The Lord Jesus has been speaking to His disciples about matters of discipline. He shows them that what has been done in His name is very far reaching. Their action in such matters is a very solemn thing and is regarded by Him as the carrying out of His will in discipline. These actions are recognized in heaven. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” How encouraging this is!
Peter then supposes the case of a brother who sins against him over and over again, and he asks the Lord, how often should he forgive him? “till seven times?” This was the limit of grace in Peter’s mind, but the Lord teaches us that forgiveness is always to be in the heart of a believer. “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
Freedom or Torment
This is brought out in the beautiful parable of the unjust debtor. A certain king had a servant which owed him ten thousand talents — a debt which a servant could never pay. He entreats the king saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” The king graciously forgives him the debt. The same servant goes out and finds a fellow servant which owed him a hundred pence — a small debt compared to that which had been forgiven him. But he takes the man by the throat and demands, “Pay me that thou owest.” The poor man entreats him saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” But he refuses and casts him into prison. When the king heard of it he was angry at the man and, denouncing him as a wicked servant, turned him over to the tormentors. In a typical way this was true of the Jews. They had accumulated a debt toward God which they could never pay. They had broken the law and had slain the Son of God. However, God in His mercy, through the gospel preached by Peter, sent them a message of forgiveness. Yet in spite of the grace shown toward them they acted the part of the unjust servant in their attitude toward the Gentiles. They proved themselves enemies of the grace of God which would go out to Gentiles as well. As a result, they are given up to punishment, until the time when the Lord shall say of Jerusalem, “she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isa. 40:22Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:2)). The blood of Christ will be applied to their great debt; the believing remnant will be forgiven and set free, while the unbelieving part of the nation will go into everlasting judgment.
Imitators of God
But the teachings of this parable surely apply to us individually. We as children of the kingdom, as imitators of God, ought always to be ready to forgive where it is a case of personal trespass. One who has tasted of the mercy of God, if walking with Him, will have that same spirit of grace and be ready to pardon those who have wronged him. When we read of the Lord in the gospels and of how He conducted Himself here on earth, we find that He did not resent in His ministry that which was merely against Himself, but He did denounce in the strongest terms that which affected the operations of God in this world by His Holy Spirit.
Further Meditation
1. Why should we be ready to forgive personal trespass?
2. What other examples are there in Scripture of the effect of an unforgiving spirit?
3. An excellent introduction to the subject of forgiveness can be found in Forgiveness of Sins by H. P. Barker.