ONLY in an accommodated sense can man forgive sin. He may overlook the wrong that the act of another has brought upon him; and so, as far as his feelings are concerned, may bury it forever. But his forgiving does not take the sin from the heart of him who did the wrong, whatever his attitude may be. God alone can fully forgive sins. He alone can cleanse the guilty soul. He alone can take the crimson, the scarlet, soul and wash it as white as wool, as white as snow.
BUT it takes divine alchemy to do it. By no sort of human process can it be done. Man knows no acid, no chemical, which can take away sin's stain without the destruction of the fiber which sin has dyed. By no human law of growth can man eliminate the evil in his nature. By no process of dieting can he remove the plague. He may cover the sore; over the eating ulcer skin may seem to form; but sooner or later the corruption becomes manifest, deeper, more widespread, and more virulent than before. God alone can forgive, can cleanse, can take away, the sin; for only by divine creative power can it be done.
By one of His mighty miracles Christ has shown us this. The instance is recorded in Mark 2:1-12; Matt. 9:2-8; Luke 5:18-26. These notes are based on all three accounts. The miracle occurred in Capernaum, in Christ's home, evidently. The people heard He was there and filled the house and court, and "the power of the Lord was with Him to heal" both soul and body. There were among the people critical, keen-eyed, adverse, doctors of the law and Pharisees.
WHILE He was teaching there came, among the other ailing ones, a palsied man, borne by four friends. They sought to reach Jesus by the door and failed. The sick man's case was urgent; his soul was in agony. He could not wait till the people were gone. His soul was more burdened with his sins than his body with disease. And so he suggests another way of reaching the Master, and his bearers take him to the flat roof, uncover the inner court where Jesus is, and let down the pallet, on which the sick man lay, before the Saviour.
JESUS did not reprove their temerity, or irregularity. He looked upon the sick of the palsy. He read the longing of his heart; for the Spirit which gave birth to the longing was the life of His life. He therefore met the greater need of the poor man: "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." More than the disease was the sin. Body might be destroyed by disease, the loss was but temporary; but remaining sin leaves an eternal blight. The Pharisees accused Him of blasphemy. Surely, said they, "who can forgive sins but one, even God?" and their observation was true as to the fact, but wrong as to the charge; for the God-Man stood before them—Divinity clothed with humanity. For their own salvation He longed that they should learn this fact. For ours, in His providence, it is recorded.
SEEING their reasonings, He thus appeals to them; "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven, or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk." The former could be said by mere man, and the soul deceived into believing the falsehood. It is only God who can cure the palsied unto death. It is only God who can forgive sin. Therefore Jesus continued: "But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (He saith to the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." The latter was a test of the power and authority to forgive sins. And even we may pray, "Create in me a clean heart."
THE result demonstrated the test. He that had his soul freed from sin's hypnotism by forgiveness, now feels his body freed from the paralyzing power of disease: "and he arose, and straightway took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, who had given4such authority to men, saying, We never saw it on this fashion;" "and they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day."
AND even so would God show strange things in this day if His professed people would believe, simply believe, in the divine power of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Heathen philosophy, evolution, and agnosticism have robbed souls of their belief in God and His creative power, because of ignorance in the Scriptures. Yet His word stands, "I am Jehovah; I change not." He is "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." To you, O sinner, He would say to-day, as to the palsied in that far-away yesterday, with the same love and the same potency, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." Will you not believe and accept His gracious message?
