"PERFECT FORGIVENESS MULTIPLIED"

MF Blume
February 13, 2000 am

Matt 18:15-22  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell [it] unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Jesus dealt with forgiveness in this portion of scripture.
• He underscored the vital need for each of us to always admit we are wrong when we wrong a brother or sister.
• Jesus told us to tell our brother that he did us wrong and that he needs to repent and apologize.
• He trespassed against you and you must tell him his error.
• He did not apologize.

If he confesses, he’s saved.
• If not, then take two more brethren with you and confront the person again.
• If the one still does not confess, then bring the one before the church.
• Still no confession?  Consider that person outside of the Body of Christ in this world.
• Jesus then said he would back us up.
• The person is lost.

Then Peter asked Jesus, “what about a person who comes to me, and I do not have to go to him at all, who has trespassed against me 7 times in one day?  After coming to me the first time about a sin against me, I forgive him and he goes out and does it again and asks forgiveness.  This happens 7 times.  Is the limit I am to put upon him 7 requests for forgiveness and after that he crossed a line, and is not to be forgiven?”
• After 7 times do I say no more?

Now the number 7 is God’s perfect or complete number.
• Perhaps Peter thought complete forgiveness is forgiving someone 7 times.

But Jesus thought about such a trespasser.
• What kind of person, though he sinned 7 times in one day against another, would come back each time and seek forgiveness?
• That person might not be perfect, but he sure is humble and sincere!

Perhaps he repeated the same sin again and again.
• But he was sincere and humble enough to admit error, and to want to be in the Body of Christ and not cut off that he made sure he came to seek repentance no matter how many times he sinned.
• So Jesus said.... forgive that man if he came 70 times 7 times!!!

Since 7 is the perfect number, we must notice that 70 times 7 is 7 X 7 X 10.
• MULTIPLICATION OF PERFECTION.

When something is multiplied it is there again and again.
• In other words, the point is intensified
• So this is not just perfect forgiveness, but perfect forgiveness multiplied perfectly.
• Ultimate forgiveness.

Dani 9:2-6  In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
Daniel read in the book of Jeremiah about Jerusalem’s curse of captivity due to its rebellion against God.
Jere 25:11-12  And this whole land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it
He prayed to God and confessed, Dan. 9:4, and admitted he and all Judah had sinned.
• This is repentance and seeking forgiveness.

God answered him through the angel Gabriel, and said...

Dani 9:20-24  And whiles I [was] speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I [was] speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.  And he informed [me], and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew [thee]; for thou [art] greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
God was so moved by Daniel’s confession that he not only said Jerusalem would be rebuilt, but that 70 weeks after the commandment to rebuild it elapses, a far greater deliverance would come.

1. To finish the transgression.
2. Make an end of sins.
3. Make reconciliation for iniquity.
4. Bring in everlasting righteousness.
5. Seal up the vision and the prophecy (Hebr. Term means the prophet).
6. Anoint the most holy.

70 weeks is 70 x 7!!!!

A week is seven days.
• Seventy sets of sevens.
• 70 HEPTADS.
• A set of twelve is a dozen and a set of seven is a heptad.

And in Daniel 9, we read of the MESSIAH COMING.

Dani 9:25  Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Now, the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem was indeed given as God promised.

Artaxerxes heard Nehemiah’s request as follows:

Nehe 2:5  And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

Nehe 2:8  And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which [appertained] to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

The commandment was given.
• My Bible margin sets this date at approximately 445 B.C.

Daniel was told that 70 weeks would accomplish the great deliverance after the commandment to restore the city was given.
• That is only 490 days.
• And 490 days after Nehemiah was given this permission, the Messiah did not come.

But there is something we must consider.
• When God told Israel they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years after doubting God that they could enter the promised land, he arrived at that figure by counting each day they spied the land of Canaan as one year.
• So a day for a year turned 40 days of doubt into 40 years of wandering.

The reference to 70 weeks is not a reference to a week of seven days, but God takes a day for a year and meant 70 weeks of years, or 70 x 7 years which equals 490 years.
• Now, if you look at the date of Nehemiah’s command, 445 BC and add 490 years, it takes you up past the AD mark and somewhere around the exact time when JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED.
• Jesus lived 30 years before He began preaching.
• And He preached for 3.5 years before He was crucified.
• (Three passovers occurred during His ministry, according to the Gospels).

So, the great deliverance that God told Daniel would occur, making an end of sins and bringing in everlasting righteousness, etc., occurred through the cross of Jesus Christ!

70 times 7 means the multiplication of perfection.
• And this great and ultimate forgiveness from God can only be found through one means.
• THE CROSS OF CALVARY.

Notice the elements that would occur in the 70 weeks of Daniel.

1. TO FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION.

Isai 53:5  But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
What were Jesus’ last words on the cross before He died?
• IT IS FINISHED!
• Jesus finished the transgression.
• Your transgressions and sins were removed forever because Jesus paid the price and was wounded for your transgressions.

2. MAKE AN END OF SINS.

Matt 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Hebr 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

He put away and made an end of your sins by His death on the cross.
"the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29)
And if you commit sins after you accept the cross and get saved, the same cross is for those sins, too.
1Joh 2:1-2  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.


3. MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY.

Hebr 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Ephe 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

"gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all INIQUITY" (Titus 2:14)


4. BRING IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS

Roma 5:17-19  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21)


5. SEAL UP THE VISION AND PROPHECY

The hebrew actually means SEAL UP THE VISION AND PROPHET.
• All through the Old Testament, prophets had visions and prophesied of the messiah to come.
• To SEAL something is to AUTHENTICATE it.
• And in the GOSPELS of the New Testament, we read a repeated phrase, "...that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets."

