“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23,24).

Our redeemer has identified Himself thus: “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25). His death fully paid the penalty for our sin. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances [i.e., the lengthy list of our sins] that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (Colossians 2:14).

The second verse of the hymn, “All My Sins Have Been Forgiven,” expresses this.

My account is closed forever; Jesus Christ has paid it all;Shed His blood my sin to cover, Paid the price to save my soul;There is now no condemnation, I am fully reconciled; What a wonderful salvation, For a sinner so defiled!

Surely Jesus Christ has paid our full account. “By His own blood He . . . obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). As we see in our text, all of us had an account to be paid. In God’s just economy, the penalty must be paid, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Thankfully, however, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Because the account is closed, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It was the eternal plan of God the Father, who “was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (II Corinthians 5:19). At the time of His sacrifice, we were “alienated [from Him] and enemies . . . yet now hath He reconciled in the body of flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” (Colossians 1:21,22). Truly this is a wonderful salvation. To defiled sinners, He says, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). JDM