One of the special privileges accorded to the US President by our Constitution is the authority to pardon whomever he or she wishes at whatever time he or she wishes. This perk of power has been utilized by most of our nation’s Chief Executives beginning with George Washington who pardoned participants in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. Since then, notable pardons have been issued by Gerald Ford to former President Nixon, by James Buchanan to Mormon leader Bringham Young, and by Jimmy Carter to all Vietnam War draft dodgers as well as a posthumous pardon to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Franklin D. Roosevelt granted the most pardons at 2,819 but then again, he was in office longer than any other president. His successor, Harry Truman, is next on the list with 1,913. Altogether, according to Wikipedia, since 1900, US Presidents have pardoned over 14,700 individuals and commuted sentences of nearly that many more.
A presidential pardon is a very special gift that protects the recipient from being prosecuted or punished for his or her crimes. It does not in any way imply innocence but rather frees the person from enduring whatever fines, imprisonment, or other penalties might be assigned by a court of law.
After President Biden left office, it was learned that the presidential autopen had been used to sign some of the pardons and clemencies issued during his term. While this instrument was invented in the 1940s to duplicate an individual’s signature, one of America’s earliest presidents, Thomas Jefferson, used a similar device, known as a polygraph, to make an extra copy of whatever he wrote. The newer device has been used by recent presidents and their staffs to accommodate the large volume of documents requiring the leader’s signature.
Since the discovery of some pardons not being physically signed by the president, debate has raged regarding the validity of these pardons so signed. Joe Biden and his staff insist that he personally approved each one while detractors claim decisions were made by others in the White House who used the machine to sign his name without his knowledge. The truth will likely be revealed in the years to come with the legitimacy of such pardons yet to be determined by the Supreme Court. I will not make presumptions but will leave the facts to the investigators and the legalities to the judges.
The very good news is that none of our pardons were signed by any autopen, nor even a biased US President of either party. If we are Christians, our official release was signed by God Himself. His signature was written not with India ink, but with the blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ. And since God is not only the Chief Executive of the universe but also its Supreme Judge, His pardons will never be reversed nor overturned.
Christians observe this coming week as Holy Week when we remember the price Jesus paid to grant our pardons. Like those issued by presidents, God’s pardons do not imply our innocence but rather the exact opposite. They affirm that we are, in fact, entirely guilty and deserving of eternal suffering for rebelling against Him. But unlike presidential pardons, these do not leave our crimes unpunished but they transfer and reassign our guilt to Jesus who willingly suffered for them in our place.
Also unlike any human, God knows each of our individual names and unique cases and, no matter what we’ve done, has personally penned our pardon. It’s up to us to receive it and then live into it with our gratitude, worship, and obedience. How thoughtless and evil I would be to use His pardon to continue to willfully sin against His great grace and mercy.
As we remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross next week, let us thank God for His forever pardon paid for with His Son’s blood. Blessings, George