Who is like God?

This morning I read this question that the prophet Micah directed towards God — “Who is a God like You?…” (7:18).

The prophet further went on to define the character and nature of God — He is a God “who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession.”  What defines God as being distinct and separate from all other pretenders to His throne is (in part) His forgiveness of sinners.  These sinners have really and actually sinned.  There is transgression that is as rebellious as the hatred of a traitor.

And yet He passes over those sins.  Just as the angel of death passed over the sins of the Israelites who applied the blood of the Lamb to the lintels and doorposts of their homes, so God passes over the sins of those who trust in Him.  In Israel’s future kingdom, there will be the final demonstration and fulfillment of Micah 7.  And in Christ, there is the comprehensive and ultimate provision of forgiveness for all men who trust in Him.

He passes over the rebellious acts of His enemies.  He forgives sin.  He does not hold either a temporal or eternal grudge against the repentant rebels who attempted to usurp His throne.  This is what makes God God.

Rebecca Pippert offers a fitting summary of the great magnitude of this costly forgiveness:

In the cross God demonstrates the deepest law of acceptance. For to be convinced that I have been accepted, I must be convinced that I have been accepted at my worst. This is the greatest gift an intimate relationship can offer — to know that we have been accepted and forgiven in the full knowledge of who we are, an even greater knowledge than we have about ourselves. This is what the cross offers. [HT:  Of First Importance.]