In God’s governmental administration, His forgiveness is dispensational. For His administration, He has planned different ages. The period from the first coming of Christ to eternity is divided dispensationally into three ages: this age, the present one, from Christ’s first to His second coming; the coming age, the millennium, the one thousand years for restoration and heavenly reigning, from Christ’s second coming to the end of the old heaven and the old earth; and eternity, the eternal age of the new heaven and new earth. God’s forgiveness in this age is for sinners’ eternal salvation (Acts 2:38; 5:31; 13:39). If a believer, after being saved, commits any sin, but will not make a clearance through confession and the cleansing of the Lord’s blood (1 John 1:7, 9) before he dies or the Lord comes back, this sin will not be forgiven in this age, but will remain to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. He will not be rewarded with the kingdom to participate in the glory and joy with Christ in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, but will be disciplined to make a clearance of this sin and be forgiven in the coming age. This kind of forgiveness will maintain his eternal salvation, but will not qualify him to participate in the glory and joy of the coming kingdom.
If anyone offends the church and is not willing to repent or if he is offended and is not willing to forgive the one who has offended him, he will be out of the kingdom not only in this age but in the coming age. This means that he will not share in the manifestation of the kingdom. Do not listen to the mistaken teachings that Christians cannot have any problems in the coming age. Some will have great problems and will be excluded from the glory and joy which the overcomers will share with the Lord Jesus during the millennium. Furthermore, they may be put under the hands of the tormentors. If today you can be considered by the church as a heathen or a tax collector, then what will happen to you during the manifestation of the kingdom? It is a very serious matter to offend the saints or the church and to rebel against the church. If you remain in such a state, where will you be at the time of the manifestation of the kingdom? Also, what about those who are unwilling to forgive those who have offended them? Yes, certain ones may have offended you, but you need to remember how much God the Father has forgiven you. Why will you not conduct yourself as a beloved son of the Father and forgive others as He has forgiven you? We all have a weakness here, for we all are unwilling to forgive others. If you still remember a brother’s offense against you, it indicates that you have not forgiven him from your heart. If this is your situation when the kingdom comes, you will be delivered to the tormentors.
Perhaps you have not heard such a serious word before and were misled concerning this matter. Many Christians do not know how to interpret this part of the Word because they have not seen God’s dispensational administration. They do not realize that God has ordained three ages: the present age, the coming age, and the eternal age. According to Matthew 12:32, certain sins cannot be forgiven either in this age or in the coming age. This indicates that other sins can be forgiven in this age or in the next age. If you offend the church and rebel against the church, you commit a sin. But if you repent to the church, this sin will be forgiven in this age. However, if you do not repent to the church, this sin will not be forgiven in this age. Rather, you will need to wait until the coming kingdom age before this sin is forgiven. During the kingdom age, you will be under the discipline of God. Then you will repent and be forgiven. Although you may be disciplined in the coming age and dealt with by God, you will not be lost. After you have been dealt with, you will repent and apply the blood. Then, in that age, you will be forgiven. We need to be very serious about this matter. Have you offended anyone? If you have, you need to repent. Has anyone offended you? If so, by the Lord’s grace you must forgive that offense and forget about it. If we do this, there will be no friction among us. All offenses will be removed by our repentance and forgiveness.
If we do not practice the way of repentance and forgiveness, the longer we stay in the church life, the more offenses there will be. The offenses will accumulate until they are as high as a mountain. This will annul the kingdom life and cause us to forfeit the church life. May the Lord grant us the grace we need. If I offend you, I need to go to you and repent. If you offend me, I need to look to the Lord for the grace to forgive you from my heart. And once I have forgiven an offense, I should forget it and never mention it again. If we do this, we shall have the proper kingdom life. Then we shall share in the manifestation of the kingdom. Otherwise, during the millennium we shall be under God’s discipline so that we will repent of our offense or forgive the one who offended us.