“Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” Psalm 130:7-8
We await the Lord’s coming – His return in judgment – but if the LORD God were to keep track of all our sins and hold them against us – who could stand in God’s presence (Psalm 130:3; cf. Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23)? Of course, the obvious answer to this question is no one! As sinners who fail to love the LORD God or keep His commandments, we all deserve only the eternal wrath and punishment of God!
But the Psalm continues (v.4): “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”
God graciously forgives sins and pardons sinners for Jesus’ sake. What a wonderful truth this is! It is for this reason that we are directed to place our hope in the LORD.
The Psalm says: “Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm 130:7-8).
The people of Israel were directed to place their hope in the LORD for forgiveness and eternal salvation. They were not told to trust in themselves, or to try to appease God’s wrath by living a good life under the Law! Rather, they were directed to trust in the LORD God to have mercy on them and to forgive their sins! They were assured that with him is plenteous redemption. They were comforted by the truth that God is merciful, and that in Him is full and complete redemption from sin and its eternal consequences (cf. Psalm 86:5). They were comforted by the promise that “he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”
This is none other than the promise of the Messiah and Savior who would come and die in their stead to redeem them. It is for the sake of this coming Savior that God called His people to repent of their sins and hope in Him and His mercy (cf. Isaiah 55:7).
It is for the sake of the promised Christ and the redemption He would accomplish that God assures all who trust in Him of complete forgiveness and life everlasting (cf. Psalm 103:8-12; Psalm 23:6; Psalm 16:11).
This ancient promise was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. As the angel said, He was named JESUS because He would “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus has come and has died upon the cross for the sins of all. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose again from the dead on the third day in triumph, assuring us that in Him we have “plenteous redemption” (cf. Rom. 4:24ff.).
Our God calls upon us also to place our hope in Him. We cannot appease God’s wrath against our sins by our own lives or works; but “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2). In Him “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Let us also place our faith, our hope, in Jesus Christ who has redeemed us from all our iniquities!
Dear LORD God, we thank Thee for redeeming us from our sins and iniquities through the innocent sufferings and death of Jesus Christ in our stead. Grant that we place our hope and faith in Thee alone for eternal salvation. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.