His Account of Forgiveness

This morning I am reading out of the First Letter of John. This verse out of the second chapter is so significant - 1 John 2:12 NIV:
[12] "I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name."

This simple message expresses concisely one of the core beliefs of our faith. It is through Jesus Name, the sacrificial Lamb of God, that our sins are taken away. The Greek here literally means they are sent away through His Name.

I was thinking about this verse and the word 'account' stood out to me. I was thinking about how its like Jesus has this bank 'account' of forgiveness that all of my sin draws against and always gets paid. It is interesting that the verb tense here is past tense, in other words it already happened. Its almost like before the sin even can register on my account, its already been forgiven by His 'account'.

This is what we call to mind this week, as we approach the remembrance of Jesus passion and death and resurrection, for it was the blood of Jesus that made this forgiveness possible. It was His blood that was shed for me and you. This was not a debt (our sin) that easily cancelled, but rather took great courage, great faith and infinite pain and suffering, for He took ALL our sins upon Himself. He paid the price for ALL our sins, every single one of them. His blood washes the ledgers of sin clean, and not a one is counted against us, for His blood has been applied to them ALL!

This is available to all who believe in Him, who believe in His Name, and accept Him as their savior. I remember the moment I stepped under His Lordship and accepted Jesus as my Savior, how I felt as if a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I felt full of life and light. I believe I was experiencing the cancellation of the debt of my sin.

Yes, our sins have been forgiven on account of His Name. Hallelujah!