by Robert C. Veil, Jr.
Question: I heard in a sermon that “God will forget our sins,” but doesn’t God on the day of
judgment bring to mind everything you’ve done?
Answer: It is true that on the day of judgment, there will be a great revealing of the hidden
and secret things. “For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil, (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Many who, perhaps, think that their sins will
never “find them out” are going to be in for a surprise. Our omniscient God is keeping track of
things, and nothing – even the slightest deed – escapes His notice. “Are not two sparrows sold for
a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father: but the very hairs of
your head are all numbered,” (Matthew 10:29-30).
But while it is true that God knows all, the Bible also teaches that there are some things
God deliberately chooses to “forget” or refuse to bring to mind. One of them is our sins which are
forgiven. Describing God’s tender forgiveness, the Hebrew writer said, “For I will be merciful to
their iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more, (Hebrews 8:12). This is actually part of a
lengthy quotation from the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out
of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith
Jehovah. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto
the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember
no more,” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
In this remarkable prophecy, the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of a new dispensation, a
new period of earth history known as the Christian Age. He was describing one of the great
differences between the Mosaic Age in the Christian Age. In the latter, there is mercy and
continued forgiveness for “those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” (see Romans
8:1-5) in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unlike the days of continual animal sacrifices, the cleansing
of sins by the blood of Christ is not conditional, but absolute. God has elected to never more bring
such forgiven sins to mind. As the inspired apostle John would later write, “If we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth
us from all sin,” (1 John 1:7).
The cleansing of the Christian’s sins is final and absolute. It does not depend upon the future
death of Jesus Christ, because Jesus has died once and for all. Those who accept His terms of
salvation have the assurance of forgiveness forever. Even on the day of judgment, God has
arranged that such sins will not be remembered or brought up again. They have truly been cleansed
away by the precious blood of Christ.
In a similar vein, the Bible clearly teaches that every man will be required to give an account
of his life before God. “And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy
words thou shalt be condemned,” (Matthew 12:36-37). “So then each one of us shall give account
of himself to God,” (Romans 14:12). “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat
of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done,
whether it be good or bad,” (2 Corinthians 5:10). But all of these passages speak of unforgiven
sins – sins, which have never been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.
When God forgives our sins, he is not like many people. He also chooses to forget them,
in the sense that he will never again bring them to mind. What a blessed promise and assurance
for the faithful Christian!
