In our family devotions we historically have done catechism questions. We use a modified version of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Last week we began to review questions we have done in the past. One that we spent the bulk of the week on was:
50. What is meant by justification? A. It is God's forgiving sinners and treating them as if they had never sinned.
I find that whenever there is a truth that I am tending to emphasize more forcefully than other truths it is usually something that the Lord is wanting to drive home in me. I should have paid attention a little more closely earlier this week.
This morning I was reading in Jeremiah 31:4 as God is speaking to His people and restoring them after a time of judgment. Did you catch that? He is restoring them after a time of judgment. If you read in Jeremiah 2 and in other places God has called His people a whore for their spiritual wanderings, but in Jeremiah 31:4 He calls them a virgin. Pure. Undefiled. Untouched. Unknown by another. Virtuous. Clean. Not just cleaned up. Not just forgiven. But restored all the way back to the like new state. God was 'treating them as if they had never sinned.'
When Israel was crossing the Jordan to come into the promised land, God gave them a specific place and time of the year they were to cross. The time of the year was when the flood waters were the greatest. He could have taken them to a low spot in the river but God was painting a picture. They passed at the highest point and God stopped the river 30 miles away! Where did He stop it? At a town called ADAM!! (Joshua 3:16 look it up people!) God deals with our sin so finally, so conclusively that He rolls it all the way back to Adam!
Rest easy today friends. God has dealt with your sins and He has made you pure. Walk in your new life....the old one is gone, finished, vorbei. In Christ you are justified!