fbpx
Did I do something to deserve this suffering? This is a common and distressing question for many who find themselves in a fiery trial. After all, who can look back on their lives and declare themselves sin free? Hint: only the helplessly self-righteous. Even “friends,” like Job’s friends, can accuse the suffering person of some open or hidden sin. They only want to help the sinner repent, you see, so that God will stop punishing.

But this is not how God deals with those who have received the Savior, Jesus Christ! This is the reason Christ came to earth: to TAKE AWAY our sin and punishment so that we could “walk”! Isaiah 53:5-6 puts it like this:

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

In the American justice system, Presidents can “pardon” those accused of crimes. They can release criminals from prison, and even clear their records, as if they had never done anything wrong. This is what God does for us in Christ. Both Paul the Apostle and King David were murderers, yet God pardoned them and cleared their records. They rejoiced in the awesome blessing of being released from punishment for their sins. Here are two more powerful promises of His mercy and forgiveness:

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 against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me (Jeremiah 33:8).

I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

He doesn’t even REMEMBER our sins, so why would He still punish us for them? Of course God can recall our sins, He is promising He won’t punish us for them. These promises apply to all of our sins: past, present and future. Could it be any other way? Certainly we will all sin in the future. Thank the Lord God Almighty for His incredible plan to pardon me and pardon you!

Find out more about receiving God’s plan of salvation here.

Share your love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *