He Blots Out Transgressions For His Sake!

In my last post, I wrote that I was quite intrigued by Isaiah 30:18, specifically one particular phrase:  “he exalts himself to show mercy to you.”  (ESV)

I read another verse in Isaiah that is also so very intriguing:  “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isa 43:25)

The big question that comes to mind is that why would He blot out my transgressions for His sake?  I would have thought that He does that for my sake!

So, I turned to other versions of the Bible to see if they could shed some light:

“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.  (NASB)

“I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake; your sins I do not remember.”  (NET)

‘I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”  (KJV)

“But I, yes I, am the one who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do. I don’t keep a list of your sins.”  (The Message)

The different translations were somewhat helpful but I thought I’d keep digging anyway.  So I turned to the dictionary and found that the word “sake” has two primary definitions:

1.  the good, advantage, or enhancement of some entity

2.  personal or social welfare, safety, or benefit

The first definition focuses more on purpose while the second focuses more on benefit.  To illustrate, note how the word can be used:

“Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that it was a mistake.” (Purpose)

“You must persuade him to stay at the house, for his own sake.”  (Benefit)

I then decided to look up the verse in some commentaries.  Some of the thoughts of the writers are as follows:

What is the ground and reason of the pardon?  It is not for the sake of any thing in us, but for His own sake, for his mercies’-sake, his promise-sake, and especially for his Son’s sake, and that he may himself be glorified in it.  This He does to manifest His everlasting righteousness, love, goodness and mercy.

So, going back to purpose and benefit: 

His purpose (for His sake) is to manifest Himself for His glory.  In blotting out our transgressions, He manifests His mercy for His glory.

We benefit greatly when our transgressions are blotted out and He chooses to remember our sins no more.

It also strikes me that His purposes often bring great benefits to us, more than we can ever imagine!