In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, there were three Hebrew words used to describe the dark side of life.[1]
· One word carried the image of something once straight now no longer straight. It referred to straight things made bent. When the Hebrew authors of the Old Testament looked at life they saw things that seemed bent, twisted, or askew. Think about our world and national news. Doesn’t it seem like some things are askew? Think about what you experienced over the last month at work, at home, or at school. Doesn’t it seem like some things are twisted? Think about your own heart, your own soul. Doesn’t it seem that some things are bent?
· Another Hebrew word carried the image of brokenness. It referred to relationships made broken. When these Hebrew authors looked at life they saw things that should have existed in harmonious relationship but now experienced brokenness. How many broken relationships can you think of this morning? Can you name some broken relationships between countries? Can you name some broken relationships between leaders and followers? Can you name some broken relationships between coworkers or within families? Can you name some broken relationships between people and God?
· A third Hebrew word carried the image of aiming but missing. It referred to things meant to hit a target but falling short. Think of your moral life—how often have you aimed for honesty but fallen short? Aimed for purity, but missed? Aimed for integrity but instead demonstrated duplicity?
As the Hebrew authors of the Old Testament looked at our world, our lives, and their own hearts, these are three ways they described what they saw: bent, broken, and fallen-short.
We see these things in our world today. And they are the source of the greatest grief and pain in our lives. In the Bible all three tend to fall under one word—the word “sin.” To talk about what is bent, broken, and fallen-short in the word, the Bible tends to use the word “sin.” And while that word may have fallen into disuse in our culture, there is no denying its reality. Sin is a crisis-creating reality. Sin is what led to the tragic and recent strangling of a Yale University student named Annie Le. Sin is what has led to over 1,600 murders in Juarez, Mexico this year. Sin is what breaks up families, tears up hearts, and causes sleepless nights. There is no denying its existence. There are too many things in our world that are bent, broken, or fallen-short for us to miss. The Hebrew authors of the Old Testament acknowledged the reality of sin with these words. And we too, when we are honest with ourselves, must admit that sin is a reality in our world, a crisis-creating reality.
And the question is this: what do we do about it? Or more importantly, what does God do about it? What is God’s response to the bent, the broken, and the fallen-short?
The text we’ve been exploring on Sunday mornings reveals answers to this question. Some answers are comforting. Some are challenging. Let’s read out loud this text again: 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:6-7 TNIV) This morning, we focus on the end of this text: forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. (Ex. 34:7 TNIV). The words “wickedness,” “rebellion,” and “sin” are the three words I began this morning with. They refer to that which is bent, that which is broken, and that which has fallen short. As God reveals himself to Moses, and through Moses to us, he ends his self-description with these three images. The last thing God wants to explain about himself is what He is doing about the crisis-creating reality of sin. God’s final word about himself has to do with his response to the bent, broken, and fallen-short.
God says a lot in this final line. And there is debate about some of the meanings of the words. This morning, I’ll suggest three things God intends to do about sin based on these final words. Let’s start at the end of this text: Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. (Ex. 34:7 TNIV). We may be surprised, perhaps shocked, to hear these words. They sound harsh. They sound unfair—God is going to punish children for their parents’ mistakes? What do these words mean? Here is one possibility: at a very basic level, these words mean that God pursues the end of sin. God seems to be saying: “When sin happens—when things get bent, when things get broken, when something or someone falls short—I’m not going to just overlook it. I’m not going to permit that sin to just continue generation after generation. I’m going to pursue it and punish until that sin stops. I will stubbornly track that sin until it ends.”
Just prior to these words the people following Moses have given up on God and have started worshiping an idol made for them by Aaron. God now seems to be telling Moses: “I’m not going to let this go. I’m going to pursue this idolatry until the hearts of the people no longer turn from me. Even if it takes generations, I’m going to keep fighting this unfaithfulness. It’s not enough for me to merely forgive idolatry. I’m going to pursue it and punish it until I put an end to it.”
