Word of Encouragement (02/14/2023)
“‘Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? 35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.' 36 For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.” (Deut. 32:34-36)
What a terrifying statement this is for the enemies of God and His people! God just spoke of their evils, identifying them with Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities God destroyed by raining down on them sulfur and fire from heaven (Gen. 19:24). And He is declaring that all the record of their wicked deeds is stored with Him, sealed up in His treasures (or storehouses).
God is not like man that He should forget anything. He is omniscient; omniscience is His divine attribute. The moment He forgets anything, He will no longer be God. When the LORD declares that He will remember the sins of His people no more (Jer. 31:34, etc.), He does not mean it literally; He means that He will never bring charges against them and punish them for their sins. God does not love us eternally because He is forgetful of our wrongdoings. He loves us completely despite His full knowledge of our wickedness because He is a faithful God, who keeps His covenant and promise for all eternity.
If God does not ever forget any of a person’s sins and keeps him accountable for all his sins, how terrifying that must be! But that is what God is declaring: his sins are stored with Him in His omniscient, never-forgetting mind; they are sealed up in His storehouse. Who can infiltrate God’s omniscient mind and change the record of his sins? Who can break into the storehouse of God and remove his record of guilt in the book of death? Out of remorse, he may try to lead a good, moral life. But will that remove the guilt of his past? If a murderer changes his life and does good, can he remove the sorrow and grief of the victim’s family? Will any of his good deeds—will all of his good deeds combined—be able to bring the dead back to life and all that she has lost by her untimely death? The memory of his crime may be erased by the passage of time like a photo under the sun. But the fact of his crime can never be undone, especially in the omniscient mind of God.
God declares this truth because His appointed time of judgment has not come. Life may seem to go well for the wicked at the moment, but God assures them that it will not be so for long: “for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly” (v. 35). As omniscience is God’s divine attribute, which He can deny and still be God, so is justice an essential divine attribute: He cannot let sin go unpunished and still be God. As long as God exists—and He exists for all eternity—the wicked will face the just penalty for their sins in due time. This is more certain that the sun rising tomorrow.
How blessed is the one, “whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered..., against whom the LORD counts no iniquity” (Ps. 32:1-2)! God cannot do this for sinners without the satisfaction of His justice. The Bible can make this declaration only because Jesus paid the full penalty for our sins through His suffering and death. He blotted out our guilt once and for all and God, though He knows all our sins, will not bring any charge against those that are in Christ. Let this wonderful truth renew our joy of salvation and kindle our desire to love and serve our gracious God with gladness!