Through Ignorance

What an interesting venture through the Word I have had this evening.  If you have never had this experience, might I suggest it?  Ask the Lord to open your eyes to His word, and ask Him to lead you to see scripture in a new way.  Then ask Him to lead you to the scripture through which He would like to reveal more of Himself.

Tonight, He led me to Acts 3:17. An obscure verse to be sure. “And, now brethren, I wot (understand) that through ignorance ye did it (crucified the Savior), as did also your rulers.” Read in context, Peter is using the healing of a lame man as an opportunity to preach the gospel. Time and place put him before the very people who only a few short months prior likely cried out, “Crucify Him!”

Can you imagine? It is painful when someone points out our errors, but what if the error was killing the Son of God? And yet Peter says to them, I understand that you did not know what you were doing; you did it so that scripture would be fulfilled. But repent, he tells them in verse 19, it was still sin. Then you can enjoy “a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.”

What an interesting concept, but what could the Lord be trying to show me? And so I followed the cross-references in the margin to 1 Timothy 1:13. Here Paul is describing to Timothy the condition of his life before the Lord called him. “…BUT,” he says, “I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

What a beautiful message. How sublime to know that the Lord of glory shows us clearly by biblical precedent that we can obtain mercy for our sins committed in ignorance.

It seems a bit basic, yet have we truly accepted His forgiveness for all of our past sins?  Have you committed sin more heinous than calling out for the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory? And yet, Jesus said regarding them, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Or have you, like Paul ordered and observed the deaths of the saints? And yet, the Lord forgave Paul and then called him to ministry to be used mightily for the Kingdom.

“But what of my sins that were not committed in ignorance?” you may ask.  Remember, the prodigal son? Do not overlook the fact that he already knew the father.  He knew that asking for his inheritance while his father was living was a supreme insult.  He knew he had behaved so badly he had no right to even ask for forgiveness.  He knew he deserved nothing and would have been satisfied to be a servant in his Father’s house.

And yet… all the time his son was wandering further away with his back to him, the father yearned to show mercy and have his son back.  And yet, not only did he lower himself to the degradation of running, he ran to him, embraced him, and then had a party for him.  The son had not acted in ignorance, but rather in full knowledge. And yet, he received full pardon by the loving mercy of the father.

Thank You Lord for mercy beyond our understanding. Thank You for forgiveness for even the most egregious, willful acts of rebellion. We are not worthy of love so divine!