It might help to think about this in modern terms. Can you think of a a circumstance where something’s bent, something’s broken, something’s fallen short? How about the tragic case of Jaycee Dugard? Philipp and Nancy Garrido face a combined 29 felony counts in connection with their 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard. Dugard was 11 when abducted from South Lake Tahoe, California. Authorities believe the couple held Dugard in a well-hidden compound behind their home for 18 years. Thankfully, Dugard was recently rescued. That was a circumstance where something was bent, terribly bent. And God seems to be saying this: “When this kind of unrepentant and prolonged sin happens, I’m going to pursue it. I’m going to work even if it takes generations to bring it to an end.” Whether its oppression and enslavement taking place in another country, greed and corruption rampant in a financial institution, abuse in a marriage or a family, God’s saying that he’s not going to turn his head. God’s not going to let it linger. He’s going to work and work to straighten what is bent, to mend what is broken, and to re-aim what fell short. If you are the one engaged in prolonged sin, you need to hear this challenge: God pursues the end of sin. He’s not going to quit until he makes you quit. And if you are the victim of prolonged sin, you need to hear this comfort: God pursues the end of sin. He’s not going to quit until he rescues you. God pursues the end of sin.
But there is more at play in this last line. It not only teaches that God pursues the end of sin. It also teaches this: God permits the consequences of sin. When it comes to the individual, the groups, or the nations who have sinned, God will, at times, permit the consequences of that sin to rebound back on the sinners and on those around them. God may forgive sin, but he may also allow the consequences of that sin to impact the people caught up in that sin.
In the Bible King David remains the iconic example of this truth. God transformed David from a lowly shepherd to an exalted king. Then, David had an affair with a woman, murdered the husband of the woman, and fathered a child by the woman. God forgave that sin. Psalm 51 is David’s testimony of that forgiveness. But God also allowed David and his family to suffer consequences for the sin. David’s affair with Bathsheeba ultimately led to one of David’s sons sleeping with David’s concubines; one of David’s sons dying; one of David’s son’s abusing his half-sister; one son hating and murdering the other; and a son leading a conspiracy against David. The seed of David’s sin reaps a harvest of painful consequences.
The fact is that most sins have consequences. And just because you are a Christian or just because Jesus died for you or just because you’ve been baptized or just because God forgives you doesn’t always mean you will escape the consequences of your sin. Allow yourself to get trapped in online pornography and your spouse might find out and leave you. Keep cutting corners at work and it can come to light and you can lose that job. Keep reacting in anger to your children and eventually those children may grow up to hate you. Keep treating girls and woman as sex objects and eventually none will have anything to do with you. At times, God permits the consequences of sin.
But notice once more how God begins his words about his response to the bent, the broken, and the fallen-short: forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Notice that God does not merely say that he forgives “wickedness,” or that he forgives “rebellion,” or that he forgives “sin.” Notice how God says he forgives all three: “wickedness, rebellion and sin.” This seems to be God’s way of saying that there is no sin he will not forgive. Wickedness? Forgiven. Rebellion? Forgiven. Sin? Forgiven. If you bent it, he forgives you. If you broke it, he forgives you. If you fell short of it, he forgives you. In other words God has one more thing to teach us about his response to sin. Here it is: God pardons the guilt of sin. That seems to be the first and most basic thing God wants us to know. God pardons the guilt of sin—all sin, every sin, and any sin. No matter what it was, no matter what you call it—he forgives it.
This is especially meaningful given the context in which God speaks these words. Two chapters earlier, in Ex. 32, the people committed the ultimate sin. Under Aaron’s guidance, the people made a golden calf, an idol, and began to worship it. Of the Ten Commandments, they broke at least the first two: You shall have no other gods before me and You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below; you shall not bow down to them or worship them. Things weren’t just bent, they were twisted. Things weren’t just broken, they were shattered. And the people hadn’t just missed the mark. They weren’t even in the shooting range anymore. God becomes furious and strikes the people. Moses becomes furious and breaks the stone tablets. It appears that this is the end. The people have sinned too greatly. Things are too bent, too broken, and too fallen-short. But here’s what God tells Moses: I forgive wickedness, rebellion and sin. Even this sin, God will pardon.
