"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." (NIV)
All across America, people are posting pictures on social media about Christmas. Some post pictures of family . . . and certainly Christmas is, for many people, the gathering together of family generations to renew relationships and share memories of the year. Some post pictures of presents . . . and certainly Christmas is about giving to others, of planning what might please them and then seeking out that very special gift. Some post pictures of parties . . . and certainly Christmas has become a time to enjoy good food and good friendships.
But there are others for whom social media will be darkness or who may try to cry out by posting images not quite so jolly. These are those for whom Christmas—and very possibly this particular Christmas—isn’t nearly so happy or joyful. These are those for whom Christmas this year is lonely or painful or even tragic. Because here’s the deal: Even while we try, as a nation, to set aside "Christmas" as a holiday, life continues to come crashing in. Pain, sorrow, and loss continue to plague us and always will as long as we live on this earth.
What’s interesting, however, about the word "holiday" is that its primary meaning (and etymology) is "holy day." It was, initially, a day set apart for religious activities, a day set apart to honor God, as it were. Christmas is and must be initially and always about God and what He has done for us by sending His Son.
The psalmist tells us that God is "abounding in love." The Hebrew word, rab, translated here as "abounding" generally means "aboundant, great, exceedingly." But it also means "captain or chief" (Strong’s H7227). Father God is, in every sense, the chief Lover of people. As our Creator, He also became our Savior through His only begotten Son, Jesus. He is abounding in love because He did everything necessary to restore us to Himself after we completely rebelled. "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." He created us; we rebelled against both our Creator and our created purpose. We deserve any fate He determined, but instead, He didn’t treat us as we deserved nor repaid us according to our rebellion. Rather, because He is the Chief Lover, He became a Man—Emmanuel, God with us—and took our punishment. He suffered all the loss so that we wouldn’t have to.
The psalmist uses two metaphors to describe God’s love for us. First, he says that God’s love is as high as the heavens are above the earth. There is a great website that tries to demonstrate the size of the universe in comparison to other things: http://scaleofuniverse.com/ At the "end" of the demonstration, the "unknown" universe is shown as extending on and on and on. The fact is, the "heavens" extend so far above the earth that, at this moment, we have no idea where the limits may be, if there are limits. The point that the Holy Spirit was making when He inspired this description is that God’s love is limitless. And He couldn’t have shown His limitless love any better than to come Himself to earth as a baby in order to give us salvation from our sins. He "does not treat us as our sins deserve nor repays us according to our iniquities" because He took our punishment for us. And His love wasn’t an accusation or a judgment but rather became hands reaching out to us to surround us with His love and mercy.
Secondly, the psalmist says that "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Not only are our sins forgiven, but Father God has actually removed them from us. I always find this metaphor so interesting, but didn’t fully understand it until I saw it explained in a children’s sermon. (Sometimes I really need things simplified in order to understand them.)
The best way to demonstrate this is with an actual globe, but I’ll try with instructions. First, take a globe. Point to any place on the globe and move your finger north.
At the point where your finger hits the North Pole, you stop going north. If your finger continues along the globe, you will now be going south . . . until you hit the South Pole. At the point, you will be going north. You can only travel half of the distance around the world—going north or south—until you change direction.
However, if you try to same thing going east (or west), you will never stop. If you trace a line eastward, you will continue going east . . . and east . . . and east. There is never a point where you will begin going west. In order to go west, you actually have to stop and change direction.
North and south meet at the poles, but east and west never meet! The point of the metaphor is that when Father God separated us from our sin, He did so in such a manner that we will never again be confronted by our sin. It is so separated from us that it can never meet us again. His "payment" for our iniquities came with a guarantee. Our sins are totally and absolutely removed.
He loves us exceedingly great! (More than we will ever know or be able to comprehend.)
As we celebrate Christmas today, as we set aside this day as a "holiday" (or holy day), I hope that we will take at least some time to remember what Christmas really is, the day that God set into motion His great plan to demonstrate His limitless love by removing our sins from us forever! This day is about the baby in the manger, but it’s also about the Savior on the cross and the Risen King at the tomb. This day is about God’s great love in the person of His only Son, Jesus our Lord.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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