When FEAR knocks at the door
And FAITH answers
There is NOBODY there!
That would terrify me. If God could forget something – He could forget anything – and that includes me! I reject the possibility of God ever forgetting anything. To forget is a mental problem, a mental block. Forgetfulness is often the first stage of senility. This could never apply to the creator of the universe, the God I love, trust and worship.
If I have shocked you, stick with me and we’ll peel back the layers. If you think the Sovereign God forgets your sin, you unwittingly undermine the atonement and have not taken time to fully grasp (2 Corinthians 5:21) God made Him Who knew no sin to be made sin for us so that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is one of my many favourite verses and I’ll come back to it.
Actually, God warns us in the holy scriptures of many things we dare not forget e.g. Forget not (Ecclesiastes 12:1) thy Creator. Forget not (Deuteronomy 8:11) the Lord thy God and His commandments. Forget not (Deuteronomy 25:19) the Lord God gives thee thine inheritance. Forget not (Proverbs 4:5) to seek wisdom and retain it. Forget not (Hebrews 13:16) what pleases God. Do not forget (Isaiah 51:13) the Lord thy Maker. Do not forget (Revelation 3:3) what you have heard and hold fast.
How can God require us not to forget these commands and many more if He Himself can forget?
David invoked great calamity on himself if he forgot Jerusalem (Psalms 137:6). There is a difference between forgetting and not remembering which may not be obvious at first. We know that God threatened to forget Israel at times but we know enough scripture to know that this “forgetting” was a temporary substitution of punishment for blessing. We know that (Ezekiel 37) Israel has a glorious future. God can never forget Israel because (Isaiah 49:15-16) He has graven them upon the palms of His hand.
Now let’s narrow this down to you and me as true believers in the Lord Jesus. Though our sins be as scarlet (Isaiah 1:18) they shall be as white as snow. That could not happen by God merely forgetting. What made this transformation possible? He says (Micah 7:19) I will cast all your sins in the depths of the sea. What sea? That Sea was (1 Peter 1:18-19) the precious Blood of Jesus. God does not say He will forget our sins but (Jeremiah 31:34) He will remember them no more and that is very different.
We say that Jesus paid our sin debt in full – past, present and future sins and that is true. But the atonement of our Saviour did something much greater and more glorious than just the forgiveness of our sins. We know that (Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:2 Jesus is the Propitiation for our sins - - our sin Bearer and our punishment Taker.
Going back to our initial verse (1 Corinthians 5:21) we know that Jesus had no sin – that He was absolutely and totally sinless. How could a just Judge, a holy God pour out awful judgment on His sinless Son? Don’t go to the quick and easy answers – there is so much more. How could a sinner, even a forgiven sinner, be made righteous? Some of the following thoughts are based on truth I learned from Oswald Chambers many years ago and through the years have re-learned. The glorious truth is never boring. Because of one man, Adam, I was born with a heredity of sin which I cannot touch. Because of the willingness of another Man to take my place, by regeneration, Christ can put into us His own heredity of holiness. We can have the resurrection Life of Jesus now and it will reveal itself in holiness. It pleases God (Galatians 1:15-16) to reveal His Son in us. When we decide to identify our heredity of sin with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades and takes charge. Our part is to walk in the Light and obey all that He reveals. Does this mean we will never sin again? Our own daily lives tell us we do sin because (Galatians 5:16-17) our old nature/flesh is contrary to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit to the flesh – and (1 John 2:1) we have an Advocate. There are individual wrong thoughts – words – deeds. Jesus took our whole heredity of sin – our sin disposition not by sympathy but by identification. He puts within us His holy heredity and holy disposition. He didn’t alter human nature but altered its mainspring. Now we find that we have no desire to sin and have the power to choose not to sin.
The commands and teachings of God are for the new Life He puts in us and our new disposition enables us to live the new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ rehabilitated the human race; He put it back to where God designed it to be and anyone can enter into union with God on the grounds of what our Lord has done on the Cross.
Because we have no past but Christ’s past --- God does not forget our sin.
BECAUSE
He has nothing to remember!-
I have a bonus thought for you. One of my secrets but it is an open secret which is or should be obvious. It may seem a little off topic but actually it’s not when you think about it
When FEAR knocks at the door
And FAITH answers
There is NOBODY there!
No wonder the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is called (Hebrews 2:3) so great salvation !!!
I think – if we can fully grasp the deep personal meaning in these stupendous, magnificent truths – and the rich treasures of our inheritance in Christ Jesus – our gratitude would increase so abundantly – that never again would there be any room in us for grumbling.