Hebrews 8:12—”For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
Jesus speaks about the new covenant that He was making with the generation after the complaining Israelites. Prior to this, in the first covenant, the blood of animals were used as sacrifice to atone for people’s sins. “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”?
Earlier, all were subject to the law, condemned for the guilt of sin, but also were unable to remove that guilt and clear the conscience. Now, for us who are connected to Jesus by faith, He is the mediator of the new covenant. The Blood of Christ provides a full remission of sins so that God remembers them no more. God writes His laws in us; He gives us understanding to know and believe His laws; He will give us memory to retain them, hearts to love them, courage to profess them, and power to put them in practice. This is the foundation of the covenant; and when this is laid, we will do our duty wisely, sincerely, readily, easily, constantly, and with comfort. A plentiful outpouring of the Spirit of God will make spreading of the Gospel so effective, that there shall be a mighty increase and spreading of Christian knowledge in persons of all sorts.
Forgiveness is the first gift from the blessings that the Gospel brings. Forgiveness deals with man’s deepest need. Pardon is not the same as removing the consequences of wrongdoing. The full pardon of sin is “ordained” on the three promises of: an inward revelation, universal knowledge of God, and free pardon of sin. A father often pardons, and says so before he punishes, and it is the same with God. The true essence of forgiveness, is not putting aside consequences, but the flow of the Father’s heart to the erring child. Divine righteousness and the divine love are two names for one thing, and forgiveness lifts us into a region of higher purity.
