Divine Forgetfulness

“No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.  “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more,” (Jeremiah 31:34, emphasis mine).

Of all the things that God can do, I think the most mind-blowing power He has is the power to forget.  Have you ever considered how God is able to forget?  I mean, He’s God, right?  He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10)—every detail!  How does God forget anything?  Psalm 9:18 says that God will never forget the needy.

I heard a sermon in which the preacher said that in order to resurrect the dead, God doesn’t need the entire body intact, only a sample of their DNA.  But there are many saints who were martyred by being burned.  Their DNA has been completely destroyed.  But God, who has numbered the very hairs on their heads (Matthew 10:30), remembers them in detail, right down to the details of their DNA.  Even with all our scientists and computers, we still don’t know the exact number of genes there are in human DNA, but estimates range up to 150,000, according to the Human Genome Project.  And each person is absolutely unique.  So if God knows the exact number of the hairs on each head of every person alive today (over 7 Billion, source World Population Clock), and everyone who has ever previously lived, which is a number that only God knows, but we could estimate would be another 7 Billion, that is a mind-boggling amount of information.  And God doesn’t need to write it down.  He remembers it—all of it!

So I think I’m safe in saying that God has an infinite memory—He is omniscient, which means that He knows everything (I John 3:20, Hebrews 4:13).  How does someone with an infinite memory forget?  Yet the Bible says again and again that God will forget our sins (Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:17, Isaiah 43:25, and Jeremiah 31:34, above).

The Bible gives the answer in Psalm 32:1: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered,” (emphasis mine).  And again: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them,” (Romans 4:7-8, emphasis mine).  How does someone with an infinite memory forget?  He forgets by focusing on the thing that has covered our sins.  There is only one thing that covers sin, and that is blood.  And only the blood of Jesus permanently covers sin.

If your sins have not been covered by the blood of Jesus, you cannot stand in the presence of our Holy God.  But you can very easily remedy that situation.  Right now you can make Jesus your Savior.  Pray this prayer with me:

Lord God, I know that I’ve sinned against You.  I am truly sorry.  Please forgive me for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Thank You for sending Jesus to die in my place to cover my sins.  Help me to live a life that is pleasing to You through the power of Your Holy Spirit who I receive right now.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.  Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family of God!  Yes, you have been adopted as His child, and you are now a new creation (Romans 8, Galatians 4:6-7, and 2 Corinthians 5:17).  All the old life has passed away.  Hallelujah!  To start this new life right, you should do 2 things right away:

1. Read the Bible.  If you don’t have a Bible, most cities have a Christian bookstore where you can get one.  Most churches also sell Bibles—some even give Bibles to new believers.
2. Get involved with a Bible-preaching church in your area.  Notice I say “get involved.”  Church is not a building.  Church is a living organism—the Body of Christ.  So get actively involved.

Remember this above all else: God is good!

Putting Unemployed Angels to Work

One really nice thing about not having a television is that I have gotten out of the habit of zoning-out in front of the idiot box at the end of the day.  And let’s be honest, there are a lot of things on television that are not faith-building.  In fact, there are far more unchristian and even antichristian programs than there are Christian programs.  Ask yourself this: if I wouldn’t let my children or grandchildren watch this, then why am I watching it?

Instead of television, what I do is spend time with friends, read a book, or watch sermons on You Tube.  Instead of only hearing 1 Bible-based message a week, I hear as many as 10.  The Bible says: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” (Romans 10:17, NKJV).  So if I have a lot of faith, that is why—I’m hearing the Word of God daily.  And do you know what?  That gives me more of an appetite for the Word of God, which gives me more faith.  It’s a righteous cycle.  Hallelujah!

This morning I was praying for Europe, my mission field.  My fellow missionaries understand the burden I feel for Europe because each of us feels that for our respective mission fields.  It’s not a burden in the way that most people think of burdens.  Rather, it’s a deep longing and desire to pray and to keep bringing Europe’s people before the throne of God.

So as I was praying this morning, the Holy Spirit reminded me of something I heard in a sermon recently.  The sermon was about calling on angelic help.  “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14, emphasis mine).  There are billions of angels.  A third of the angels rebelled, including a cherub named Lucifer, and became fallen angels, also called demons.  Matthew 18:10 makes it clear that each child has a guardian angel.  So if there are over 7 billion people currently alive on planet earth (check out: World Population Clock), then that means that there are billions of angels.  In addition to the guardian angel that each of us has, there are messenger angels (like Gabriel), warrior angels (like Michael), and worship angels (like the ones around God’s throne).  And the angels have ranks: angels, archangels, princes, thrones, etc.

So, given that there are literally billions of angels, outnumbering the demons by 2 to 1, then there are a whole lot of angels ready to help us.  But they’re mostly idle because we haven’t asked God to send angels to help us.

Note: Never go directly to the angels, themselves.  They take their orders from God.  If you ask an angel to help you, you will unknowingly be inviting a demon to interfere in your life.  Whereas God must be invited to act on your behalf, demons will push their way into the slightest opening that they are given.  If you’re curious about the purpose and position of angels, read the first chapter of Hebrews.

Often I am saddened by the spiritual state of Europe.  Operation World says that Europe is “by far the most secular and least religious continent,” (pg. 79).  On top of that, there are not anywhere near enough missionaries to bring the Gospel to every part of Europe.  My organization, European Faith Missions, in partnership with GoMissions, is working to remedy that situation by offering an online bulletin board for matching missionaries with serving opportunities in Europe.  But Europe has failed to capture the imagination of most Christians.

Americans think of Europe as a wealthy place because that’s where rich people go on vacation.  The reality is that there is a much bigger gap between rich and poor here, and there is practically no middle class in most European countries.  Moreover, the third world can be found in every gypsy camp throughout Europe.

I am very aware that the clock is ticking down to the end, and it’s very near.  So, inspired by the Holy Spirit, I prayed for angels to help in the task of spreading the Gospel throughout Europe.  On Judgment Day we won’t be judged for our sins because if we’re Christian, then Jesus has already paid the full price for our sins at the cross.  But we will be judged for our works.  Don’t misunderstand that as meaning anything like salvation by works.  Each of us has been given spiritual gifts and work to do for the Lord.  On Judgment Day we will receive the reward for our work.

No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.  1 Corinthians 3:11-15, emphasis mine

Salvation determines where we will spend Eternity, our work on earth determines our reward for Eternity (read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30).  Do you know what our reward is?  God told Abraham: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your Shield, your very Great Reward,” (Genesis 15:1, emphasis mine).  Our reward will be how much facetime we have with God.  Each time I experience the presence of God, it leaves me wanting more.  His presence is our reward, and how much we get to experience of His presence in Eternity will be determined by how faithfully we carried out our work here on earth.  Remember how the people begged Moses to put a veil over his face because he shined too much with the glory after talking with God (Exodus 34:29-35)?  Well, I believe that the same glory that caused the people to avoid Moses will attract the people to us in Eternity.

But it’s not the people that interest me so much, but being in the presence of God.  That’s where I want to spend my time in Eternity.  I want a Great Reward!

If Christians fail to answer the call of God to come to this mission field, I will call the angels to do their work.  And those of us who answered the call will have our Reward.  God is good!  And His presence is the best Reward I could ever get!  He is my very Great Reward!  Hallelujah!