As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. – Psalm 103: 12

Line twelve of our Psalm 103 benefits package states: As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. But, how far is that? Practically speaking, east and west is not far from each other at all. Consider that the city of Columbus is divided into east and west at the intersection of Broad Street and High Street. This means that there is an imaginary line running through that spot and on one side is east Columbus and on the other side is west Columbus. There is no space between east and west here because they literally touch each other.

Then, technically speaking, admitting that the world is round and not flat, if one person were to head east and a second person were to head west, ultimately there would still be no separation between them because they would meet half way around the world on the other side.

To grasp the magnitude of this benefit, we must understand that at the time that this statement was made, the world was seen to be flat. Now, pay attention to the fact that the text does not say “as far as east is from west.” It declares: as far as the east is from the west. If you stand in one place and see the sun rise in the east and later watch the sun set in the west, that east and that west is quite far apart!

Another amazing point about this passage blows me away because as many times as I have read it, it is only now that I really comprehended what it said. In spite of what is actually written, I always thought it said that God would remove our transgressions from Him and that He would no longer regard them or hold them against us. However, that is not what it says. It says that He will remove our transgressions, not from Him, but from us!

In other words, for many of us, it is not that we require the forgiveness of God. We already have that. Our problem is the pain, the penalty, the guilt and the shame of our transgressions which yet clings to us. What we have here is God separating our sin from us such that we can fully and freely stand before Him. This separation is so complete that it removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. That’s not forgiveness. That’s far-giveness!