When your are forgiven, does this just mean that God will let you into heaven, or is it also a tangible experience that can be experienced now when you are born again?
Neither. Forgiven means forgiven. The benefit for us here is a free and clear conscience--we are no longer guilty. As far as God concerns the slate has been wiped clean, all debts are canceled, there is no longer any charge or condemnation against you that can stand up in a court of law.
I am, of course, speaking in metaphors, but these are the kinds metaphor and simile the Bible itself uses.
Probably one of the most graphic biblical images for forgiveness is what was called the Jubilee. Every fifty years Israel was commanded to have a Year of Jubilee, on this year all slaves in the land of Israel were given their freedom, all debts were canceled, it was like everyone got a total do-over, a fresh restart for the whole nation.
In the Gospel of Luke Jesus begins His public ministry by reading from the Prophet Isaiah about the grand Jubilee of God that shall come.
"
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion--" - Isaiah 61:1-3a
The New Testament sees in Jesus, by His atoning work, as having inaugurated the fullness of the Jubilee--the new time of freedom, forgiveness, of debts canceled, of slaves and prisoners set free, and a newness from God shall come upon the earth.
Forgiveness includes this language of debt cancellation to signify that whatever stood against us before, whatever condemned us before, whatever held us as guilty before, does so no longer. That canceling of charges against us, of rendering us pardoned, set free, renders the conscience free from guilt before God; and it means reconciliation and peace. We are reconciled and have peace with God. God is now our Father, Christ is our Brother, we have a place in God's House not as strangers, or even servants, but as children and full heirs.
I've done some bad things, e.g. when I was in school me and some others teased a boy and he hung himself that night.
As an adult I went to prison for hitting somebody, he suffered brain damage.
There have been lots of things...
What is it like to be forgiven?
I feel heavy in my heart at times. As I get older, I feel more understanding of what I've done and it just feels sadder..
The guy I hit survived, but he died a few years ago. I wonder about his family, his mother.
Forgiveness, objectively means, God holds nothing against you. Whatever you've done, in fact, anything you might still do is forgiven,
actually forgiven. That means that before God you stand a righteous man, a just man. That isn't your justice or righteousness, it is Christ's. The righteousness of Jesus, Jesus' own perfect holiness and goodness and justice, is appropriated to you--it becomes yours, as a gift.
In that forgiveness we have the opportunity to learn how to forgive others, and to seek forgiveness from others. Learn how to love, and be loved. We are given opportunity to make peace and be in peace with each other as human beings. And to learn how to forgive ourselves.
Forgiveness does not mean that we do not still have to make amends, and find forgiveness from our neighbor. Forgiveness does not justify or excuse how we live with one another--that's what loving our neighbor is about. It's about learning how to be actually human to one another. To be human like Jesus is, who gives Himself away in love. We can give ourselves to each other without holding back, because it means we can start trusting one another. That's why good works, and why we speak of sanctification--the daily and life-long process of being disciples, following Jesus, and being loving, caring, kind neighbors.
-CryptoLutheran
