Grace - Forgiveness Means So Much More Than We Think

Hi Everyone,

Consider the following verses:

"I have blotted out, like a cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins.  Return to Me, for I have redeemed you."  Isaiah 44:22

"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

"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins."  Isaiah 43:25

"...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

"Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."  Isaiah 40:2

Words like "blotted out", "cleansed", "pardoned", "not remember", "cast behind", and "delivered" speak to us more than just forgiveness of sin and sins; they offer complete assurance of complete restoration.  Why?  Because "forgiveness" in the original Greek means to send away, to dismiss, to forsake, to leave.  It's the same word used for "divorce" and also when Jesus "sent away" the crowds gathered around him.

"The new covenant declares that our sin has been sent away from us, banished from our presence; we have been divorced and set free from the chains that bound us, to be at liberty" (Malcolm Smith).

We know the story of the king in Matthew 18:23-35 who forgave his servant the astronomical debt he owed.  This is the type of debt that it would take 10 lifetimes to repay.  What's worse, the servant probably had no hope of paying it back ever, because, as anyone who has ever been in debt before knows, the interest keeps piling on and adding to the total sum.  When the king forgave his servant, someone had to pay the price!  What did he do?  He left his position as the account-keeper and joined the servant in indebtedness.  Then he assumed the whole responsibility for the debt and paid it off.  Jesus did the same for us; He left His place beside the Father, joined us, and then incredibly BECAME our sin.  He paid the price--the penalty--and we have been set free.

"In the blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus, sin has been dealt with finally and forever.  The term of the covenant says, "remember no more," which means sin is no longer on God's agenda, because it has been completely dealt with."

You haven't just been forgiven, ALL of your sins, past, present, and future have been sent away from you.  You are wholly pleasing to God because you are in Christ, now and forever more.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy