Luke 7:47 Commentary and Bible Study

If God has forgiven, who is man that he refuses to forgive? It is Christ who is the Judge, not us, and it is his throne that we will all appear before, and therefore it matters little that man condemns if God justifies. Man cannot overturn the sentence of God. Woe to any that attempt to do so on that final day. We will then all be of one mind with the Lord in his purposes, or we will be cast out forever. Man cannot convince Christ that one who he has forgiven should not have been forgiven. Does anyone see more deeply into the heart of another, and do they see the sinfulness of sin more clearly than the Lord? Certainly not! He is infinitely holy, and he sees the vanity of every excuse and the wickedness that drives people to push conscience out of the way and persist in their evil ways. Nobody has a more accurate awareness of guilt than the Lord. If he has seen that and if he has thought fit to pardon, then no one else is entitled to condemn. If they did, they would be condemning God for his mercy. But God’s mercy will not be constrained by anyone. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. It is Satan who accuses those whom God has justified, and none should align themselves with the devil, unless they want his punishment. Instead, we are to learn to be like the Lord, and learn to admire his mercy. Our calculation should be that if others need mercy, we need it more. How is it that we do not admire God’s mercy, and long for more of it to be displayed in our world? ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice’, says Hosea.