Blotted Out

Isaiah 43: 25-26

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.”

Have you ever spilled ink on something important? An important document perhaps? There’s no way to remove the ink. It covers over everything entirely, making it impossible to read what was written on the paper just seconds before. The words are now blotted out. They’re covered up. They’re completely obscured. They can’t be read. That document is no good anymore. It’s null and void. Completely worthless. And not just to you. No one can hope to recover what was written there. It’s up to you to have another copy.

But what if we were talking about a document that contained a list of everything you’d ever done wrong? What if it were the only record of a tremendous debt you owed? What if the law said that without that document, the debt would be considered paid in full? Would you be in the same mental state when that documents words were blotted out? Or would you rejoice in the fact that you were now free of the debt?

When Isaiah wrote this prophecy, the people of God had sinned repeatedly and grievously. Their list of offenses was long and full and detailed. But God did something unforeseen. Instead of demanding justice, instead of holding up the list of transgressions and indicting them on every single one of them, He blotted them out. We know the fulfillment of this prophecy came when Christ died on the cross. The list of our every offense, our every crime against God, the incredible debt we owed Him was blotted out with the blood of Christ. It couldn’t be read anymore.

As far as God was concerned, it no longer existed. And so God asks us: “Do you really want to argue with me over whether or not you’re guilty when I’ve erased any record of your wrongdoing?” He says to us: “Are you really going to continue to come to me over and over again with guilt for something I’ve forgotten already? You are free of the debt. I remember it no more, and neither should you.”

Father, thank you that for your own sake and for your own purposes you planned a way from the beginning…from the very first sin…to blot out our transgressions against you. You are a merciful and loving God. Thank you that you covered all my sins under the blood of Jesus, and I no longer have to feel guilty about them or confess them to you over and over again. The guilt and shame I feel are not from you. You have set me free. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.