April 12

He Remembers No More

No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more. — Jer 31:34 BSB

When we know the Lord, we receive the forgiveness of sins. We know Him as the God of grace, who passes by our transgressions. What a joyful discovery this is!

But how beautifully this promise is worded: the Lord promises to remember our sins no more! Can God forget? He says He will, and He means it. He will regard us as though we had never sinned. The great atonement so effectively removed all sin that, in God’s mind, it no longer exists. The believer is now in Christ Jesus, accepted as Adam was in his innocence, and even more so, for he wears a divine righteousness, whereas Adam’s was merely human.

The Lord will not remember our sins in a way that leads to punishment or even to love us less because of them. Just as a debt ceases to be a debt when it is paid, the Lord completely obliterates the iniquity of His people.

When we mourn over our transgressions and shortcomings—as we should do as long as we live—let us also rejoice that they will never be mentioned against us. This makes us hate sin even more. God’s free pardon makes us eager never to grieve Him by disobedience again.