BY REQUEST:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

                            -I John 1:9 

While this particular passage of Scripture is generally cited as a promise of forgiveness to Christians who have fallen in their walk with the Lord, it also clarifies for us that God can indeed forgive and still remain just. In a world where God's forgiveness is often described as "the canceling of a debt that was owed", it is no wonder that many people wonder at how rapists, murderers, kidnappers, etc., can be simply pardoned and be viewed by the Lord as if they never sinned  at all. Is that justice? No. And that is why God doesn't work that way. The fact is, forgiveness is not the canceling of a debt, but the payment of a debt.

When Christ died on the cross, He bore the punishment for the sins of all humanity as if He had actually committed them, though He himself was in fact sinless (II Corinthians 5:21). Say, for example, you were convicted of a crime in court of law and were fined by the judge a total of $2 million. Unable to pay your debt, you knew that prison surely awaited. But, as you were being dragged to your cell, a man rushed into the court room and handed the judge a check for the amount that was owed and said, "This is for him."  The judge could then release you, and still be perfectly just in doing so.

That is what Christ did for those who are saved. By accepting His offer of salvation,  we are justified in the sight of God (Titus 3:7). Our only outstanding debt is a debt of unceasing praise and, when God sees us, that is the only debt He sees. He doesn't see our sins; He sees the blood.

"When He sees me, He sees the blood of the Lamb,
He sees me as worthy and not as I am.
He views me in garments as white as the snow,
For worthy is the Lamb and He washed me this I know"*

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*When He Sees Me - The McKameys