Isaiah 44:22 “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”

This past Sunday the subject came up of people who don’t believe they are worthy of salvation. The very fact that they are worried about it shows they are ready for it! The man crucified beside Jesus is an excellent case in point. He acknowledged that he was worthy of execution, and in asking Jesus to remember him, he indicated his faith. Jesus said that was sufficient for eternal salvation! (Luke 23:40-43) Some people teach that individual sins need to be repented of before they can be forgiven, but God is bigger than that. Individual repentance is a very good thing, and is often necessary for release and liberty, but that isn’t the image God presents here. Modern technology has given us the “data cloud,” where incredible quantities of information are stored. That too is a metaphor, because the data is actually stored on physical drives in a physical, terrestrial location, but the terminology applies. God is saying the “data cloud” recording all our past sins is simply eliminated; the drives are erased, or better yet, destroyed. God’s redemption is that big, that powerful. The better we grasp that, the more eager we will be to confess our sins to Him so that they may be wiped away and we be set free. (1 John 1:9)

I have testified many times of how liberating it was when God worked 2 Peter 1:9 into me: “But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” In other words, once sins are forgiven, they are forgiven, period. The devil loves to drag up past sins and remind us of them, but the more we dwell on them, the more likely we are to commit them again! To use the imagery from Isaiah, when mist clears, it’s almost hard to remember how things looked before it cleared! I am both to rejoice in God’s redemption myself and let those around me know of it as well, so that together we may walk in the liberty and purity of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I can think of various people who urgently need to grasp this truth, but though I have expressed it to them, they haven’t really accepted it yet. I ask Your grace and mercy for them, so that Your truth may indeed set them free, for their salvation and Your glory. (John 8:32) Thank You. Hallelujah!