0490. A Threefold Manifestation of Grace

A Threefold Manifestation of Grace

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

"Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile" (Psa_32:1-2).

There are three words again before us: forgiven, covered, not imputed. These three words have to do with the threefold manifestation of God’s grace. We will note the words, one at a time.

1. Covered. This has to do with Christ’s work on Calvary. In 1Jn_2:2 we read, "And He is the propitiation for our sins." Propitiation is a covering, and suggests the mercy-seat. The Word of God gives some precious pictures of the way in which God deals with sin. When Jesus Christ died upon the Cross, He "made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God, in Him." Our God, by virtue of Calvary’s Blood, puts our sins from Him. He places them, as it were, in the bottom of the sea; He blots them out as a thick cloud; He covers them with the Blood of Christ.

Illustration: An irate parent was about to chastise a thoughtless son, who had jumped with muddy boots into the middle of her white counterpaned bed. The boy’s big brother saw the gathering storm, and as quick as a flash, he dashed by his mother, threw himself prostrate over his little brother, and then cried, "Mother, let it fall on me."

The Lord Jesus has covered us, and the wrath of God fell upon Him. "With His stripes we are healed." "Blessed is the man whose sin is covered."

2. Forgiven. This word has to do with our transgression. "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven." Transgression is wilful sinning. Transgression brings sorrow and pain to the heart of God. Yet God in mercy, forgives the backslider when certain conditions are met. Blessed truth–in Him, we have "the forgiveness of our trespasses."

Forgiveness is not as simple as some would have us think. God does not merely get sorry and then in an impulse of sympathy excuse our guilt. God bases His forgiveness upon the Blood of Christ. Every stripe which was rightly ours, falls upon Him. "He was wounded for our transgression." Thus, and thus only, is forgiveness ours. O the joy of knowing that pardon is full and free. No more the fear of wrath, no more the dread of punishment. The sky is clear–the head is pillowed upon the bosom of the Lord and His loving arms are felt around me, as He kisses me with kisses of love.

3. Not imputed. "Blessed is the man whose iniquity is not imputed." Iniquity is there, but it is not reckoned as there. When our Lord views us under the Blood, He does not, He cannot see our sin. God beheld no iniquity in Jacob. Jacob was certainly corrupt enough, but God, in Numbers 23, is viewing Jacob hid beneath the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat. This is what Paul meant when he said, "That I may * * be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ."

What joy should possess us when we consider that we stand before God, Blood-washed–as white as wool, as white as snow.

"Covered," "forgiven," are the sins,

And "not imputed," too,

Of those who hide beneath the Blood,

And who are born anew.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR