The Cross Not Only Forgives Sin; But Also Removes It Psalm 103 (day 20)

For this lent season, I am doing a forty-day study in the Psalms looking for aspects of the atonement that will end around Easter. My hope is to generate a newfound awe of what Christ did on the cross.

Psalm 103:6-12

[6] The LORD works righteousness is and justice for all who are oppressed. [7] He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. [8] The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. [9] He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. [10] He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. [11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; [12] as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

There is so much in Psalm 103 that I had to write two blogs on it (and I could write more).  In verse seven, I love the way God draws a distinction between showing Moses His ways; and showing Israel His acts. Moses was the only human representation of God Israel had. So Israel had Moses and Moses had God. Why is this important to understand? Jesus is our human representation of God. Jesus is the new and better Moses. So not only do we see God's acts; we get to see God in the face of our risen Savior Jesus Christ! We have it better than Israel because we see both God's acts and His ways. We get to know God personally through Jesus Christ. The only way that we get to see God through Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sin. As we see in the Psalm he does not deal with us according to our sin; or repay us for our iniquity. In addition not only does he forgive us of sin, He also removes our sin. This is very important to understand “the removal of sin”. “As far as East is from the west, so far does He remove our transgression from us”. It's not like he forgives us and our sin is somewhere close by. He removed our sin so far we can't get to it. Our sin died with Jesus.  Because God forgave us and also removed our sin don't buy the lie that your sin still haunts you.