Transgression Forgiven

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psa. 32:1, 2).
THOSE who read the Bible with any degree of care, notice that when the apostle Paul quotes from the thirty-second Psalm in the fourth chapter of Romans, showing the great doctrine of justification by faith, it is in perfect accord with the revelation given in the Old Testament. He cites Abraham’s case first, a man of whom it was written, “He believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and then says, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” So then, the thirty-second Psalm may well be called, as Luther said, a Pauline Psalm. It is in exact accord with the truth set forth in the Epistle to the Romans.
This Psalm is a wonderful record of redeeming grace, and is David’s own experience. He is telling how he has been brought into the knowledge of the blessedness of transgression forgiven and sin covered.
You will notice that in the first two verses we have four distinct expressions relating to the blessed man who is right with God.
Blessed is he:
1. Whose transgression is forgiven.
2. Whose sin is covered.
3. Unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.
4. In whose spirit there is no guile.
These four things are true of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
David wrote this long before Christ came into the world. He wrote it as he was looking on in faith to the coming Saviour and His sacrifice. He exclaimed, “Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven.” He had no thought of God arbitrarily forgiving sins, or passing sin over, as though it were of no moment, but he had in view the work of the Cross, predicted from the very beginning and on down through the ages. You will remember that in Psalms 51, where he makes his great confession, he recognizes the fact that no sacrifice that might be offered upon the Jewish altars could avail to lay the basis of righteousness, but he cries, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” In other words, the thought in David’s mind was this, “I cannot offer a sacrifice sufficient to atone for my sins, but on the basis of that sacrifice which Thou Thyself art about to provide, blot out my transgression and pardon my iniquity.” So looking on to the Cross, he could exultantly cry, “Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,” in the sense of being atoned for.