"And The LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt." [Ex 10:19]
The love that God has showed us through His forgiveness is indescribable. As Paul wrote, “thanks be unto God for His indescribable gift.” [2 Cor 9:15] Who among men could describe with precision the glories of Christ’s work? Or the fulness of His love? It goes beyond description; His love is, “surpassing knowledge.” [Eph 3:19] In like manner to “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” of Jesus’ love, [Eph 3:18] it is written in Job regarding God,
“Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? He is high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.” [Job 11:7-9]
God’s mercy, which was poured out abundantly upon us through Jesus, is “from everlasting to everlasting,” “for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” [Psa 103:17, 11] So strong is the salvation offered to us through Jesus, that God has, if we have accepted Christ and entered into the New Covenant, wiped away our sins to the uttermost. The LORD has endeavored so thoroughly to eradicate our sins that they are not presently in existence. The LORD has “trampled under foot our iniquities;” yes, He has “cast all [our] sins into the depths of the sea,” and He says now, “I will remember their sins no more.” [Mic 7:19, Jer 31:34, Heb 8:12] Our sins are so removed that not even God, who exclaims, “do not I fill heaven and earth,” [Jer 23:24] can find them. For The LORD who says, “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,” [Isa 43:25] also proclaims to us,
“In those days, and in that time, saith The LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” [Jer 50:20]
Jesus’ covering of our sins through His blood, washes us so clean, presents us so white, that there is not one speck of sin upon our souls, and The Lord therefore tenderly speaks to us as the Groom in Songs, saying, “thou art all beautiful, my love; there is no spot in thee.” [Songs 4:7] For Jesus presents us as “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in [The Father’s] sight.” [Col 1:22] Now praise be to our God who is so gracious on Christ’s behalf; who so lovingly views us as Him, and who so completely forgives us because of the precious blood of Christ Jesus our Lord. Dear brother, is it not always a comforting truth to hear again from Christ’s lips, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee”? [Mt 9:2] As Jesus said to the disciples, let Him say to you again, “notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” [Lk 10:20] Rejoice good Christian! For all those dastardly sins which so tainted your soul black have been washed away never to be seen again. As The LORD has promised us,
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” [Isa 1:18]
In Exodus, there is a great picture for us of God’s forgiveness and mercy. The varied sights we receive of God regarding His tender mercy bring delight and refreshment. Are you wearied on your pilgrimage to Zion, dear Christian? Does your heart droop low with the weight of sin? Think again upon Christ’s blood and the forgiveness and mercy obtained thereby and so be comforted. Let the hand of Christ pick you up and hear Him say, “fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen.” [Rev 1:17-18] For it is written,“in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.” [Psa 94:19]
During that period of time when God came down to deliver His people from Egypt, God afflicted Egypt with several plagues, in order that He might show Himself strong and get Himself glory in the deliverance of His chosen people. The eighth plague was that of locusts. After yet another rejection of God’s request by Pharaoh, it says,
“And The LORD said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left…And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.” [Ex 10:12, 14-15]
Because of Pharaoh’s rebellion and sin, God sent many locusts upon the land, a grievous horde which covered the land in darkness and ate all the fruit. The picture is very similar to that of sin: that, for our wicked rebellion against God and His Christ, our lives are covered in darkness, and that monster of sin eats up all the good fruit of our lives. Before being saved and forgiven, “we were dead in sins.” [Eph 2:1, 5] There was no light in our lives, but we were covered in darkness, not being in the true light of Christ Jesus. For Jesus says, “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,” [Jn 8:12] implying that the one who does not follow Jesus walks in darkness. And to this, the prophet Isaiah agrees, who writes, “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light;” [Isa 9:2] and again, Paul, “for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in The Lord.” [Eph 5:8] And so, just as the locusts “covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened,” so too sin covered us in a woeful darkness. And just as the locusts in Moses’ day, “did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees,” so too it was with us before Christ. For it is written,
“What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death…For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Rom 6:21, 23]
And again,
“Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” [Mt 7:17-18]
We can see clearly the parallels to sin from the locusts. But what is truly encouraging is not this, but the healing which takes place; for just as we have seen that in our salvation God has forgiven and removed every sin, not leaving even one behind, so too it is written of the locusts,
“And The LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.” [Ex 10:19]
Just as God has utterly forgiven us, so too He utterly removed the locusts. Just as Pharaoh confessed, “I have sinned against The LORD,” [Ex 10:16] and so intreated God for forgiveness (though insincerely), we have genuinely intreated God, confessing Jesus and repenting from sin. And just as The LORD in response to this humility (though Pharaoh’s was yet insincere), God has responded to our genuine humiliation and falling upon Christ’s feet in forgiving us of all our sins. Just as there was not one locust left in all the land of Egypt, there is not left one sin in all our lives, for they have been forgiven in Christ.
See that though God “brought an east wind” [Ex 10:13] to bring in the locusts, He brought yet, “a mighty strong west wind,” [Ex 10:19] to quell the plague. The wind to bring the plague was great, but the wind to remove it was much greater; and in this, we remember what is written, “but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” [Rom 5:20] Praise God that our sins are forgiven. There remains not even one sin in all our coasts as it were. Imagine the strength of wind necessary to remove every single little locust. There remained not one. One could not find a locust stuck in a tree, nor under a rock, nor yet in a hole; there was not one carcass of the bugs left either, for “there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.” The LORD thoroughly and completely removed all the locusts; and in the same way, He has forgiven us of all our sins.
May we take this truth and cling to it; may it abide near our hearts when condemnation and guilt seek to prick them; may it soothe our souls like a balm when the heat of affliction tempts us to despair; may it guard our hearts and minds, keeping them in perfect peace. For our Lord loves us dearly and has forgiven us of all sin, so that there remains not so much as one to condemn us: all has been subdued through Christ. And just as the locusts were “cast…into the Red Sea,” so too we are promised that God has “cast all [our] sins into the depths of the sea.” [Mic 7:19]
Click here to see more posts in Daily Meditations on Jesus’ Glory, Vol III