What is the sea of forgetfulness?

No doubt the thief could never forget what a sinner he had been — never forget his guilt and wickedness — he never could, he never shall; yea, throughout the countless ages of eternity, he and all the redeemed shall remember the past. How could it be otherwise? Shall we lose the power of memory in the future? Surely not. But every remembrance of the past shall only tend to swell the note of praise which the heart shall give forth as we think of the grace that shines in those precious words, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Such is the style of divine forgiveness! God will never again refer to those sins which His own loving hand has cancelled by the blood of the cross. Never! No, never! He has cast them behind His back for ever. They have sunk as lead into the deep waters of His eternal forgetfulness. All praise to His glorious Name!

It does not say that God forgets them, it says He remembers them no more, and the difference is important. I might owe a heavy bill to a tradesman, and he might forget all about it and not present it for payment. That does not cancel the debt. But if he presents it and I pay it, it is done with. He does not send it to me again. He remembers it against me no more. The sins were not forgotten, the full account of them was rendered for payment at the cross, and the blood of Jesus has obliterated the dreadful score. Justice is satisfied, and the question will never arise again. Our sins and iniquities are remembered no more.

(2.) It is not as if God forgot the things, but He does not remember them — hold them in His mind — against them in any way. If I say I forget as well as forgive, it only speaks of the completeness, not, if the thing is called up, that my memory has ceased to know it as a fact. If I give an account of myself to God, I must do it completely or I should lose something of the goodness of Him who has called and saved me. Paul lost nothing in saying, "Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue," etc.

29 Verse 17. "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." According to these words it was necessary that the question of sin should be solved, for God does not say, "I will not remember," but, "I will remember no more." He saw our sins and remembered them, since He determined upon the death of Christ to abolish them. And now that they are abolished He remembers them neither to-day, tomorrow, nor for ever.

Then, as to the forgiveness of sins, not only does God forgive, but (if I may use such an expression) He forgets not in the human sense, as if it had passed from His consciousness, but in a divine sense, that it is no more against His people. It is as though our sins had never occurred. He says, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." The apostle shows later that if there is no more remembrance of sins, there is no more need for a sacrifice. All is divinely settled. "What though the accuser roar Of ills that I have done? I know them all, and thousands more; Jehovah findeth none."

The New Covenant shall then be established with both Israel and Judah (Jer. 31-34). No longer standing on the ground of responsibility merely before God, but blessed sovereignly by the Lord, all shall know Him from the least to the greatest. He will be their God and they shall be His people in very truth. His law shall be engraved within them—in their inward parts—it will be in their hearts and in their minds,—not simply in the Pentateuch. With love and with intelligence they shall then serve Him and know Him. Having pardoned all their iniquity He will remember no more their sin, for the atoning work of our blessed Saviour, their Messiah, has put all away according to Isaiah 53. Their sin, once remembered at the Cross in atonement, will now be remembered no more. It is not simply forgotten.

Upon the head of the live goat, in virtue of what is set forth typically in the death of the goat which was the LORD'S lot, the High Priest laid his hands, and confessed the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, putting them in that symbolic way on the head of the goat, and then sent him away by the hands of a fit man into the wilderness. In this highly spectacular way was typified how thoroughly sin is put away - clean gone, never to be seen again. It reminds us of Scriptures that show how thoroughly God deals with sin. We read, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). "Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back" (Isa. 38:17). "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17).

The last three verses of the prophecy express the faith and the sentiments of adoration that fill the prophet's heart at the thought of the goodness of God, who pardoned the iniquities of the people and cast their sins into the depths of the sea; who delighted in mercy, and who would perform His promises to Abraham and that which He had sworn unto the fathers in days of old.

Thus to know Jesus is present salvation, peace, and happiness. To know that my sins are blotted out by these "ruddy" drops - yes, blotted out, I say blotted out for ever, is perfect blessedness. They have no existence now before God, the judge of sin. Pardoned I am - I know I am, God says it. But to know that thy sins are blotted out is a deeper thought still. Christ abolished sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Like the pebble that has been cast into the depths of the sea, our sins are untraceable - they are buried in the deep waters of God's forgetfulness. And God has been so glorified in the work of His blessed Son, that it is now a righteous thing with God, as well as gracious, to bless all who believe in Jesus. He can now indulge His love by meeting in grace the chief of sinners, who bows to the name of the once lowly, but now exalted Son of man.

In now turning to this sevenfold cluster of present blessings, we may first look at what Scripture teaches about remission of sins. The reality of this, as a matter of present knowledge and enjoyment, few believe and many deny. But, spite of all men's infidel reasonings, ritualistic observances, and the bold way in which many ridicule the idea, yet nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture, or more truly enjoyed by souls. Our Lord Himself said, "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins;" and observe, this is not a promise that they shall be blotted out when we come to die, but complete cleansing now, in virtue of Christ's having suffered for sins, and therefore washed us from them in His most precious blood. The prophets of the Old Testament also taught that "it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Hezekiah said, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." (Isa. 38:17.) Micah said, "Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." (7, 4.) Isaiah, speaking for God, no doubt looking forward to Christ's sacrifice, said, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins." (Isa. 44:22.) No language could perhaps be used more forcibly to illustrate the complete cancelling of our sins; for where, I ask, is the thick cloud we were looking at yesterday? You will reply, "It is gone, and gone for ever." True, and so completely are our sins now blotted out by God; for He says He will remember them no more.