God’s Forgiveness

Isaiah 43:25

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

This verse emphasizes a few things here…firstly, only God can forgive our sins. It is not our sacrifices or pilgrimages or traditional elders that can wash our sins, but only the blood of Jesus can. So, anyone who confesses their sins to God in true repentance will be freed from their sins. We are so privileged to be called children of this God who is truly supreme, omnipotent.

Secondly, He is promising that He will blot out our sins and will not remember them anymore. Does this mean that God has a bad memory and that He literally forgets stuffs? Think about this…can anyone intentionally forget things? It is possible to purposely memorize things, but not the other way round. We should understand that God was talking figuratively (figure of speech). If we notice, throughout the Bible, we see God talking by means of analogical language. This is the only way God could accommodate our limited language and our finite understanding to describe His infiniteness. So, by forgetting our sins, He means to display His genuine love for us. Just as 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, His love for us keeps no record of our wrong doings. He reassures this through many passages in the Bible like Psalm 103: 12, Micah 7:19 etc.

Finally, and most importantly, He emphasizes that He does this for His own sake. It is not because we have any merit or a claim to it, coz then it will be called justice, not forgiveness. It is not because of our worthiness but purely because of His goodness, grace and love for us that He takes away our sins. After all, John 3:16 confirms how much God loves us!