(Read Psalm 103)
This beauteous psalm takes in a very wide range of truth. It comprehends the past, the present, and the future. It celebrates Jehovah’s redemption, in the past; Jehovah’s tender care, in the present; and Jehovah’s kingdom, of the future.
1. The first great point, with the soul, is to be fully established in the knowledge of redemption with its results. Till this is understood and enjoyed, there can be nothing right. There will always be doubt and difficulty, anxiety, and hesitation. We must know where an accomplished redemption has set us, ere we can know or enjoy anything. It is when we have found rest in what God hath wrought for us, that we can say, “Bless the Lord, Ο my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, Ο my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Worship is the fruit of a known and an enjoyed redemption. It is only as “clothed in garments of salvation,” that we can tread Jehovah’s courts with praise and thanksgiving.
Thus, in this lovely and well-known psalm, we have great fullness of expression, in reference to the vital subject of redemption. “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.” It is not “some” or “many of thine iniquities.” This would never do. If so much as the very smallest iniquity, in thought, word, or act, were left unforgiven, we should be just as badly off, just as far from God, just as unfit for heaven, just as exposed to hell, as though the whole weight of our sins were yet upon us. Let the reader ponder this deeply. It does not say, “who forgiveth thine iniquities previous to conversion.” There is no such notion as this in Scripture. When God forgives, He forgives like Himself. The source, the channel, the power, and the standard of forgiveness, are all divine. When God cancels a man’s sins, He does so according to the measure in which Christ bore those sins. Now, Christ not only bore some or many of the believer’s sins, He bore them “all,” and, therefore, God forgives “all” God’s forgiveness stretches to the length of Christ’s atonement; and Christ’s atonement stretches to the length of every one of the believer’s sins, past, present, and future. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1)
There is, in many minds, a great want of clearness and soundness on this point. The doctrine of the cross is not understood, even in its bearing on the question of forgiveness. It is not sufficiently seen, that the believer is introduced, by the cross, from a condition of absolute ruin and guilt, into a condition of absolute forgiveness and justification. This is done by the cross. It is not by the cross and a process of some kind or another. It is by the cross alone. Christ, having died under the full weight of His people’s transgressions, was laid in the grave, and thus got to the end of all that pertained to their natural condition and all its liabilities, for no one can have any claim upon a dead man. When He lay in the tomb, there was not a single claim of justice, law, sin, death, conscience, angel, man, or devil, unanswered. He had discharged all, and that, too, as the Representative of all who believe in His name. He died in their stead, and was buried; and there was the end of everything human, everything natural, everything earthly. What then? “The God of peace” then appeared on the scene, and in that special character “brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” (Heb. 13:20.) It was due to the One who lay in you silent tomb, that God should come and raise Him up, inasmuch as there was no one in heaven, on earth, or in hell, who had a single claim upon Him. Why, then, should He be left there? Why should the tomb be allowed to detain a Person, who had gloriously discharged every liability, met every claim, and silenced every objector? “It was not possible that he should be holden of it.” (Acts 2:24.)
Hence, therefore, God “raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,” and, in so doing, He raised up all true believers also, “having forgiven them all trespasses.” (Col. 2:13.) It does not say, “some of their trespasses,” “many of their trespasses,” or “their trespasses previous to conversion.” Oh, no! the Holy Ghost could only speak according to the measure of the love of God, and according to the value of the blood of Christ. He could not speak according to our meager thoughts, feeble apprehensions, and shallow experiences. He fixes His eye upon a risen Christ, and sees in Him the measure and the proof of the believer’s full and everlasting justification. If a single sin had been unatoned for, the grave would have held fast our Surety. But, blessed be God, all was done, and I see the proof of this on the throne of God, for when Christ had “by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,” (Heb. 1:3,) and He is now the perfect definition of the believer. The soul that simply and heartily believes on the name of the Son of God, is in Christ, accepted in Him, and one with Him, so that it is a grand mistake to talk of some of our sins being forgiven, or of our being forgiven up to a certain time, or for a certain period. All who speak thus have yet to learn the true ground and character of divine forgiveness. They know not the gospel—they know not the peace-giving power of the blood. They have yet to learn the force and real meaning of the words “who forgiveth all thine iniquities.”
