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November
22, 2004
THE
ONE WHO BLOTS OUT OUR TRANSGRESSIONS
"I,
even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own
sake; and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25,
NKJV).
The assurance
of forgiveness is emphatic: "I, even I, am He who blots
out your transgressions for My own sake" (Isaiah 43:25,
NKJV). This gracious act of blotting out our transgressions
is no mere legal transaction of removing our sins from the
record. It is rather a transforming power that eradicates
sin from the life of the believer. The act of blotting out
is used to describe one of God's ways of disposing of confessed
sins. The act of blotting out is final, thorough, and complete.
To blot out is to obliterate, exterminate, and remove completely.
That is precisely what Jesus does when the sinner comes to
Him in repentance and confession. God does not keep a record
of forgiven sins. These are blotted out and obliterated forever.
Not only
has our wonderful Saviour promised to blot out our transgressions,
but He adds a second guarantee: "I will not remember
your sins" (verse 25). The NIV adds the word "no
more." How can an omniscient God not remember our sins
anymore? The answer is simple. In His redemptive forgiveness,
He voluntarily refuses to hold our sins against us since Jesus
has taken full responsibility for all our confessed sins.
Once our sins have been confessed and forsaken, God forgives
us and treats us as though we had never sinned (see Ezekiel
18:20, 21).
When
Jesus blots out our transgressions, His caution to the woman
trapped in sin is applicable: "Neither do I condemn you;
go and sin no more" (John 8:11, NKJV). "There is
forgiveness with God; there is acceptance full and free through
the merits of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord, Isaiah
heard the Lord declaring to His chosen ones: 'I, even I, am
He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake,
and will not remember thy sins.' "--Prophets and Kings,
p. 723.
My
Prayer Today: Lord, thank You for the One who blots
out my transgressions and keeps me from falling. Amen.
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