Isaiah 43:25 - I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
One of the best parts of a book or movie is when all hope seems lost, the enemy is about to win, and then out of nowhere someone appears to save the day. One of the greatest examples of this is in J.R.R. Tolkein’s second book in the Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers. The free peoples are defending Helm’s Deep against an unstoppable army of orcs and trolls. They fight throughout the night, and bit by bit the free peoples are being cut down and defeated.
As the sun rises and the battle seems almost lost, a glimmer of light appears in the distance. The white wizard, Gandalf, has arrived and he brings with him an army that will help win the day for the free people. If you haven’t read the book, the scene in the movie is just as powerful. We love these moments because we want good to triumph over evil. We love to see victory arise where there seemed to be only loss.
In our story, we are not the hero who comes over the hill and wins the war. Our sins are like an army of evil that we cannot overcome no matter how hard we fight. This verse in Isaiah is a proclamation of God’s heroic power to save us. It’s as if we cried out, “Who can save us from our sins?!”, and God stands up and says, “I. I am he.” He will fight the battle and he will win the war against our sin. In his strength he is able to blot out the army of sins that crush us and steal our freedom.
This alone would be enough, but he doesn’t stop there. God says once he blots out our sins, he will not remember them. Everything about what God is saying is beyond our human comprehension. Why would he do this for us? He tells us, it is for his own sake. He is the God who saves and there is no other. He is the one who removes sin, and therefore he alone gets the glory.
Think about this today. Jesus is the hero of your story. He is the strong warrior who wins the battle. He is the merciful king who is willing to forget your wrongdoing. Because of this, he is the one you should praise today for the life that you have and he is the one you should thank because in his strength he will bring the victory over sin that we all desperately need.
