November 22 THE ONE WHO BLOTS OUT OUR TRANSGRESSIONS "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25, NKJV). The assurance of forgiveness is emphatic: "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake" (Isaiah 43:25, NKJV). This gracious act of blotting out our transgressions is no mere legal transaction of removing our sins from the record. It is rather a transforming power that eradicates sin from the life of the believer. The act of blotting out is used to describe one of God's ways of disposing of confessed sins. The act of blotting out is final, thorough, and complete. To blot out is to obliterate, exterminate, and remove completely. That is precisely what Jesus does when the sinner comes to Him in repentance and confession. God does not keep a record of forgiven sins. These are blotted out and obliterated forever. Not only has our wonderful Saviour promised to blot out our transgressions, but He adds a second guarantee: "I will not remember your sins" (verse 25). The NIV adds the word "no more." How can an omniscient God not remember our sins anymore? The answer is simple. In His redemptive forgiveness, He voluntarily refuses to hold our sins against us since Jesus has taken full responsibility for all our confessed sins. Once our sins have been confessed and forsaken, God forgives us and treats us as though we had never sinned (see Ezekiel 18:20, 21). When Jesus blots out our transgressions, His caution to the woman trapped in sin is applicable: "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (John 8:11, NKJV). "There is forgiveness with God; there is acceptance full and free through the merits of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord, Isaiah heard the Lord declaring to His chosen ones: 'I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.' "--Prophets and Kings, p. 723. My Prayer Today: Lord, thank You for the One who blots out my transgressions and keeps me from falling. Amen.