What if there were no forgiveness?  What if we knew there was no second chance each mistake met with finality?  No redemption, no recovery from iniquity, no mercy, grace, each strike a “one and done” opportunity.  That is the price of sin.  That is the life of the unbeliever.  The first sin cost you everything as the wage you were paid was eternal separation from God, no quarter.  Like Akin, you disobeyed and according to the law of Moses there was no forgiveness only penalty for your transgression.  So, you forfeited all.  Your life, your family’s life, everything you owned including your beast of burden were stoned, set to flame, demolished for all to see.  That is each life without Christ.  There can be no remission of sin without the shed blood.

I don’t know about you but I tend to take it for granted.  Not everyday, but sometimes falling into a lull, being forgetful and not being mindful of the miracle of forgiveness.  Not the overwhelming fact that I am saved, set apart to spend eternity with God, but the “not so simple” fact that I am forgiven.  I get to know hope where without it that hope would have never existed.  I get to feel sorry for my transgressions because I know that I can ask for forgiveness and receive such a prize.  My life does not surround walking so cautiously that I am afraid to disturb a flower, offend a person or perhaps shame someone because the price would be “everything”.  These are blessings I own but do not fully comprehend.  This makes me morn for the lost.  To never know forgiveness.  I cannot even remember how that felt, perhaps it would be better if I somehow could remember.

The Angel’s awe begins to gain clarity.  They cannot fathom how God could be so merciful in offering forgiveness to the undeserving.  They were not forgiven when they transgressed, instead they fell. The price of their sin was infinity.  Instantaneous separation from God, doomed to live among a prideful people, a forgetful people, stubborn, immoral and spoiled.  A people who had zero understanding of the grace they were given.  They were allowed to grow in a sinful life and then freely choose righteousness through faith, with rewards or punishment to come “some day”.  No instantaneous banishment, shaming, imprisonment or death but a segment of time within which the gift was offered freely daily.  You see God doesn’t even need us, yet he offers me forgiveness.  Too grand for me to understand.  You Lord deserve my allegiance, obedience and praise.  I am sorry that I dishonor you repeatedly.  I am so thankful that You do and will forgive.