A couple of weeks ago in a Sabbath Bible study, Sister V. asked a question that led to a pretty good discussion among us after the main study topic had been concluded. She asked, “How do you know when you have forgiven someone?” While I think that our conversation provided our sister with a satisfactory answer, I believe that we can benefit from a thorough coverage of the principles involved here, and get the conclusion of the matter “on the record” so that we, and others who may read thereafter, can be blessed.

How do we “know” anything? What is the difference between thinking something, believing something, and knowing something? This is not a trivial question, because the Scriptures tell us in John 17:3 that life eternal is to “know” our Heavenly Father and His Son. We may also read Hosea 4:6, and since that is likely to be less familiar to us than John 17, the quote is: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me. Seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” (Hos 4:6)

This is a warning against a rebellious people. They did not know Yah; they had forgotten His Law, and in fact had “rejected knowledge” of it when they were rebuked and counseled. Knowledge, thoughts, and beliefs are not the same thing. That means that someone may have very spiritual thoughts, and very sincere beliefs, and still not have the knowledge that leads to everlasting life. It is a matter of utmost urgency that we know the truth about our salvation, and the One who has provided it for us.

We read from 2Timothy, where Paul is speaking about the purpose and grace of Yahweh, saying that it is “now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Yahshua the Messiah, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” (2Tim 1:10-12)

That is the testimony of the true and living witness: “I know Whom I have believed.” Belief is that which we accept without concrete proof available to our natural senses. The Scriptures tell us that it is reality of that which is not seen. (Heb 11:1) Nevertheless, we are persuaded of the truth and accuracy of our beliefs, to the point where we “know” it. It has gone beyond that which has any possibility of being false because, even though the evidence is not obtained through physical perception, the evidence exists nonetheless, conclusive evidence, and we may be aware of it.

We may read of the invisible, but discernable, evidence: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of Yahweh.” (Rom 8:16) This is an important verse. It tells us that our spirits, our thoughts and feelings, tell us that we are the children of God… and there is a second witness to that notion, the Holy Spirit itself. And how does the Spirit bear witness? As non-Trinitarians, we do not believe that the Spirit is an entity entirely separate from the Father and Son; yet the Spirit of Yahweh communicates with us, as we read: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1Tim 4:1)

How did the Spirit speak this expressly? Did a glowing shape come down from Heaven and begin to declare these things? Did a voice speak from the clouds? No, we know how the Spirit speaks. When Paul’s message was rejected by the Jewish authorities, as it is written, “And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, ‘Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, ‘Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.’” (Acts 28:25, 26)

It is by spiritual gifts, such as prophecy, healings, miracles of various kinds, that the Spirit speaks confirmation to the blessings on the Church. But there are false miracles, of course. We know that Satan is permitted much authority to show wonders to the world, and so these great works by themselves do not suffice. It must be the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits, as Paul says in Romans 8; that is, a clear conscience, an observation that we have received the faith of Yahshua, and have been healed from all known sin. This is now we know that our faith is genuine knowledge, and that our faith is according to the divine pattern.

In his letter to the Church, John writes, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of Yahweh; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of Yahweh.” (1John 5:13) To a surface reading, this may seem a bit repetitive, nonsensical even. “I have written to you who already believe in Christ, so that you may know you have eternal life, and so that you may believe in Christ.” If they are already the ones who believe in the Son of Yah, what exactly is he trying to do?

If you read that book, and especially that fifth chapter, John is consistently talking about a word I used before, “witnesses.” He writes, for example, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of Yahweh is greater, for this is the witness of Yahweh which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.” (1John 5:9, 10)

The things you have heard about Christ, John says, the things I have written, the things you have seen and heard yourselves, these are the record, the evidence that the Father gave to the world of the Son. And as you accept that, as you accept it as true beyond any doubt, the witness of the external record becomes a witness inside of you. You yourself become a witness, to testify to others of the Father and Son, and your belief, your faith, becomes knowledge, and that knowledge is everlasting life.

