What does Isaiah mean when he says that Jerusalem has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins? Well, in the context of chapter 40, this is a Gospel statement, rather than a Law one. Jerusalem, the city of God’s people, will be destroyed for the sins of the people, torn apart because of their idolatry and wickedness. But out of God’s mercy, they will receive salvation, grace and forgiveness. And they’ll receive all of this in a number that is double the size of their sins. The Lord who has sworn through the prophet Jeremiah to remember their sins no more will keep that promise in the sense that He will not remember the filth of their sins, the horror of them. Through the forgiveness of Christ, He won’t remember who committed what transgressions. But He will remember the weight, the staggering heft of those sins. And He will only remember that so He can double it.
The offspring of Abraham, those people once torn apart by the furious wrath of God, in Christ, they will have their comfort in the one pierced for them on Calvary. He will end their warfare, pardon their iniquities, and give them a measure of salvation that is double the size of their infinite sinfulness. And, through Christ, you have received the same thing. You are no longer at war with the God who saw your every sin. He no longer remembers the iniquities you used to fight against Him. All He remembers of them is the staggering weight, and He only remembers that so He can pour out upon you twice as much of His kingdom, every day, into eternity.
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