Beech Tree News Network

Three New Testament writers use a word that means “wiped away” in five places. The word originally meant "to plaster, rub smooth, or whitewash” a wall. Later it referred to "wiping out" meaning "to cancel" and was used for canceling obligations or debts. Sometimes translated as “blotted out” or “canceled” the word came to mean to totally and completely remove, erase, or obliterate. Remember that as we consider…   

My sins are blotted out (Acts 3:19). Peter healed a lame beggar in the name of Jesus and a crowd gathered. He preached to them that Jesus, who God had glorified in their presence, was the Christ and His suffering had been foretold by the prophets. “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” God has graciously given His Son, the sacrifice that can take away sin, so that our sins can be totally and completely removed. God removes sins “as far as the East is from the West” (Ps. 103:12) and they are “remembered no more” (Jer. 31:34). Your sins can be wiped away.

My debt is cancelled (Col 2:13-14). We all were once dead in our sins (Rom. 3:23) and deserving of eternal separation from God (Rom. 6:23). What Paul points out about the Law of Moses here, is true of law generally. Law serves to make us aware of our violations or sins (Rom. 7:1). Our sins are a “record of debt” that we could never repay. God’s law makes us aware of our need for His mercy and grace. Our debt was paid in full, or cancelled, by Christ’s death on the cross. Your debt can be wiped away.

My name will never be blotted out of the book of life (Rev 3:5). There is a heavenly record of the righteous. It is referenced in an exchange between Moses and God (Ex. 32:30-33) where we learn that names can be erased from the book (“Whoever has sinned against Me…”) and that the Lord, Himself, keeps the book. That ought to reassure us. “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim. 2:19). The book of life, then, is Heaven’s guest list (Rev. 21:27). It is an exclusive list. Your name can be written in heaven, never to be wiped away.

God will wipe away every tear (Rev. 21:1-7). One day, when “the dwelling place of God is with man” there will be no more pain, sickness, death, mourning, or crying. Our loving father will wipe every tear from the eyes of His beloved children. You can write that down. It is done. “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” The one who conquers, overcomes through the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11).

The one who conquers is one whose sins have been wiped away. The one who conquers is one whose debt has been wiped away. The one who conquers is one whose name shall never be wiped away. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?