This is how the Holy Spirit confirms to you that your beliefs are true, that your beliefs are knowledge… that you are transformed. That the witness that is in the world, in the miracles, in the Bible, becomes the witness of your own spirit, transformed into Christ’s own Spirit, and then there can be no doubt, because you are a part of the thing that you are believing. You are not merely a follower of Christ, as an external Teacher, but a representative of Christ, a true priest of Christ, for the world.

The Roman Catholics, when they take communion, believe that the bread they offer becomes the true body of Christ, and the wine that they offer becomes His actual blood. They are very clear and insistent on this. Well, they have the right idea to an extent, but their aim is a little off. It is not the bread and wine that become Christ’s, it is the people. The people whom Yahshua has set free from sin, they become His flesh on earth, His “Body,” and the blood they shed is His own, made precious by their unity with Him.

Now, we need to be very careful with our wording here, lest we be accused of saying we are Yahshua, or that since our flesh becomes His, we are claiming that our flesh is holy. No… and that would be foolishness anyway, for Yahshua came “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” (Rom 8:3) and the word there used for “likeness” has a deeper meaning than just the outward appearance. We are not Christ, nor yet do we have the holy flesh of the resurrection; but we are One with Christ, and thus we obtain His life, which is original, un-borrowed, and everlasting.

This is how we “know” Whom we believe, and this is how we are assured that our belief is not in vain.

I have spoken for a while on the nature of belief and knowledge, and I am laying the foundation to address the original question: How do we know when we have truly forgiven someone?

We know that in the same way that we know every other invisible thing. Because the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. Because our thoughts inform us that we have made a decision to forgive… that is the part that we do, the human will power. But then, along with that, we find our experience transformed. When we have decided to forgive someone, just as Yahshua decided to forgive us, then our Father takes care of the spiritual part, the part that involves the effect on our soul and character, and the re-shaping or providence to change the world.

What do I mean by that last part? Perhaps the person you have forgiven is no longer nearby. Perhaps that person has already died, or has moved away. You may still forgive them in your own soul, and that will change you, that will free you from bitterness and sorrow… and it also allows Yahweh to work additional changes. For example, those who may have been harmed by your disagreement with this person, Yah will arrange it so that they begin to heal, because your forgiveness ensures that they are no longer spiritually bound to the tragedy.

And what about your feelings? Well, feelings are a personal reality with which we need to reckon, but feelings are the least reliable, and least important, factor. We often say that, that feelings are unreliable, and must follow after our choices, but we do not always explain why. Well, there are two reasons.

The first reason is because our feelings are largely influenced by our bodies, and even among the redeemed, our bodies have been devastated by a legacy of thousands of years of sin. When Adam fell, something inside of humanity broke; we can no longer bear the sight of our own Father, who veils Himself from us, and even the angels’ uncovered appearance would overwhelm our senses, as they reflect the light of Yahweh. We don’t work the way we were supposed to in many ways. We are almost totally spiritually blind. Our brain chemistry sometimes goes out of balance, influenced by a great number of factors from the time of the day to the last thing we ate or drank. We cannot count on anything produced by these bodies with any certainty; all we can do is use our feelings as an indication of how, very generally speaking, things are going.

The second reason we cannot trust our feelings to determine spiritual realities is by design. Yahweh always intended for our feelings to be the lesser factor. Consider this: if someone with a healthy mind, with a born-again experience, begins to feel sad, he can make a decision to change the course of his thoughts. He can realize that his thoughts are drifting into gloomy places, and then remember his many blessings. He can recall the promises that Yah has made to him, and then his sadness leaves him, and he returns to his natural state, which is “joy” according to the fruit of the Spirit.

The Scriptures actually instruct this very thing: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto Yahweh and the Father in the name of our Lord Yahshua the Messiah.” (Eph 5:18-20)

That is the solution for sadness, and any who are Christ’s may do this, may choose to direct their thoughts, and therefore control their feelings. So we see that feelings are subject to our thoughts, and we have the power to set our thoughts in paths that will result in those feelings that are peaceful and pleasant. After all, we are told this also, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through Yahweh to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Yahweh, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2Cor 10:4, 5)

Every thought… not every feeling. It is not because we cannot take our feelings captive, but that our thoughts are greater, more important, and when we control our thoughts, when we process our thoughts, we are actually controlling our feelings by natural consequence. And note that it is the thoughts, the false thoughts, that exalt themselves against “the knowledge of Yahweh.” We see how important it is that we process our thoughts according to the divine nature, according to the mind of Christ, for that is how we may understand the things of Yahweh, not with carnal reasoning, but spiritual.

