When East Meets West

 

This is a very popular saying which has become so much part of everyday language and now there are ranges of clothing, furniture and all sorts of other commodities that bear the slogan. Yet, Rudyard Kipling’s famous quote says: “East is East, West is West, and never the twain shall meet”. So which is it? Well I suppose politically and ideologically speaking East may meet West but in reality, Kipling is right. You can travel in an easterly direction for a million miles and you will never find a point at which East and West touch. This is true whether you travel in a straight line into space or in a circle around the earth. Mathematicians refer to the distance between East and West as “infinity”.

East will never meet West and that is why David says: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Our sins have not just been taken away but they have been removed an infinite distance from us. As much as East and West cannot meet, so much we will never be confronted by them again once they have been dealt with by the Blood. When children have done something wrong, they instinctively try to hide the evidence, but it does not take long for the truth to come out and for them to be confronted by the evidence. Yet, the Lord has removed our sin so far that they will never return to haunt us.

Jeremiah 50:20 says: “The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve.” He removes the sin that has been pardoned so far that it can never be found again. As I am writing, the authorities are looking for the body of a young girl who disappeared on the island of Aruba. Sooner or later the body will be found and the murderer will be confronted with his sin. The murderer must be living in constant dread of the truth coming out but those who have been cleansed by the Blood of Christ need never fear that some skeleton will haunt them – as far as God is concerned.

Mica puts it this way: “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Mica 7:19). At its deepest point, the sea is seven miles deep. It would be impossible to bring things up from that depth and it is so far from the light of the sun that whatever is down there will never be brought to the light. Praise the Lord; He has put our sins down in the deepest, most inaccessible place known to man! (We know, of course, that our sins are not literarily down there, but this is simply a picture to show how far removed our sins are).

In fact, our sins do not even exist any more, they have not just been removed and hidden somewhere, they are completely gone! John the Baptist said: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He takes it away – it is gone – never to be brought back, found or even remembered. Now that’s a tall order. It is one thing to forgive and to remove all guilt but to expunge the deeds from God’s memory seems impossible! How can He not remember? After all, He knows all things and I can remember many of the things I did wrong – it just seems impossible that He will not remember. But four times the Bible says “their sin I will remember no more” (Isa 43:25, Jer 31:34, Heb 8:12, 10:17). In our relationships we often say that we have forgiven someone a wrong they did to us, yet, as soon as the person steps over the line, we are quick to remind them that they “always” do this or that. We never really forget and therefore people seldom get a truly clean slate with others; but with God we do. When He forgives it is total and complete and it is absolutely removed from the record – it can never be brought up again, no matter what we may do in the future.

When we forgive it is often conditional on the person not doing the same thing again. His forgiveness is not on any conditions. It is purely based on the work of Jesus at the Cross and has nothing to do with our past or future performance. When He forgives it is complete in spite of the fact that He knows that we will sin again, and sadly, even do the same thing over and over again. Oh what a privilege to come to Him and to be assured that He will receive us and that He does and will forgive, no matter what. Jesus Himself said: “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).

So why do so many of us continue to live under a burden of guilt? Firstly because we do not come to Him and do not confess our sins to Him. He offers this unconditional forgiveness and cleansing, but it does require that we come to Him. As long as we hide from Him we will continue to bear the guilt, but as soon as we come to Him, He receives us with open arms and forgives us.

The second reason we live with guilt is because we do not believe that He actually could and did forgive us. Sometimes that is motivated by a mistaken notion that we have to suffer for our sins by feeling bad about them. That is as far from the truth as the East is from the West. We cannot contribute towards the atonement for our sins in any way, least of all by feeling guilty once He has forgiven us.

Father, help me to believe the Word that you do forgive completely, totally and unconditionally. Help me realize that my past has been washed clean and that you view me as a saint – perfectly justified, cleansed and forgiven. Help me to accept your free offer of forgiveness and, having placed my past at the foot of the Cross, to leave it there. Forgive me for digging up stuff You have long ago forgotten and for reminding you, and myself, of things you do not even remember. Please forgive me for wanting to punish myself for things for which Jesus bore my punishment on the Cross. Amen.

 

Anton Bosch
antonbosch@sbcglobal.net

www.abcd.co.za/offi
www.abcd.co.za/plumbline
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