AP

Psalm 103:11-12    For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

David was struggling to get his head around, and much more to express, the immeasurable magnitude of God’s forgiving love! We too, have the same difficulty, although we are in a much better position to do so from our vantage point, as we look back to the utter enormity of the fact that he was prepared to send his own dearly-loved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the CROSS to demonstrate his love (cf John 3:16)!  It is only when I try to take in what it meant for the Son of God to bear all the guilt and all the punishment for all my sin, and to cry out in utter anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, that I come anywhere near understanding the depth of his love.  It is only when I hear the last breath of this perfect earthly human life proclaiming, “It is finished!”, that I can come anywhere near seeing what it means to have all my transgressions totally removed from me – and forgotten!  

Various hymn writers have tried to express it concerning the Cross: “O safe and happy shelter, O refuge tried and sweet, O trysting place where Heaven’s love and Heaven’s justice meet!” (Elizabeth Clephane);  “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.  The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave his Son to win; his erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin.  Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,  were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky.  O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!  It shall forevermore endure, the saints’ and angels’ song.”  (Bart Millard, et al);  “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that he should send his only Son to make a wretch his treasure.  How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns his face away, as wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory.  Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders; ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.  It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished; his dying breath has brought me life – I know that it is finished. … … Why should I gain from his reward?  I cannot give an answer; but this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.”  (Stuart Townend).   Our loving Father God can wipe out every memory and record of our sins because his justice has been satisfied in the death of his own dear Son.  Hallelujah! What love! What a Saviour!   As the Author of Hebrews (10:17) quotes from Jeremiah 31:34, ““Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

– Bruce Christian