basic meaning is “to be pleased with, to like, to find something good or pleasant.” The synonyms are extensive, covering love, desire, willingness, delight, know (yada), save, deliver, honor, be inclined toward and please. Did you notice that forgiveness is not one of the principal characteristics? In Hebrew, the thought is not that God erases the debt or frees the prisoner. It is that God is once again delighted with us. In Hebrew thought, the pleasure of God toward me is fundamental for my very existence. If God does not delight in me, I am in serious trouble. My fate, and the fate of the entire family of God’s children, depends on God’s deliberate favor. When God finds us delightful, He acts on our behalf, restoring the broken relationship and protecting and providing for His chosen ones.
What this means is that this famous verse should probably be read a different way. By translating rasah as pardon, forgive or atone, we miss the point that God’s delight and favor stand behind His proclamation. We should probably read this verse as “her iniquity has been propitiated.” Propitiate is, perhaps, a word unfamiliar to you, although it would have been common religious language one hundred years ago. Contrary to the usual dictionary definition, in biblical terms, it means, “to restore to a previous state.” This is not the same as appease or expiate, since those terms deal with things like payment and restitution. What the Bible has in mind is about relationships, not debts. That is to say, God now looks upon Israel with favor. He is once again inclined toward her. He finds her pleasing. Why? Because the time of chastisement is over. Israel has endured the hard lessons and is ready to return to covenant obligation. And that delights God.
Did you also notice that God is the active agent on both sides of the coin? God brings on the correcting punishment. When He is not delighted, He takes steps to bring about the required change. God is also the One Who terminates the chastisement. When He observes that His corrective program has accomplished its purpose, He announces His renewed delight. The focus of this verse is not about us, nor about the children of Israel. The focus is about God’s action and reaction. Forgiven? Yes, of course. But there is more than forgiveness here. There is a change in God’s favor – a change that we must receive if we are to live at all.
