Mike Focht 7/4/2025
Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19
Here, we find a remarkable passage on the love and forgiveness of God. The prophet Micah is so overwhelmed by God’s promises of restoration to Israel that he asks, Who is a God like You? God’s work of love, forgiveness, and restoration is so awesome that His love and forgiveness cannot be justly compared to anything or anyone else.
In fact, God’s dealings with our sins are so incredible that they cannot be summed up with even a single description. So, Micah gives us five remarkable truths about God’s forgiveness.
First, no one is like God in the manner He pardons iniquity. No one else can lift the weight of our sin, bear the weight of our sin, or carry away the weight of our sin. Only our strong King of kings has the authority to declare our pardon.
Second, no one is like God in the way that He passes over our transgressions. So many others cannot endure even the slightest fault or wrong, let alone a true evil done to them. But our God’s willingness to pass over our transgressions is incomparable!
Third, no one is like our God in how His anger gives way to mercy. Others retain their anger, reluctant and fierce in holding it against us. Their anger is bubbling at the surface, ready to spill over at the slightest touch. God is not so. He delights in finding reasons to bestow mercy; in fact, He looks and searches for them.
Fourth, no one is like our God in the compassionate way He subdues our iniquities. He can conquer the things that have conquered us. Through the power of His Spirit, He subdues the sins that enslave us. Even the domination of death is broken by the compassionate subjugation of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
Fifth, no one else can cast our sins into the depths of the sea. Who else has the power to cast our sin somewhere it will never be retrieved? Who else can deal with our sin in a way that it will never again be brought to the surface? Humans love to dredge up buried sins when it suits their purpose, but God is not like that! It suits Him to cast our sins where they will never be found.
Is this all that can be said about the love and forgiveness of God? Is this all we can humanly say about His love, mercy, power, or compassion? Certainly not! There is much more to learn, but may God teach us to trust and believe what we know of Him. Who is a God like Him?!