And then, as John says, “If we receive the witness of men [including ourselves!], the witness of Yahweh is greater.” Our feelings are subject to our thoughts, and our thoughts are subject to the Word of Yahweh. It is a “chain of witnesses.” What we read of our Father, that is greater than our thoughts, and just as we may control our feelings by directing our thoughts, when we submit our thoughts to the Scriptures, and the testimony of Yahweh’s true witnesses, He places those thoughts on the Narrow Way. That is the order of things: the feelings (which are the least), the thoughts (where we make our decisions), and then the Word of Yahweh (which is the greatest of all witnesses).

When we choose to forgive someone, when we choose to accept the gift of victory over sin, when we choose to be born again, these are all choices that our Father is allowing us to make. In the flesh, we could not do any of these things, but grace, grace is the power to choose righteousness, despite the carnal nature of our flesh. Grace is the chance to be redeemed, despite our natural corruption. Ezra the Priest wrote this of the people of Israel, and it applies both physically and spiritually: “And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from Yahweh our Almighty One, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.” (Ezra 9:8)

Though we were born in bondage to sin, to the flesh, to the legacy of Adam, for a little time, for a brief probationary period, Yahweh gives us the power to choose Him, and all His righteousness, and when we do, He redeems us. He gives us a new, unblemished life for the one that we inherited from the first birth.

It is by this power that the Christian forgives those who wrongs him, or her. It is by this grace that we have received, and that we can show love to others. We did not deserve forgiveness. Those who trespass against us to not deserve forgiveness. But we give it to them anyway. Freely we received forgiveness from Yahweh. Freely we give it to others. It is not a feeling, it is a choice. It is not a sensation, or something we can perceive naturally. Like faith, it is invisible … but we know we are doing the right thing, and then the Spirit confirms it through its gifts: prophecy, the wisdom of the Church, miraculous healings… these things often follow, along with a feeling of peace and cleanliness.

As with love, the feelings often follow afterwards. But if they do not appear at once, even if our hearts should speak against us, Yahweh is greater than our hearts. His witness is greater than the witness of humanity, and His life within us is greater than anything we can experience in the natural world.

Remember why the feelings cannot be trusted. Satan has convinced people that their feelings are an indicator of reality, and thus he keeps them in bondage. They are in bondage to the expectation that their feelings will always and immediately confirm the correctness of their decisions. And thus, if they do not “feel good” about what they have decided, it means to them that their choice was incorrect. That is a deception, and it is a deadly one, having kept souls from the gates of New Jerusalem. Men and women have decided to stand for Yahweh, but then, because of their feelings, they began to doubt. Because they doubted, Satan was given more and more authority to bring accusations against them and in our spirits we can feel those accusations. Eventually, these doubtful ones put themselves into a state greater than their spirits could bear. Satan’s accusations overwhelmed them and they fell, not being “sealed” into the truth, settled into it so that they could not be moved.

That is the way of it. For the believer, or perhaps we should say, “for the knower,” Yahweh will never give us a test greater than we can bear. That is a promise we read in 1Corinthians: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but Yah is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1Cor 10:13) The tragedy is that because men have trusted in their feelings, without controlling them by their thoughts and the Word of Yahweh (the two greater witnesses), Satan has been able to tempt them above what they felt they were able to bear. In their distress, they did not see the way of escape, and they were taken captive once again to the flesh, never to escape.

Satan knows how to do this very well, because that is how he fell in the first place. In his spiritual being, Lucifer “felt” that there was no need for the Law of Yahweh. Being a spirit, He did not have a biological component, but because angels think and reason, we know that they have mental processes, an equivalent of our bodily systems in spiritual substance.

