Devotion: Gospel Gems from the Old Testament — Micah 7:18-20
By Tom Nass
This past school year at Martin Lutheran College I had the privilege of reading the book of Micah in
Hebrew with a group of seniors studying to be pastors. At this convention, I'd like to share four
"gospel gems" from the book of Micah that we uncovered in our study.
The rst "gospel gem," for our devotion this afternoon, is the ending of the book, Micah 7:18-20.
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his
inheritance? You do not stay anger forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion
on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be
true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.
I once saw of listing of the various pictures that the Bible uses to illustrate the forgiveness of sins.
There are many beautiful pictures. For example, God says that:
He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12)
He blots our sins out of his record book (Isaiah 43:25).
He cancels our debt of sin (Matthew 18:27).
He washes our robes and makes them white (Revelation 7:14).
It happens in these last verses of Micah, the prophet Micah gives another very vivid and memorable
picture of forgiveness. He says that God will "hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."
When I hear this metaphor, I think about an acquaintance of mine who went ice shing last winter.
He took two ashlights with him, but he came back only with one. One ashlight fell into the hole
and sank into the lake. It's gone forever.
Perhaps some of you have been shing and accidentally knocked something out of the boat into the
lake. Maybe a set of keys. Maybe some eyeglasses or a cell phone. If you happened to be near shore,
perhaps you waded in the water to try to nd it. But if you were out in the deep water, these items
were gone for good, never to be seen again.
This is the picture Micah gives us of the forgiveness of sins. Micah says that God will hurl "all our
iniquities into the depths of the sea." That means God will get rid of sins totally and completely.
They will never appear again. They are out of sight forever.
When Micah says this, he realizes it is very remarkable that the true God should fully and freely
forgive sins. Micah says, "Who is a God like you who pardons sin?" The implied answer is: "No one."
Think of all the other religions on earth. In none of them does the deity freely and fully forgive sins.
In all man-made religions, people must do something to atone for sin.
Some say that this shows Christianity to be the true religion, because human beings would never
make this up on their own. The true God is unique and incomparable. He hurls our sins into the
depths of the sea.
With something so remarkable and unusual, one might still ask: How can God do it? Here
Christian teachers nd three components in the forgiving of sins.
First, behind the forgiveness of sins is the grace or the mercy of God. Grace is the driving force.
Grace is sometimes called the internal or impulsive cause of salvation. God forgives sin not because
of anything worthwhile in people. He does it simply because he loves the people he made. As
Micah says, "God delights to show mercy."
Then secondly, there's the work of Jesus Christ. God forgives sins because Jesus "bore our sins in
his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). As our substitute, Jesus suered all the punishment needed to
satisfy God's justice. Also our substitute, Jesus achieved a perfect righteousness that can be credited
to us. "Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19).
Christian teachers sometimes refer to Christ as the meritorious cause of forgiveness and salvation.
The third component is faith. We know that Jesus died for all sins of every single sinner. But if a
person does not repent and believe, he does not receive the blessing of forgiveness. Faith, worked
by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, is the instrument through which we receive the
blessing.
We notice in the words of Micah that not all people enjoy the forgiveness of sins. It's only the
"remnant" of God's inheritance. With that phrase in 700 B.C. Micah had in mind, rst of all, the
people who would come back from the Babylonian captivity. That "remnant" of people would be
forgiven by God, as it were. But now in New Testament times, the "remnant" of God's inheritance
are those who believe in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says, "Those who believe are children of
Abraham" (Galatians 3:7).
What this all means is that we, as believers in Jesus as our Savior, can be condent that God, by
grace for Christ's sake, has hurled all our sins into the depths of the sea. Our sins our totally gone.
It's not that some of our sins are hurled into the sea, while others remain in the boat.
God hurls all of them. It's not that our sins are thrown into the shallow water where they might
resurface. Our sins are thrown into the depths of the sea, and will never rise again to condemn us.
Our forgiveness is perfect. It is complete.
What marvelous comfort this is for sinners like us! Each of us has a sinful nature, so that, coursing
through our bodies in every cell, is an antagonism toward God. In addition, we daily oend our
holy God with impure thoughts, selsh words, and unkind actions. For all of this we deserve an
eternity of re in hell. Sin remains our greatest problem.
What a relief to know that God is not going to punish us! He doesn't hold our sins against us. Our
sins are hurled into the depths of the sea. God looks upon us in love. This is what gives us joy and
condence to face death. This is what gives us joy and condence to face each new day of life on
earth.
The message of the forgiveness of sins or justication by faith, of course, has always been looked
upon in the Lutheran Church as the chief teaching of the Bible. The Formula of Concord of our
Lutheran Church explicitly says, "This article concerning justication by faith is the chief article in
the entire Christian doctrine" (Formula of Concord SD III:6).
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Not long ago I heard a group of Lutherans discussing why it is that the Lutheran church calls
justication the chief teaching. I think the easiest answer is: This is the doctrine by which we are
saved! This is how we come into a right relationship with God. This is the gospel.
If a person believes in angels, but not in Jesus Christ as the Savior from sin, he will be lost forever. If
a person believes that God has a special purpose for his life, but doesn't believe that the blood of
Jesus covers his sin, it will do him no ultimate good.
Therefore the teaching of the forgiveness of sins must always remain front and center in the
Lutheran church. Lutheran pastors must never tire of preaching about the forgiveness of sins in
Jesus Christ, and distributing it in Baptism and Holy Communion.
Lutheran parishioners must never tire of receiving the message of forgiveness. It is the work of all of
us united in a Lutheran church body, rst and foremost, to share this glorious good news. The
forgiveness of sins is the focal point of our life as Christians.
Today Micah gives us a "gospel gem" to illustrate God's forgiveness. We can use this picture to build
up our faith. We can share it with others. Micah says that God "will hurl all our iniquities into the
depths of the sea."
