Devotion: Gospel Gems from the Old Testament — Micah 7:18-20 By Tom Nass This past school year at Martin Lutheran College I had the privilege of reading the book of Micah in Hebrew with a group of seniors studying to be pastors. At this convention, I'd like to share four "gospel gems" from the book of Micah that we uncovered in our study. The first "gospel gem," for our devotion this afternoon, is the ending of the book, Micah 7:18-20. Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay anger forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago. I once saw of listing of the various pictures that the Bible uses to illustrate the forgiveness of sins. There are many beautiful pictures. For example, God says that: He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12) He blots our sins out of his record book (Isaiah 43:25). He cancels our debt of sin (Matthew 18:27). He washes our robes and makes them white (Revelation 7:14). It happens in these last verses of Micah, the prophet Micah gives another very vivid and memorable picture of forgiveness. He says that God will "hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." When I hear this metaphor, I think about an acquaintance of mine who went ice fishing last winter. He took two flashlights with him, but he came back only with one. One flashlight fell into the hole and sank into the lake. It's gone forever. Perhaps some of you have been fishing and accidentally knocked something out of the boat into the lake. Maybe a set of keys. Maybe some eyeglasses or a cell phone. If you happened to be near shore, perhaps you waded in the water to try to find it. But if you were out in the deep water, these items were gone for good, never to be seen again. This is the picture Micah gives us of the forgiveness of sins. Micah says that God will hurl "all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." That means God will get rid of sins totally and completely. They will never appear again. They are out of sight forever. When Micah says this, he realizes it is very remarkable that the true God should fully and freely forgive sins. Micah says, "Who is a God like you who pardons sin?" The implied answer is: "No one." Think of all the other religions on earth. In none of them does the deity freely and fully forgive sins. In all man-made religions, people must do something to atone for sin. Some say that this shows Christianity to be the true religion, because human beings would never make this up on their own. The true God is unique and incomparable. He hurls our sins into the depths of the sea. With something so remarkable and unusual, one might still ask: How can God do it? Here Christian teachers find three components in the forgiving of sins. First, behind the forgiveness of sins is the grace or the mercy of God. Grace is the driving force. Grace is sometimes called the internal or impulsive cause of salvation. God forgives sin not because of anything worthwhile in people. He does it simply because he loves the people he made. As Micah says, "God delights to show mercy." Then secondly, there's the work of Jesus Christ. God forgives sins because Jesus "bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). As our substitute, Jesus suffered all the punishment needed to satisfy God's justice. Also our substitute, Jesus achieved a perfect righteousness that can be credited to us. "Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). Christian teachers sometimes refer to Christ as the meritorious cause of forgiveness and salvation. The third component is faith. We know that Jesus died for all sins of every single sinner. But if a person does not repent and believe, he does not receive the blessing of forgiveness. Faith, worked by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, is the instrument through which we receive the blessing. We notice in the words of Micah that not all people enjoy the forgiveness of sins. It's only the "remnant" of God's inheritance. With that phrase in 700 B.C. Micah had in mind, first of all, the people who would come back from the Babylonian captivity. That "remnant" of people would be forgiven by God, as it were. But now in New Testament times, the "remnant" of God's inheritance are those who believe in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says, "Those who believe are children of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7). What this all means is that we, as believers in Jesus as our Savior, can be confident that God, by grace for Christ's sake, has hurled all our sins into the depths of the sea. Our sins our totally gone. It's not that some of our sins are hurled into the sea, while others remain in the boat. God hurls all of them. It's not that our sins are thrown into the shallow water where they might resurface. Our sins are thrown into the depths of the sea, and will never rise again to condemn us. Our forgiveness is perfect. It is complete. What marvelous comfort this is for sinners like us! Each of us has a sinful nature, so that, coursing through our bodies in every cell, is an antagonism toward God. In addition, we daily offend our holy God with impure thoughts, selfish words, and unkind actions. For all of this we deserve an eternity of fire in hell. Sin remains our greatest problem. What a relief to know that God is not going to punish us! He doesn't hold our sins against us. Our sins are hurled into the depths of the sea. God looks upon us in love. This is what gives us joy and confidence to face death. This is what gives us joy and confidence to face each new day of life on earth. The message of the forgiveness of sins or justification by faith, of course, has always been looked upon in the Lutheran Church as the chief teaching of the Bible. The Formula of Concord of our Lutheran Church explicitly says, "This article concerning justification by faith is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine" (Formula of Concord SD III:6). Not long ago I heard a group of Lutherans discussing why it is that the Lutheran church calls justification the chief teaching. I think the easiest answer is: This is the doctrine by which we are saved! This is how we come into a right relationship with God. This is the gospel. If a person believes in angels, but not in Jesus Christ as the Savior from sin, he will be lost forever. If a person believes that God has a special purpose for his life, but doesn't believe that the blood of Jesus covers his sin, it will do him no ultimate good. Therefore the teaching of the forgiveness of sins must always remain front and center in the Lutheran church. Lutheran pastors must never tire of preaching about the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ, and distributing it in Baptism and Holy Communion. Lutheran parishioners must never tire of receiving the message of forgiveness. It is the work of all of us united in a Lutheran church body, first and foremost, to share this glorious good news. The forgiveness of sins is the focal point of our life as Christians. Today Micah gives us a "gospel gem" to illustrate God's forgiveness. We can use this picture to build up our faith. We can share it with others. Micah says that God "will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." The Lutheran Home Association 337 South Meridian Street, Belle Plaine, MN 56011 tlha.org l 888-600-TLHA l [email protected] .