I Beg Your Pardon


The New Oxford American Dictionary defines pardon as “the action of forgiving or being forgiven for an error or offense.” The White House has a history of issuing them especially before a president leaves office. One of the most memorable was the 1974 pardon Gerald Ford gave shortly after the resignation of his predecessor Richard Nixon. Ford’s stated reason was to help the country move forward from the Watergate scandal. His press secretary Jerald terHorst resigned in protest. Historians believe the Nixon pardon was a major reason Ford lost the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter.

Last Sunday, another controversial pardon came from the White House. Joe Biden issued one for his son Hunter who was convicted of multiple felonies but hadn’t yet been sentenced. What makes this pardon troubling is the Biden administration stating numerous times no pardons would be issued for Hunter. The outgoing president didn’t keep his word.


Even if Hunter Biden appears to be getting off scot-free, he will someday stand before the Ultimate Judge. Unless he repents and gives his life to Jesus, the president’s son will receive justice more severe than what any man can dish out. Deuteronomy 29:19-20 (NLT) says, “Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, 1 am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.' This would lead to utter ruin! The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven.” This passage disproves the doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” Professing believers who think they can get away with willful sin are fooling themselves.


The Bible has other things to say about pardons:


“Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.” - 

Exodus 23:21-22


“If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” - Exodus 34:9


“But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness,

and did not forsake them.” - Nehemiah 9:17


“For Your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.” - Psalm 25:11


“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD.” - Isaiah 55:7


“I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.” - Jeremiah 33:8


“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?” - Micah 7:18


Yes, forgiveness is available from the Lord regardless of one's crimes. Even a convicted murderer may receive salvation but still have to serve his or her sentence. You must have justice to move forward. 


“keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” - Exodus 34:7

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