The God Who Pardons

Standing in the Gap

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When the people turned against God, Moses did something brave. He prayed for them. The Bible calls this intercession, and it points us to Jesus.

What intercession is. To intercede means to go to God on behalf of someone else. Moses asked God to forgive people who had wanted to stone his friends.

Moses' plea. “Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy” (Numbers 14:19). Pardon means forgive.

God answered. “I have pardoned, according to your word” (Numbers 14:20). God listens when His people pray. Our prayers for others matter.

In the breach. A psalm says Moses “stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath” (Psalm 106:23). A breach is a hole in a wall. Moses stood in the gap.

Not the first time. After the golden calf, “Moses pleaded with the Lord his God” (Exodus 32:11). Moses prayed for the people again and again, even when they made his life hard.

A greater Mediator. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). A mediator stands between two sides to bring them together.

Jesus prayed on the cross. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). He prayed for the people hurting Him. No one has ever loved like that.

Jesus prayed for Peter. “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail” (Luke 22:32). Jesus knew Peter would stumble, and He prayed before it happened.

Jesus prayed for you. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word” (John 17:20). If you trust Jesus, He was praying for you that night.

Still praying. “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus has not stopped praying for His people. He is praying right now.

Our Advocate. “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). An advocate speaks up for someone.

Come boldly. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Because Jesus prays for us, we never have to be afraid to come to God.

What to do. This week, pray for someone by name every day, even someone who is hard to love.

Numbers 14:13-19 is one of the great intercessory prayers of the Bible. It shows Moses as a mediator, and it helps us understand what Christ does for His people.

Refusing greatness (14:12-13). God's offer to make of Moses “a nation greater and mightier” is met with an immediate plea for Israel. Moses' concern is God's name, not his own legacy. The same refusal appears in Exodus 32:10-13.

Arguing from God's glory (14:13-16). The nations had heard that the Lord was among His people. Moses reasons that destroying them would lead others to say He “was not able.”

Arguing from God's character (14:17-18). Moses quotes Exodus 34:6-7. The strongest prayers often use God's own words. Moses asks God to act like who He has said He is.

The breach (Psalm 106:23). The psalm pictures a broken wall with Moses standing in the opening. He put himself in harm's way for the people, like a soldier holding a gap in a city wall.

Exodus 32:11-12. At Sinai Moses asked, “Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them’?” Numbers 14 repeats the same argument.

The Servant (Isaiah 53:12). The Servant “bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.” Intercession and sin-bearing belong together. Christ prays for those whose sin He carried.

At the cross (Luke 23:34). Jesus' first word from the cross is an intercession for His enemies. Moses prayed for a rebellious people; Jesus prayed for His executioners.

For His disciples (Luke 22:32; John 17:20). Jesus prays for Peter's faith and for all who will believe through the apostles' word.

In heaven (Hebrews 9:24). Christ entered “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” His mediation is ongoing. Moses' work ended at his death; Christ's continues.

Able to save (Hebrews 7:25). Because “He always lives to make intercession,” He is “able to save to the uttermost.” Moses' intercession had limits; Christ's does not.

Who condemns? (Romans 8:34). Paul joins death, resurrection, exaltation and intercession in one sentence of assurance. No accusation can stand against those for whom Christ prays.

A sympathetic High Priest (Hebrews 4:15-16). Christ was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin,” so believers may “come boldly to the throne of grace.”

Application. Write a short prayer for someone you know, using words from Numbers 14:18.

Mercy and Discipline

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In Numbers 14 God forgave the people, but they still wandered for forty years. How can God be both kind and fair? The Bible shows that He is both.

God describes Himself. “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Gracious means giving good things we do not deserve.

Also just. The same verses say He is “by no means clearing the guilty” (Exodus 34:7). God does not pretend sin is not wrong. He is fair as well as kind.

Slow to anger. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Psalm 103:8). God does not lose His temper with His children.

Kinder than we deserve. “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). God gives us far more kindness than we have earned.

Who is like Him? “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity… He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18). God loves to forgive.

New every morning. “Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Every day is a fresh start with God.

Patient on purpose. God “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God waits because He wants people to come home to Him.

Kindness that turns us. “The goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Repentance means turning back to God. His kindness is an invitation.

Discipline is love. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Hebrews 12:6). To chasten means to correct and train. Good parents do this because they love their children.

Worth it later. “No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). Correction can hurt now and still help us grow.

Led all the way. “The Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you” (Deuteronomy 8:2). God never left them. Every morning the manna was still there.

Kind to children. God promised to bring the children into the land (Numbers 14:31). Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them” (Matthew 19:14).

What to do. When a parent or teacher corrects you this week, thank God that correction is part of love.

Numbers 14 shows pardon (14:20) and discipline (14:22-23) side by side. God's mercy and justice are not rivals. Both come from His holy love.

The name proclaimed (Exodus 34:6-7). God's self-description joins mercy, grace, patience, steadfast love, forgiveness and justice. Moses prays these very words in Numbers 14:18.

Justice included (34:7). “By no means clearing the guilty.” God's forgiveness never treats sin as trivial. Numbers 14:18 repeats this clause.

Psalm 103:8-10. David echoes Exodus 34 and adds that God “has not dealt with us according to our sins.” Mercy means receiving less punishment than we deserve.

Micah 7:18. “He delights in mercy.” Mercy is not reluctant in God; it is His delight. Micah closes his book with this confession.

Lamentations 3:22-23. These words were written after Jerusalem fell. Even in the middle of judgment, God's people could say that His mercies are new every morning.

The purpose of patience (2 Peter 3:9). God's delay in judgment is not slackness but longsuffering, aimed at repentance. The forty years were also a long patience.

Despising kindness (Romans 2:4). Paul warns against treating God's “goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering” as permission to keep sinning.

Discipline (Hebrews 12:6, 11). The writer quotes Proverbs 3:12. God's correction is evidence of sonship and produces “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”

Deuteronomy 8:2. Moses later interprets the forty years: God led them “to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart.” The wilderness was judgment and school at once. God fed them with manna to teach that man lives by every word from His mouth (Deuteronomy 8:3).

The next generation (Deuteronomy 1:39). The children “who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there.” Grace reached beyond the failure of the parents. Numbers 26 counts this new generation, ready to enter.

A prayer of Moses (Psalm 90:12). Psalm 90 is titled a prayer of Moses. “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom” is a fitting prayer for a man who watched a whole generation pass away in the wilderness.

The cross. At the cross God's justice and mercy meet: sin is judged, and sinners are forgiven (Romans 3:23-26).

Application. Think about how forgiveness and discipline can both be loving, at home or at school, and thank God that His correction is love.

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