Nate Mirza, staff member with International Student Ministry, has done a Bible study on “The Completeness of God’s Forgiveness.” With his permission, his 24 scripture word pictures on God’s forgiveness are listed below. I think you will appreciate God’s action verbs. Following Nate’s list is a video of the Revelation song by Philips, Craig and Dean. To each of you, a blessed Good Friday and Happy Easter, as together we rejoice in being under complete forgiveness because of Jesus.
Nate Mirza: “The forgiveness of sins is central to the good news of Jesus Christ. It is unique compared to other religions in that the cross and the resurrection of Christ provide a complete treatment for sin, and therefore the receiver of this treatment can have assurance of sins forgiven. In every other religious system, there is no full assurance because one never knows if enough has been done to earn forgiveness….
In the good news of Jesus, man can never do enough to pay for his sins. Not only was Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins complete and sufficient, his ongoing ministry as our eternal high priest is also complete and sufficient:
… because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them….Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:23-27, NIV).
Since God made such a great sacrifice of his own sinless Son, in order to forgive our sins that we may come into a right relationship with him, he lets us know how important our salvation is to him. He uses a variety of word pictures [in the Bible] to describe how he has dealt with our sins. So far I have found 24. They include our sins being:
1. Atoned for – “With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7 NIV, and 1 John 2:2, Ex. 30:10, Lev. 5:6-18, Rom. 3:25, Heb. 2:17);
2. Blotted out – “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25);
3. Cleansed – “I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.” (Jeremiah 33:8; and Psalm 51:2, Ezk.36:33, Zech.13:1, Eph. 5:25, 26, Heb.10:22, 2 Peter 1:9);
4. Covered – “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” (Psalm 32:1; and Psalm 85:2, Romans 4:7);
5. Forgiven – “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32:1, 5; and Acts 2:38; 3:19, Ephesians 1:7);
6. Forgotten – “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34);
7. Hurled into the depths of the sea – “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19);
8. Made white like snow or wool “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”‘ (Isaiah 1:18);
9. Not counted – “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:2, and Job 14:16);
10. Paid for – “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:2);
11. Pardoned – “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7, and Jeremiah 33:8, Luke 6:37);
12. Passed over – “…whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.” (Romans 3:25);
13. Purged – And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” (Isaiah 6:7, (NKJV);
14. Purified – “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3, and Isaiah 1:18, Num. 8:21, Acts 15:9, 1 Peter 1:22-23, 1 John 1:7);
15. Put behind his back – “Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.” (Isaiah 38:17);
16. Removed – “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12);
17. Set free – “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that 
those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15);
18. Sprinkled – “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22, and 9:13-14);
19. Swept away – I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:22);
20. Taken away – “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.’” (2 Samuel 12:13-14, and Isaiah 6:7, Zechariah 3:4, 1 John 2:1-2 (NLT);
21. Trodden under foot – “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins under foot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19);
22. Washed – “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” (Psalm 51:2, and 1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 10:22, Revelation 7:14);
23. Wiped out – “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-even Jesus.” (Acts 3:19);
24. God’s face hidden from them – “Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity” (Psalm 51:9, NIV).
A Filipino once told the late Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila, that she had a word from the Lord for him. He couldn’t be bothered, but she kept badgering him. To get rid of her he asked her to ask the Lord to reveal a particular sin in his life. Later, she came back.
“Did you ask the Lord?” he inquired.
“Oh yes,” she said.
“Oh no!” he replied. “What sin was it? “
She answered, “God said he didn’t remember.”