I am very much in agreement with davo above about not really understanding or even being able to really conceive of the Father not accepting the entry of the Son, particularly at the cross of all places, where God was in the Messiah reconciling the world to Himself. I canāt really conceive of the Father and the Son not being in accord at all in fact, and since to see Jesus is to see the Father, most supremely in his self-giving and self-sacrificial love on the cross, I canāt really conceive of Jesus asking and wanting the Father to do something He wasnāt doing or willing to do Himself (ie forgive those brutalizing, torturing, mocking, abandoning and killing Him). This doesnāt really make sense to me personally, Jesus didnāt pray for things He didnāt mean or desire, I canāt really get my head around the idea that He wanted the Father to forgive them but He wasnāt doing it Himself, or that the two Persons were not in agreement, it just causes much deeper problems from my perspective. Others clearly see it differently, but that is where I am on that personally.
(The next is very much my view I realize, and Iām not trying to talk down or get at anyone, I am just summing up my views on forgiveness and just why I think as I do on it and my it is so central to my view on things, not that I think itās some final word on things by any means even if it sounds like it. So I hope no one thinks I am trying to attack or impose on them, but it is something I am very passionate about, so read it in that spirit I pray.)
As for what good does forgiveness do for the unrepentant sinner, well I know that Godās offered forgiveness and His pursuit of me as a unrepentant sinner and enemy of God did me allot of good, and the knowledge of His forgiveness in Christ keeps doing me good and I am every grateful of His infinite love, total forgiveness and grace to me, struggling with scrupulosity has had the deep benefit of making me acutely aware of this and just how precious beyond compare it really is. And I see the same pattern repeated elsewhere, it wasnāt for no reason I gave the example of the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation from my homeland of South Africa, for those who didnāt live there around that time, everyone expected a bloodbath to result on all sides. That it did not is in large part to that Commission, victims were prepared to meet those who did horrific evils to them, beatings, illegal imprisonments without end, rapes, torture, murder of family members, tribal violence, without the offer of forgiveness by many peace would not have been made, justice could not be achieved and evil of those days would have continued to crush victim and perpetrators alike and swallowed the land in civil war. Itās success was such that itās model was used in Rwandan, were it was vital in bring peace and justice, true justice out of the most terrible carnage imaginable, it allowed child soldiers to return to be embraced by their home villages once more.
Without the offer of forgiveness none of this is possible, and this follows the imperative as I see it at the heart of the Lordās prayer and elsewhere in the NT, we are to forgive others as He has forgiven us, itās even a criteria that we might be children of our Father, as He holds out forgiveness for us, and pursues us with it, so are we to be to our enemies. With the great and final Jubilee having released us from our debts completely, we are to live in that Jubilee, to exemplify that life, and was likewise hold no debts against anyone but forgive them all, and be to the world what Jesus was to Israel. This forgiving for me is tied into the command to love our enemies, to bless, pray and actively do good rather then curse those who hurt us, abuse and despise us (and I donāt see how we can really do good and bless our enemies if havenāt already forgiven them personally), this is much more then not just feeling ill will towards such people in such events, no the command is much harder and tougher then that, itās not a passive suggestion but an active imperative, we are to actively seek to bless them and do good for them, to pray for their true best, and seek reconciliation. We are called to be the peace-makers in all situations, unlike the nations we are called to like our King, and serve all, in self-sacrificial love, even when it hurts, even when we must risk injury or death, that is how Godās Kingdom comes, through that self-less love and no other. Some might think that such forgiveness lets the evil the person committed go, but in fact itās the exact opposite, forgiveness, unlike a kind of uncaring tolerance that ignores evil that continues rampant in itās midst, is by itās nature confrontational, as is the whole act of actively loving them and returning blessing for cursing, good for evil, but in a way completely unlike the nations do it, it doesnāt accuse but stands fearlessly for justice in love and service. By itās very nature, in word and deed it confronts the evil-doers on the evil they have done, that such a thing is evil, it does matter and it did hurt, and that it is unacceptable, that the very reconciliation we are offering and seeking with forgiveness requires they renounce their evil actions and patterns, and turn from such paths and acts, and commit instead to living for justice and being committed to do working to restore what has been lost before normal relations can resume through reconciliation. It is a revolutionary thing, and it is one of things that is at the very heart of the calling of being a Christian, we are ministers of reconciliation, we are the peace-makers, this is the love that can turn nations upside down, bring down the proud and rise up the humble, and is the one thing that break the impasse of corrupting grudges and pain which holds victim and perpetration locked in a continuous cycle of destruction. It alone breaks that lethal deadlock, and releases both from the slavery of holding onto that debt, and frees all to become workers of righteousness and justice, bringing true justice, peace and restoration out of that situation, anticipating how things will be in the end when all is healed and restored and Godās saving justice is brought in full to the world.
We are called to a much higher calling then trying not to bear ill will to others, rather we are actively called to be the peace-makers, the people who stand and bring justice, and to be the ones reconciling people, families, communities and nations. When the church as a whole world-wide runs with that idea once again, then we will shake the whole world again.
) is another thing altogether. Whatās more, our āforgivenessā (or if youāre being more nuanced, our refusal to forgive although we refrain from retribution/anger/vengeance) doesnāt keep the offender from suffering natural consequences of his sin/crime. I also believe that while Father does forgive His children when we genuinely repent, we may have to undergo some potentially unpleasant chastisement for, though we ARE forgiven, we must also be made better than we are. We may still need to be cured of the tendency and the desire to commit that particular sin again.