… In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

— 1 John 4:10

God’s forgiveness is astounding. I hope that you realize that all of your sins are wiped away by a God who cannot forget anything because He is omniscient and knows all things. One of the great mysteries of the Scriptures, a paradox indeed, is that He has said, He will cast all our sins “into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19) and He will remember them no more (see Jeremiah 31:34).

In Christ we have the assurance that all of our sin has been wiped away and we are reconciled unto God, invited back into His favor, into the fellowship of His communion, adopted into His family, given His name, invited to His table, made His heir everlastingly. Our inheritance in Christ cannot possibly be measured. That is what Christ has done for us on the cross.

What I have just described is called “propitiation.” This means that the wrath of God toward us is set aside and falls not on us, but on our substitute, Christ. Secondly, it means our sin is wiped away forever, as when one would wash a blackboard. Thirdly, we who had our backs to God are reconciled and drawn into the fellowship of His love. This is God’s forgiveness; this is God’s love.

Question to ponder:
What does it mean that God is “appeased”?