Acts 3:18   Those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Matt 11:13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Jesus came after John the Baptist.

6. ANOINT THE MOST HOLY

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath ANOINTED me (Lk 4:18-22).
In Revelation we read that the New City has no temple, for God and the Lamb are the temple of it.
• The Greek term here for temple is actually best translated MOST HOLY PLACE.
• Therefore, it should be read as the Lamb and God are the most holy place.
• Jesus is the Most Holy.

We read in Daniel 9...

Dani 9:25-26  Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
After 69 weeks of years, Messiah would be cut off, but not for Himself.
• So in the seventieth week, Messiah would be cut off.
• This implies killed.
• But not for Himself.
• We know He did not die for himself, but He died for U S AND OUR SINS.
So perfect forgiveness MULTIPLIED OVER AND AGAIN is available to mankind through the cross of Jesus Christ.

All of this occurred in the period of the time 70 x 7 years.

Levi 25:8-15  And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it of thy vine undressed. For it [is] the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession. And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest [ought] of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
The year of jubilee was the year after 7 times 7 years.
• A trumpet sounded and liberty was proclaimed throughout the nation.
• And land that was owned by anybody could only be sold for the value after the jubilee.
• In other words, the state of the land before the jubilee was not to be considered.
• Your life is not considered by God before you experienced forgiveness of God.
• HE FORGETS YOUR INIQUITIES.
Jere 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.


You must understand, though, that you have to somehow involve yourself into the Gospel and the cross of Jesus in order for you to be able to receive that ULTIMATE FORGIVENESS.

Levi 23:15-16  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
7 sabbaths means 7 weeks, for a sabbath is every seven days... the seventh day.
• THERE IS THE NUMBER OF PERFECTION MULTIPLIED ONCE AGAIN.
• And the day after the seventh SABBATH shall be the 50th day, and would be called THE DAY OF PENTECOST.
• 7 times 7

Pentecost means the 50th day.
• It was the seventh week after Passover.
• It was the day after 7 times 7 days.

On Passover, Jesus was the lamb whose blood was shed to save us, as in Egypt when God said “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”
• The same day of Passover was when Jesus died on the cross.

After that was the feast of Unleavened bread.
• On this day Israel cleaned all leaven (YEAST) out of their houses.
• This was the day Jesus was in the tomb buried after His death.
• Leaven in the Bible represents sin.
• Sin spreads like YEAST.
• And Jesus was in the tomb cleaning sin out of the lives of all those who would believe in Him.

After that came Feast of Firstfruits.
• This day they waved in the air the first harvested grains.
• This was the very day Jesus resurrected from the dead.

All of that was fine and dandy, but why did He do it?
• Why was Jesus killed, buried and resurrected.
• So what?

PENTECOST COMES IN HERE.

PERFECT FORGIVENESS COMES IN HERE.

Lets go 7 times 7 days after the sheaf of wave offering was made, plus one day, and come to the DAY OF PENTECOST.

Acts 2:1-4  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Then Peter preaches to them.
Acts 2:22-24  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

Acts 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

And what was the point?
• Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
Acts 2:37  Now when they heard [this], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men [and] brethren, what shall we do?
These people asked Peter what could they do about their sins.
• Did you know that YOUR SINS made it necessary for Jesus to be crucified?
• You, in effect, crucified the Lord Jesus Christ.
• And You are as guilty as the Jews whom Jesus preached to on the day of Pentecost.
• So you need to hear what Peter told the ones who crucified to do.
• That is exactly what all of you hearing me today need to make sure you do in this life.
Acts 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Your great sin that made it necessary for Jesus to be crucified... causing you and every human ever born ot have in effect crucified Jesus, CAN BE ULTIMATELY FORGIVEN.

On this day, 7 times 7, plus another, days after the firstfruit festival,...
• On this day of Pentecost...
• This number of days amounting to the number of the multiplication of perfection, ...
• (Talk about Peter being told to forgive 7 times 7....)
• Peter, the same one told about 7 times 7, reveals to the world for the first time the means to receive THE MULTIPLICATION OF PERFECT FORGIVENESS.
 
What do you do about that cross?
• Acts 2:38 actually told us to GET INVOLVED IN THE DEATH OF JESUS...
• In the burial of Jesus...
• In the resurrection of Jesus.
• In these three elements of the GOSPEL MESSAGE, by the three points of Acts 2:38....
• Die in Repentance, be baptized into His death, and resurrect with the gift of the Holy Ghost.

What do you do about the death burial and resurrection?
• How can you receive ultimate, multiplied perfect forgiveness?
• Enter into His death by repentance, and His burial by baptism and His resurrection by Spirit baptism.

Acts 22:16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Isn’t it wonderful that the very day of Pentecost was after the same number of days as Jesus told Peter to forgive people, signifying a MULTIPLIED PERFECTION of FORGIVENESS???!!!

Of all the bible, only in two epistles do we read of a wonderful note.
• Grace MULTIPLIED.
• And guess who wrote them?
• Peter, of all people!
• The one to whom Jesus noted the MULTIPLICATION OF PERFECT FORGIVENESS.
• I don’t think that is coincidence.
• You find, after studying the Bible, that none of this is coincidence.
• The Spirit inspired it and you can expect a whole lot of miracle details in the Bible.

1Pet 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

2Pet 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,