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Bowen's Daily Meditations
Devotional: May 4th

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" I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for my own sake." - Isaiah 43:25.

This language, whether addressed to the partial Israel of ancient times, or the universal Israel of our times, is appropriate only to one who has been awakened to a true perception of his transgressions, and to an earnest, engrossing solicitude for pardon. The eyes of such a one have been opened. In every page of the word of God he finds some chapter of his own past history coming up to view, and exhibiting itself to him in an aspect never before witnessed. The commandments seem to address him by name; the denunciations seem winged from the throne of God solely for him; the promises shrink back from him affrighted. There seem to be not one, but ten thousand condemnations out against him. Where in all the universe shall he find friends powerful enough and cordial enough to come forward and so plead that these dread writs shall be canceled? Alas! what oratory will avail here? What cunning excuses will induce the Almighty to overlook the guilt of the sinner at the expense of his own infinite perfections? The sinner may have once imagined that it was the easiest thing to get clear; but he now utterly contemns the help of all created beings. No eloquence could lull the storm of self-accusation within; much less appease the righteous indignation of Him who is greater than his heart. Ah yes! there is an eloquence that here availeth; but it is that of no created being. God manifest in the flesh speaketh from the cross, in words of wondrous healing. " I, even I, whose commandments thou hast transgressed, whose benefits thou hast forgotten, who cast down the angels, sent the deluge, and overthrew Sodom, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions."

For my own sake. The perfections of God which require our destruction, in the absence of an atonement, require, now that Christ has died and we have believed, our deliverance from sin and misery, our elevation to glory, our everlasting felicity. "The Father is glorified in the Son.’’ Christ is glorified in us. For his own sake, therefore, he will grant all that we need. We ask him as it were to put on glory. We ask him to enrich himself. We ask him to extend his kingdom, perfect his dominion, put on new lustre in the eyes of the universe. This is what we ask of him when we ask that our sins may be blotted out. In bringing our vile selves to God, we bring something infinitely precious. Angels could never be able to make up any offering comparable to this in value. What is the offering? It is the opportunity of glorifying himself in his Son and his Son in us. But if we pray unbelievingly, we destroy the opportunity; we cast away a pearl intended for the diadem of God.

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