“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer 31:31-34).”
When the Army gives you a piece of equipment it is not a gift. It is a loan. One of my favorite pieces of equipment was the old cold weather sleeping bag. Do not get me wrong, the new one is by far better. Most importantly because the new one is waterproof. But the old one, if you could keep it dry, could not be beaten for warmth. When I was issued that sleeping bag, I had to sign what is called a hand receipt. It was a piece of paper that would be held by the supply sergeant that recorded that I had been given one cold weather sleeping bag and that one day I would return it to the Army.
I received that sleeping bag as a young, enlisted soldier who later would join ROTC on his way to becoming a commissioned officer. Working through college I held many jobs but one of them was at a local Subway. Yes, I was once a sandwich artist. One day I discovered a fellow sandwich artist had been sleeping in the cardboard recycling bin. He had been kicked out of his friend’s place, probably for not paying his share of the rent, and had no where else to go. I could not offer long term residence at my place as I had several room mates and we too were struggling to pay our rent. I could not bring in a non-contributor. But what I did do was offer him a dry place in my garage and the use of my Army issue sleeping bag while he tried to figure out his next move. He did not stay long and unfortunately when he left, he had absconded with my Army issued sleeping bag. Because of that hand receipt with my name on it the Army would not forget my debt.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
Romans 1:18
What you may not realize is that God holds a hand receipt on your life. He has issued you a life and you are required to return it in original condition. Paul, writing to the Ephesians explains, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Eph 2:1-3).” Because of our sins, because of our disobedience a debt is owed. God’s righteousness demands a payment for unrighteousness. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Rom 1:18).”
Back to my sleeping bag. In the Army you have two options; you can replace the item in kind, or you can sign a statement of charges that will authorize the army to withhold the value of the item from your pay. The first option is why you see a lot of “Army Surplus” stores just outside most army posts. Soldiers will go and find a like item that they can then take back to the supply sergeant in place of the item they lost. When the item is returned, a like item is returned, or when the money is taken from your pay the hand receipt is “cleared.” This means that your name and the items you owe are taken off the hand receipt. In practice though the supply sergeant usually just hands you the hand receipt and you can destroy it in any fashion you choose. In this way, the Army is forgetting the debt you owe. Now, no one would expect the sergeant to forget that he loaned you a sleeping bag. Rather the debt owed is forgotten on account that it has been paid.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”
Psalm 51:1
In essence, this is what we celebrate every Easter but in a much bigger way. You were created for God and that purpose requires righteousness. In your disobedience you have soiled and ruined your righteousness and can no longer clear your own hand receipt. What is the answer? The writer of Acts spells it out, “repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago (Acts 3:19-21).” Did you catch that, “…that your sins may be blotted out?” That is the first century equivalent of a cleared hand receipt. The Psalmist wrote, “have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions (Psa 51:1).”
But no one can just walk into a supply sergeant’s office and declare the hand receipt cleared. Someone must make the payment. This is even more true for God. To just declare your unrighteousness righteous would be to bring God’s righteousness from His level of perfection to your level of imperfection. It would be to compromise God’s own righteousness.
“For God has not destines us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us…”
First Thessalonians 5:9-10
What we celebrate at Easter is God’s clearing of your hand receipt. The crucifixion is what is owed for your sins. The payment has been made. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (Joh 3:16-17).” The resurrection is proof that there were sufficient funds in the account. “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him (1Th 5:9-10).” The “awake or asleep” in that passage is a reference to those who are in Christ whether alive or those who have already died.
A debt was owed, and a debt was paid! Paid in full by Christ. Remembered no more, not because God has forgotten, but because the legal requirement has been met. Did you celebrate Easter this weekend? Is your hand receipt in fact clear? If not, repent today and turn to Jesus that you might live, and live eternally. A time is coming when it will be too late. For those of us who are already His, does it show every day? Are you grateful enough that celebrating only on Easter is not enough? Imagine my excitement at the return of that Army issued sleeping bag. How should God’s clearing of your ultimate hand receipt make you feel?
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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay