THE SEA OF FORGETFULNESS

The Sea of Forgetfulness

I was looking at some recent photos of Loch Lomond and was surprised to see how low the water level is. Sandy shores are appearing at its southern end. This is where I grew up.

Loch Lomond

If you don’t already know, Loch Lomond drains into the River Clyde by way of the River Leven. As I was listening to my pastor’s Sunday sermon, I got to thinking about this. It’s strange how the beating wings of the Holy Spirit sometimes raise us up to soar with Him as we bathe in the healing sunbeams of His preached Word. The following is where He took me.

God had created everything, including human beings, “very good” in the beginning (Genesis 1:31). But, as my preacher said, Adam and Eve gave up God for a piece of fruit. Strangely, I got to wondering how that piece of fruit passed through Adam’s digestive system! That’s what got me thinking of the famous Loch Lomond draining into the equally famous River Clyde via the River Leven.

By design, ordinally as food passes through our digestive systems, nutrients are collected from whatever we eat and then we excrete whatever is left over. O.K., I’m odd, but I was visualizing the twisting and winding River Leven as illustrative of our digestive system.

It always surprises me to see the water level drop in Loch Lomond, because, whether it’s fish swimming upstream or water flowing downstream, all must pass through a weir. The weir is a kilometre or so downstream from the loch. It is just below the Loch Lomond Rowing Club, where I was a cox and then an oarsman in my younger days, and the Vale of Leven and District Angling Club where I held a celebration for my 60th birthday in 2016. The weir was built in the early 70s to regulate the water level in the Loch.

Stuart & Neil

As Loch Lomond has to travel through the weir and down the River Leven to get to the River Clyde which in turn flows out to sea, so you and I have to go through the weir, i.e., Jesus Christ to get to the Father. For, no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6b). Thus, the forbidden fruit of our sin must pass through Jesus before it can be deposited in the “sea of forgetfulness” (Micah 7:19b).

Think of the sandy shores of low water level Loch Lomond. Your sins and my sins are as many as those grains of sand. Now think of an hourglass or an eggtimer. Jesus is that narrow nexus at the centre that every grain of our sin must pass through. Our days are numbered and each of us is accumulating more and more transgressions. Will all of our sins have passed through the hourglass before we die? Well, Christians shouldn’t think like that. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” Psalm 103:12.

Hourglasses, eggtimers, and the River Leven all work according to forces of gravity. Let’s sort of invert this image. When I was at theological college, we used to have a worship service on Thursdays. The bloke next to me could not carry a tune in a bucket. When singing God's praises, he never once hit a correct note, not even by accident! However, while on this earth even our praising of God in Heaven goes through the Mediator, the man Christ Jesus. Therefore, every one of our wrong notes is made perfect by Him as it is presented to God.

Not only does Jesus take away all our sins to deposit them in the “sea of forgetfulness:, He also makes perfect everything that we do to the glory of God. “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31. The old Adam ate the forbidden fruit for his own glory. The new Adam, Christ Jesus, the Bread of Life, feeds us and nourishes us with spiritual food “of which you know not” – if you are outside of Christ. If you do not belong to Christ, you are still condemned by God for your sins. However, for the Christian, it’s, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1a.

Like sands through the hourglass, like Loch Lomond passing through the weir on its way down the River Leven to the Clyde, like oil or water through a filter, so all our sins and impurities are taken away by Jesus, and all our works done in the Spirit are made perfect through Him. Whether coming from God or going to Him, all must pass through Christ Jesus.

Are you still eating the forbidden fruit? It will be the death of you if you are! But if you come to Jesus with a heart that has been humbled and broken by the Holy Spirit, the Father will pass all your sins through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Think of Loch Lomond wending its way down the fast-flowing River Leven and into the River Clyde. Now think of the River Clyde emptying into the sea.

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

Oh! precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

Robert Lowry.