At a marriage seminar in Portland, Oregon author Gary Smalley took the stage in front of 10,000 people.[2] He held up a new $50 bill. “Who would like this $50?” he asked the crowd. Hands went up all over. “I’m going to give this $50 to one of you, but first let me do this…” and Smalley crumpled up the bill. “Now,” he asked, “who still wants it?” Hands shot up once more. “What if I do this?” Smalley asked as he dropped the bill to the ground and stepped on it making it crumpled and dirty. “Who wants it now?” he asked. Hands shot up. Then Smalley concluded: “No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it didn’t decrease in value. It’s still worth $50. Many times in our lives, we’re dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make…We feel worthless. But no matter what’s happened or will happen, you’ll never lose your value in God’s eyes. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you’re priceless to him.” No matter what you’ve done—wickedness, rebellion or sin—you remain valuable to God. And that seems to be why God pardons the guilt of any and every sin.
I want you to stand right now. I’d like those on the left of center to face those on the right of center. Those on the right face those on the left. Think for a moment about the wickedness, rebellion, or sin those you are looking at may be struggling with this morning. Now, as you look at them, say these words: God forgives you. Now face me. Think for a moment about the wickedness, rebellion, and sin in your life. Think about what you’ve bent, what you’ve broken, and how you’ve fallen short. Now say this out loud: God forgives me. God pardons the guilt of sin.
And this means, of course, that sometimes God pardons what we think ought to be punished. It is intriguing that the words from Ex. 34 show up in the book of Jonah. God calls Jonah to go preach to Ninevah. Ninevah would be the equivalent of the Taliban. God tells Jonah to go preach to the Taliban. And Jonah is reluctant. Why? Here’s how Jonah puts it in Jon. 4:2: 2 He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Jonah throws back into God’s face these words from Ex. 34. He can’t stand that God is this kind of God—a God who would forgive people like those from Ninevah! One of the final things God wants us to know is that he pardons the guilt of sin—even the sin of those we believe ought to be punished.
It would seem that of this morning’s three points, this last point ought to go without saying. Yet every time I think I or we have an adequate understanding of forgiveness, I am reminded how slippery that subject is. Earlier in September we had a guest in our Sunday School class. She used to live here and knows several at Highland. We were talking about forgiveness, and she raised her hand to make a comment. Here’s what she said: “I used to be a member of the Churches of Christ. But it wasn’t until I left Churches of Christ that I found grace. I never really understood forgiveness until I left Churches of Christ.” She went on to describe how she had found a church which acted like it believed the words in Ex. 34. It made me realize just how elusive this concept is. We in Churches of Christ seem to have found grace in the 1980’s or so. That’s when I remember more and more sermons and books coming out condemning legalism and promoting forgiveness. You would think that twenty years later we’d have mastered forgiveness. But we haven’t. As a movement, I think we still wrestle with this. What people find among us still isn’t always a message of forgiveness.
But we not only wrestle with this as a movement. We also have personal struggles with it. A few weeks ago a Highland member emailed me and shared a gut-wrenching story of how she had lost sleep and agonized lately over this whole issue of forgiveness. I don’t think Satan wants us to believe in it. I think he’ll do almost anything to get us to doubt it. And that’s why we still so desperately need these words about God from God. These are the words God uses to tell us who he is. These are the words God’s people recite again and again throughout the Old Testament. These are the words we must keep before us until the day we die—so that we never ever forget them.
Let’s stand one more time and say them out loud: 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:6-7 TNIV)
[1] Harold Shank, What the Bible Says About the Heart of God (College Press, 2009), 173-174.
[2] Rev. May/June, 2001, 42.
