Jeremiah 31:34b says
For all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
When we forgive someone for offending us, we hardly forget what they did to us. Nevertheless, our God is different. When God forgives our sins, He does not remember them anymore. Hallelujah! Because of Christ’s death and our believing into Him, we can be forgiven by God. When He forgives our sins, He forgets them. To Him it is just as though we have never sinned! Just by believing this, you are forgiven.
According to Isaiah 1:18, although our sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.
He not only forgives our sins, exempting us from the penalty of our sins and removing the record of our sins from before Him; He also washes away the traces of sins in us, making as as white as snow and white like wool. Both snow and wool are naturally white. Hence, as a result of God’s washing, we become not only white but also naturally white, as if we had never been defiled.
We should be so thankful that our problem of sinning against God has been solved perfectly through Christ’s death on the cross. He accomplished redemption on the cross, whereas we receive forgiveness the moment we believe into Him.
Redemption and forgiveness are actually two ends of one thing. The forgiveness of offenses is the redemption accomplished through the precious blood of Christ (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:22).
However, two terms are used because this one thing has two ends: the end of the accomplishment on the cross and the end of the application to us at the time we believed. Although redemption was accomplished on the cross when Christ shed His blood, it was not applied to us at that time.
The application did not take place until we believed into Christ and made confession to the righteous God. At that very moment, the Spirit of God applied to us the redemption Christ had accomplished on the cross. Hence, redemption is the accomplishment, and forgiveness is the application.
Robert Lawry, a great composer of gospel music and hymn wrote this hymn:
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Praise the Lord! While the blood of Jesus washes us positionally, making us as white as snow, the flowing Spirit washes us metabolically, making us white like wool. This is God’s full salvation.
"Though your sins be as scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though your sins be as scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they be red as crimson,
They shall be as wool;"
"Though your sins be as scarlet,
Though your sins be as scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow,
They shall be as white as snow.
He'll forgive your transgressions,
And remember them no more;
He'll forgive your transgressions,
And remember them no more;
"Look unto Me, ye people,"
Saith the Lord your God!
He'll forgive your transgressions,
He'll forgive your transgressions,
And remember them no more,
And remember them no more.
by Fanny Jane Crosby