Article - Into the Depths of the Sea
Being a child of God has many blessings that come with that privilege but one of the richest is the forgiveness we receive through Christ. Sometimes I wonder if we really understand the remission and removal of sin that occurs in the mind of God. The Prophet Micah gives us a very graphic picture of how God removes sin from our lives. Micah says, ““He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). To understand the complete removal of sins that occurs when one obeys the Gospel it would be profitable to explore Micah’s words a little more in depth.
The average depth of the ocean is about 14,000 feet or around 2.5 to three miles deep. . The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam. Challenger Deep is approximately 36,200 feet deep or about 6.5 miles deep. While these numbers help us to understand this depth a little, 6.5 mile is still a little hard to fathom. To understand this maybe we could use these images. Imagine an underwater depth that is higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France which is 1,052 feet or the Empire State building in New York which is 1,472 feet. It could take 5.4 Empire State Buildings in order to reach the bottom of the deepest ocean - the Mariana Trench. Better yet, the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest (29,141 feet), would be covered by over 1.25 miles of water.
With these figures and images in mind one can see how completely God is willing to remove all our sins from us. As the Hebrew writer said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more ” (Hebrews 8:12). How wonderful it is know that when God forgives, God also forgets. This is why Paul could rejoice when he said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Lord Jesus Christ reminded us of the beauty of forgiveness when He said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). When we think about the wonder of God’s forgiveness it should make each of us live faithful until death (Revelation 2:10). And, if one has never obeyed God’s plan of salvation he should take advantage of this forgiveness (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). If as God’s child my life has not been lived faithfully, I should be willing to repent and pray (Acts 8:20-22).
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