The believer is just forgiven according to the perfectness of Christ’s atoning work. If you want to know the extent of a believer’s forgiveness, you have only to inquire the extent of Christ’s sacrifice, for, as is the one so is the other. There cannot be a shade of difference. If any of a believer’s sins are unforgiven, then some of Christ’s work remains undone. But He said, “it is finished,” and therefore all the believer’s sins are forgiven. This is a resting place for an awakened conscience, a balm for a troubled soul, peace for an anxious heart. “He forgiveth all thine iniquities.” And again, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” He has put our sins as far away as the death of Christ could put them; and He has brought us as nigh as a risen Christ could bring us.
2. All being thus settled, as regards “our iniquities,” and “our transgressions,” we are brought into a position in which we can enjoy the tender love and care of God as a Father. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Though standing in all the glorious results of accomplished redemption, we are, in ourselves, poor, feeble creatures, needing the constant care and tender mercy of One who has a father’s heart, and this we have in all its perfectness. True, the title of “Father” was not revealed when this psalm was penned. It was reserved for the special ministry of “the Son” to “declare the Father.” Still the father’s heart was the touching model. “Like as a father pitieth his children.” It is the Christian’s privilege to feed upon the tender love and sympathy of a Father’s heart; to walk in the light of a Father’s countenance; to be guided by the expression of a Father’s eye; to lean on the strength of a Father’s arm. We often forget this. We not only fail to see where the blood of Christ has put our sins, but also where that blood has brought our souls. We are brought to God. We have not to wait till we die to get to God. We are brought to Him now; and therefore we ought to walk with Him, lean on Him, joy in Him, look to Him continually.
If God has a Father’s heart, then, surely, His children ought to know that; and, if they know it, they should be delighting in the changeless love of that heart, instead of being occupied with the dark depths of their own. If I am brought to God, it is that I may be done with myself and walk on with Him. It is no sign of true holiness or true humility to be dwelling on one’s badness, to be writing hard things or uttering hard speeches against oneself. The really holy, humble man is he who is not thinking about himself at all, but who is enjoying God. A man is not in sound health who is continually talking about his pains, aches, and infirmities. The best way to show that I am in good health is to get on with my work, and never allude to myself, good or bad. “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” Of what use is it to be occupied with that which is “as grass,” or “as a flower of the field? “How much better to delight ourselves in the “mercy of the Lord,” which, like a golden chain, stretches “from everlasting to everlasting!” Precious thought! You may travel back into the unfathomed depths of eternity, and there you find “the mercy of Jehovah;” and you may travel onward into the countless ages of eternity yet to come, and there you find “the mercy of Jehovah.” Nothing was before it, and nothing can be after it. It is infinite. The current of mercy, deep and wide, flows down from the bosom of God, and thirsty souls may drink thereat and be eternally satisfied.
III. Having thus glanced at Jehovah’s redeeming mercy, and Jehovah’s tender care, the picture would be incomplete, did we not dwell, for a moment, on Jehovah’s coming kingdom. “Jehovah hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” For this we wait, in the soul-sustaining assurance that “ the time is short.” (1 Cor. 7) “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” (Rom. 13) “ He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” (Heb. 10) “The king’s son shall reign, as Jehovah hath said.” (2 Chron. 23) The One who was nailed to the cross shall, ere long, take His place on the throne, as Lord of all creation. The One who wore the crown of thorns shall, ere long, appear with a diadem of glory. The One whose right hand bore the reed which impious mockery placed therein, shall, ere long, wield the royal scepter, to the glory of God, and the joy of all created intelligences. For this a groaning creation waits—for this the Church of God waits. We “wait for his Son from heaven.” (1 Thess. 1:10.) Having found peace, through the blood of His cross, and enjoying, day by day, His tender care and gracious provision, there is just one thing we want—we want to “see him as he is,” for then we shall be like Him. We want to gaze on “that countenance transcendent—that life-creating sun.” This will fill the cup—all the ingredients will then be in—perfect redemption—gracious providence—cloudless and everlasting glory! “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!” A waiting Church, a groaning world, and Israel’s scattered tribes—all call aloud for thee. May it please thee speedily to accomplish the number of thine elect and hasten thy kingdom.