Like our bodies, this spiritual substance was able to form doubts, able to choose thoughts, and able to accept or reject the grace of the Creator. In the generations since that first rebellion, Satan has studied his own demise, and he has come to learn the importance of Yahweh’s order. He has concluded, correctly, that in order to destroy mankind, all he needs to do is the opposite of what Yahweh says. Yah says, “Don’t eat the fruit, or you will surely die.” Satan says to Eve, “Eat the fruit, and you will surely live.”

Yahweh says, “My Word is most important, then your thoughts, and last of all your feelings.” Satan says, “Your feelings are what is most important, then your thoughts (that is, your own understanding) and finally the Word of Yahweh.” This is why Christianity is in its current, catastrophic, state. This is why there are so many divorces, abortions, and incidences of abuse of various kinds. Men have worshipped the beast, they have accepted the doctrines of the dragon, placing their feelings first, their thoughts and private interpretations of the Bible second, and last of all the Scriptures just as they plainly read. Because of this, they do not know what a “covenant” is. They do not believe in Victory over sin, or Righteousness by Faith. They do not seek unity with Yahweh and His people. Like sheep, they have gone astray.

But this is not our experience. We see these things only with our eyes, not in our own lives. The 144,000 do things Yahweh’s way, after His character and principles. They know the proper order of the divine nature. They know that if they wait for their feelings to confirm their plans, they will never fulfill the genuine will of the Master. They know that feelings in the flesh are based only on partial information, and only when their faith becomes knowledge will their feelings work correctly.

They know what a covenant is. It is an agreement based on knowledge, and a “witness” between Yahweh and His people. (Gen 31:44, Deu 31:26) When we know Yahweh, we make a covenant with Him, and that is a witness more important than either our thoughts or our feelings. It is a decision on which all of the rest of our lives are based, and it is freedom from Satan’s most powerful deceptions. We live in a covenant of forgiveness, and so we forgive others. We live in a covenant of love, and so we love others. We live in a covenant of peace, and so we are at peace with every eternal principle of life.

When Satan comes with accusations, doubts, and temptations, we remember our covenant. We know how the world does it; if a man and a woman are married, but the feelings begin to fade after a while, instead of re-committing to their covenant, they separate, they split apart. The feelings, you see, have determined their reality. But if they will wait, if they will remember their covenant, if they will draw near on principle rather than thoughts or feelings, then the feelings can be mended. That is how all temptations are overcome. The feelings are subject to the thoughts of our minds, and our thoughts to the covenant of Yahweh.

If anyone is struggling to forgive one who has injured them, remember your covenant with Yahweh, and forgiveness is yours to give. If anyone is dealing with a temptation, remember your covenant with Yahweh, and victory is yours to claim. If anyone’s marriage is in crisis, let them remember the reasons why they bound their lives to their partner, and even if some things have changed, the covenant stands; the same souls are involved, and when you are born again, your spirit will be able to find peace with anything.

If anyone is dealing with a lack of desire to be with Yahweh and His Church, you have been given grace to choose it, a little space to decide to stand in the light, and then your feelings will follow. Now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. The Spirit will bear witness with your spirit. Sin will die in your heart, and you will live in Christ eternally. That is the way of Salvation.

When the spirit is right, providence works in your favor, and Yahweh intervenes directly. All things work together for good, as it is written. (Rom 8:28) None of that depends on feelings; all of that depends on the Word of Yahweh, which we let influence our thoughts, which in turn allows us to direct our feelings. We are not in bondage to Satan’s deceptions, including his terrible lie that our inconsistent feelings determine the truth of our experience. Our only expectations are of Yahweh and His love, not our own thoughts and sentiments. We have a covenant, an agreement, with our Father, for life, for love, and for peace; these are the things He has promised us beyond our own expectations, to live in an atmosphere of Heaven, where our thoughts are subject to the divine will, and where our feelings are healed and made consistent. That is a rock on which we can safely build our spiritual houses. That is the knowledge that allows us to break the chains of bondage and to fly, like angels, to take Yah’s great gift to the world.

David.

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