Into the Depths

In the Old Testament book of Micah, the prophet says that God will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19  We know that the prophet is using a metaphor to describe how God can forgive sin.  But he illustrates in a way that until recent years most people would not really comprehend how amazing that truth is.

Explorers have mapped several of the deepest seas and call them “deeps.”  There is the Murray Deep, the Campbell Deep and others.  The Challenger Deep, which lies about 140 miles southwest of Guam is the deepest of the “deeps”.  Part of this “deep” is more than seven miles below the surface of the ocean.

The prophet Micah chose this word picture to reassure us of the amazing truth  that when God forgives our sins they are gone forever.  Because Jesus came from heaven, lived a sinless life, became sin for us, suffered and died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins, we can be forgiven.

Forgiveness with God is unlike forgiveness with mankind.  You see, we may say we forgive, but we have a real hard time forgetting.  We might even be restored to someone who has hurt us and act as if it never happened, but it is still hard to forget.

Not with God.  Hebrews 10:16-17, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord;  I will put My laws in their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, then He adds,  'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'"

It would be like dropping something off a ship into the Challenger Deep.  You would never see it again.  And that my friends is what happens to our sins when forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.  God will remember them no more.