Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Hebrews 10:17,18
In the TV series Monk, it seems like the police are always behind the curve. They can’t seem to figure out what’s going on. How the crime was committed. Who shot the victim. It’s at this point that Adrian Monk walks in. He sees things that are right there in plain sight, but no one else can see. He remembers details that everyone else has forgotten.
Everyone is amazed as they arrest the guilty person and cart them off to jail. They stand there with their mouths open. They are astonished. They know it was right there in front of them, but only Adrian can seem to see it and make sense of it all. His ability to remember everything just blows them away.
It’s at this point that the writers tell us something very important. They know that we wish that we had the ability to see and remember everything. How frustrated we get when we forget something. So, they have Adrian tell us the truth about his life; “It’s a gift, and a curse[1].”
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Adrian Monk is just a made-up character in a TV show. It’s funny and it’s cute, but it’s not real. Oh really. Listen to what Elon Musk, one of the richest, most wildly successful people in the world said about what goes on inside his mind and his memory.
My mind is a storm. I don't think most people would want to be me. They may think they'd want to be me but they don't know, they don't understand[2].
Adrian and Elon may not be able to handle it, but God can. And more. The God who created the universe isn’t limited like we are. He has no beginning and no end. He has all knowledge and never, ever, never forgets anyone or anything.
That last part is frightening even for average people like you and me. Why? Because if he really knows everything, and he can remember it, then there’s no hope for us. All those bad things we’ve said and done are clearly in his mind. And then, to put icing on the cake of our guilt and shame, he also knows what’s going on inside our heads. All those evil, selfish, and lustful thoughts[3].
With this as a background, the writer of this letter pulls out a quote from the Old Testament that seems to be a great big contradiction. On one side is the God who knows everything. On the other is that same God who forgets.
And that’s the problem. That’s the mistake some make. God does not forget, he choses to not remember. There is a huge difference. Forgetfulness is a weakness. It shows change. You used to be able to remember something and now you can’t. God isn’t like this at all. He’s unchangeable[4]. So, what’s going on here?
At the cross, Jesus’ death pays for all our sins; past, present, and future. His one-time sacrifice pays for all sin. So, since all sin is forgiven, it’s like it never happened. God in his infinite love covers all our sins with himself and his sacrifice. God did something on purpose so that he could cover and forget our sins.
It’s like a story about Clara Barton, Civil War hero and founder of the American Red Cross. One day, a friend brought up a really mean and cruel thing that someone had done to her. Clara said that she didn’t remember it. The friend, not believing Clara said, “Don’t you remember the wrong they did to you?” “No,” Clara answered. "I distinctly remember forgetting that."
The constant repetition of sacrifices in the Old Testament law showed that the sin question was not settled. It still wasn’t paid. If sin had been taken care of by those sacrifices, then you could stop all of them. The fact that they had to keep doing them over and over was proof that they didn’t really work.
Is it any wonder that the Hebrews needed to be reminded about this promise from God. God choses to remember their sins and iniquities no more. The once for all offering of the Messiah shows that sin is paid for and finally put away forever.
Just think about what’s happening in our heads right now. We’re just average people, and yet our minds are racing a mile a minute as all our sins play on the screen inside our head. They’re running around and around with no end in sight. A memory can just seem to pop up out of nowhere and take us down a rabbit hole into guilt, shame, anxiety, and depression.
But God has this amazing ability to selectively forget. The blood of Jesus covers all our sins[5]. His love covers our sin so that he cannot remember them. And our response is so love people so much that it covers their sin towards us and others[6]. No one said it was going to be easy. As a matter of fact, it’s humanly impossible. No other faith or philosophy can do this. God dying for our sins totally frees us from all our guilt and shame. And with this newness of life, we can love like we want to be loved.
Noodling Questions
When our minds are in a storm, what happens to our lives? Describe.
How do you feel when God says that he both remembers and forgets?
If God forgets our sins, what does it say about us when we can’t?
[2] Lex Fridman podcast, episode 400, November 9, 2023
[3] Psalm 139:2-4
[4] Malachi 3:6
[5] Hebrews 10:12-14
[6] 1 Peter 4:8
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