Daily Devotional

I am very thankful for God’s forgiveness of sins.  How many of us have needed God’s forgiveness this past month… week… or even today.  Without that forgiveness, past, present, and future, we would be without hope and doomed to a Christless eternity.  It is beyond my complete understanding of how God could forgive us and declare us righteous in His sight. By His grace it is true. He has abundantly shown His mercy to all of us.

God’s forgiveness was made possible through Christ’s blood being shed for each of us. Our forgiveness rests in the atoning work of Christ. Our God is a forgiving God. He is just and righteous. He could not sweep our sins under the rug. He had to deal with it properly. For Him to declare us righteous and forgiven, He had to pay the price for our sins. Jesus’ death did that. It is wonderful knowing that forgiveness is rooted in God’s character. Through faith in the sacrifice of Christ, we are the objects of His grace and have received forgiveness.

The Old Testament scriptures describe God’s forgiveness with very vivid word pictures.  Even though sins could not be completely forgiven until Christ shed His blood on the cross, these verses give us a wonderful insight into God’s forgiveness.

1.  Sin is cast “into the deepest sea.”
“He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” 
Micah 7:19

Micah asks the rhetorical question in verse 18, “Who is like Jehovah?”  He figuratively says that God tramples our sins under his feet and then casts them into the deepest sea. The idea expressed is that God destroys our sins and then disposes of them. Only God can do that. God forgave all that the people of Israel did to bring displeasure to Him. Today He has completely destroyed and disposed of all our sins.

2.  Sin is removed “as far as the east is from the west.”
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Psalm 103:12

When you travel east or west, you continually keep going east or west. Since there is an unlimited distance between east and west, this word picture shows how God has unlimitedly removed sin from the sinner. It indicates that God separates the sin from the sinner by forgiving him. The sin and the sinner will never be reunited again. God sees us as totally separated from our sins.

3.  Sin is “hid behind God’s back.”
“Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”
Isaiah 38:17

Hezekiah learned that God’s love was with him and that God did not punish him according to what his sins deserved. God had preserved his life from death and had mercifully cast Hezekiah’s sins behind His back expressing the truth that his sins had been forgiven. God no longer looked at his sin, for it was removed completely out of His sight. It is wonderful to know that just as God removed Hezekiah’s sin from him, He removes our sin and no longer sees us connected to our sin.

4.  Sin is “remembered no more.”
 “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the  LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”  
Jeremiah 31:34

The sins of Israel resulted in the curses of the Old Covenant. However, as part of the New Covenant God will forgive Israel’s wickedness and remember their sins no more. But how could a holy God overlook sin? The answer is that God did not “overlook” sin…its penalty was paid in full by a Substitute. What God has forgiven; He no longer remembers.  This does not mean that God had a senior moment and does not remember our sins.  It does mean that He chooses not to remember our sin any longer and hold it against us. God’s forgiveness is complete because God provided a Substitute to pay the penalty required for all sin. In forgiving us, He chooses not to remember or bring up our sins again.  He has completely forgiven us and remembers our sins no more.
 
5.  Sin is “bleached white.” 
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18

God invited sinful Israel to come to their senses and admit that they had been wrong in their attitudes and practices. The invitation, “Come now, let us reason together” was more than a call for negotiations between Israel and God. The word “reason” is a law term used for arguing, convincing, or deciding a case in court. The people were to be convinced that God was right, and they were wrong about their actions and attitudes. If they acknowledged the depth of their sins, then God in His grace would cleanse them, making them spiritually white like snow or wool.  Today God wants us to acknowledge/confess our sins.  In His grace and mercy, He has already faithfully forgiven and cleansed us.  (1 John 1:9)

Prayer: Lord, I just want to thank You for Your forgiveness in my life. Thank You, Jesus, for dying as my substitute for my sin. It is wonderful to know that You no longer hold my sin against me but have completely cleansed me from it. Help me to live each day as your forgiven child. Amen.

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.