I am always amazed when archaeologists or explorers find something ancient. It’s fascinating to me to see an object, or sometimes even a skeleton, that is hundreds or thousands of years old. Those old objects and people have stories. It’s like the past comes to life again. A recent news item caught my attention.
The story begins, “The remains of a centuries-old shipwreck have been discovered more than a mile below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina, a reminder that history can be found anywhere. A team of researchers stumbled upon the previously unknown wreck, which appears to be from the late 18th or early 19th century. Among the artifacts spotted on the ocean floor were a metal compass, an iron chain, glass bottles, a ceramic jug, ship timbers, red bricks and a navigational tool.”
My first thought at reading this was, How cool! My second thought was of a truth found in Scripture. It is this: God pictures His forgiveness of my sins as putting them into the deepest part of the sea. But they will never be found!
The prophet Micah spoke of God’s forgiveness of the sins of the nation of Israel,
Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19)
The New Covenant includes the promise that God will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 8:12).
My thought on seeing the news article was this. People find shipwrecks that have been covered by the ocean for centuries. But my sins have been cast away by a forgiving God, never to be raised up by Him and used against me. Sure, those old sins would have stories. But Jesus died for me and rose again, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses me from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Dean H. Taylor 