But if exile is the punishment for sins, that means that when the exile is over sins have been forgiven. If you go to someone in prison and you announce to them that they have been pardoned, what that means is not that an abstract moral transaction has taken place in mid-air somewhere, but that they're going to get out of jail. Conversely, if someone in authority comes into the prison and flings open the door, and beckons the prisoner out, the proper conclusion is that a pardon has been issued. So when this word of comfort goes out, 'Comfort, comfort my people, says your God' (Isaiah 40:1, NIV), Jerusalem has been pardoned, her sins have been dealt with. That's not just an abstract transaction that takes place in some spiritual dimension of reality. It means that exile is over and she is going home.
- N.T. Wright, So What? (The Veritas Forum, Yale 1996)
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."" - Lamentations 3:19-24 (NIV)
links: prison break (12 jul 08), why i am not a (classical) calvinist (19 aug 08)
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