The most beautiful Bible verse ever…

Whoever comes to church hears the word “grace” a lot. That word “grace” falls under the “church language” for me. In other words, words that you do hear in church, but never or seldom outside the church. Because let’s be honest… when was the last time you heard that word “grace” outside of church? How many decades back?

They are also often the words that you can dream (if you grew up in a church), but when an outsider asks: what does that mean? Then we have the greatest difficulty in explaining that succinctly(!) and we quickly get bogged down in whole stories… after which the listener quickly gives up…sigh.

The word “Grace” doesn’t mean much to me. When I used to be beaten up again in the school yard, you had to shout mercy (when lying on the floor) and then the “rule of the game” was that they stop. What a “game”. And with the bruises on my body, just stopping punching didn’t really feel like grace, to be honest.

So “grace,” what does that look like in God’s eyes? “God is merciful”…. Yes… uhh….. Please explain?!

A little further and another such word is: “Forgiveness”. You hear that so much in a church. And to be honest, that doesn’t mean much to me either…. We also know this saying:

You know, if I was beaten up again in the schoolyard, and cried “mercy”… do you think I’d ever forget those moments? Nope. Maybe you have had those moments yourself, and you have suffered hard blows in your life. VERY maybe you can forgive the person who did it to you (and that’s already tough), but not think about it anymore? No… that is often a bridge too far…

Perhaps you have done something to other people…. Would they have forgiven you? Could they forget? Mmm…..

But now God… “God has mercy on you, and he forgives you.”

That word “mercy” does very poorly with the target groups we speak with. They don’t get that. And that brings us to the most beautiful Bible verse ever…

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Hebrews 8:12

Do you see that it does talk about wickedness and sin? As in, two different things? What’s the différance between both of them?

Sin is an easy one. The bible is clear that we all do:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight.

Romans 3:23

Let’s be honest, we all sin, we all told a “white lie”, we all cheated in some way or the other. To say that we don’t is yet another sin, and we all know it.

But “wickedness” or in other translations it is translated in “iniquities”. What are those? Let’s take a look at this verse:

But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel! You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honored me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense. You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults.
“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

Isaiah 43:22-25

You see a couple of things that we might not see as a sin.. but they are “wickedness” / “iniquities” indeed! If we need help from God, but we don’t ask Him…. If we should bring glory to God, but we don’t, that’s already a HUGE problem for God. Maybe we brought glory to ourselves more, then to God? Maybe we did things for our glory instead of Gods glory? Maybe we prayed for things we “needed”, but, in all honesty, we didn’t “need” them for His glory, but for our own convenience? That’s “wickedness” / “iniquities” and they do stand in between God and us. BIG time. And those are just a couple of examples, and if you look in your heart, you know there are “wickedness” / “iniquities” than just these.. Way more.

And if you add those up, you do get that this “wickedness” / “iniquities” and sin is a HUGE problem, and does see it all…

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:13

If you get that, you know that we are in BIG trouble by what we did and still do…

Now, let’s get back to that bible verse for the next part:

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Hebrews 8:12

When we show this verse to our target audience, we ask: what do you see in that bible verse? The answer is then 90% of the time:

God is merciful (full stop).

And yes, that’s right. But there is more. Way more. So, we’re going to push harder: read on….

And even then… they don’t come out on their own 50% of the time. And that’s funny. As if they read: God is mercy, blah, blah, I have heard that more than enough, blah blah. And then the thinking stops as if it were an old vinyl record… Really “funny”.

So then we read them again, the 2nd part:

And will remember their sins no more.

What does it say there? “Will remember no more”! What does that mean? The bible says multiple times that God does remember everything, so how does this work? That sounds like the bible is contradicting itself?

No, it does not… This bible verse does not say that God does forget what you did, it says that He does willingly not remember them. God does know, be He chooses not to remember. Willingly. That’s HUGE!

And then it comes…. if you believe what Jesus has done for you, and you have asked Him for forgiveness… then God, by His own choice, doesn’t think about it anymore. Nothing. Don’t think about it anymore, never again. God does keep His promises, so if He says, that He will do that, He will do that.

If you believe what Jesus has done for you, and you have asked Him for forgiveness, then God is wearing Jesus sunglasses. Then, when God looks at you, He sees Jesus. And since Jesus is perfect, you are perfect. And Jesus has NEVER done anything wrong, so how does God look at you now?

Without sin, literally as white as snow. Without your past. Without spots. Without… anything… a blank page…..

God doesn’t “just” forgive what you’ve been up to… He forgets. That is THE ultimate “grace” / “forgiveness”. God goes beyond that… He willingly does not remember.

Wow… If you get that… then there really is a new beginning for you. So that means “to be born again”! A new life, without a past.

And now to the present day… suppose… you have really done something VERY terrible…. Then you might also know this thought:

Yes, I understand that I am not doing so well because I have done such bad things, God would be crazy if He still helps me with something.

I will never find that good job again because I entirely ruined the old one, so why would God help me to find another(!) new job when I screwed up the old one like that?

And yes, that’s right. If God does remember what you have done… He would indeed be nuts to ever help you again. You really messed it up a lot.

But…..if God doesn’t remember what you’ve done? When He says He doesn’t even think about it anymore?! And so He looks at you like a blank page? Without a black past? How then can He withhold things from you as punishment? Punishment for what? Because He doesn’t remember anything about it anymore?! God cannot punish you for something He does not remember….

Do you now understand what “grace” is? Or “forgive”? So, that’s it. Start as new today. Without a past. Reborn.