as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
This psalm measures God's mercy with nothing a person can pace out — the height of the sky, and the distance from east to west. So what did God move that far away, and how could He do it?
A measure no one can take
One writer follows the song as it climbs. The singer lists what God has done for him, then admits he cannot measure the mercy behind it all.
G. V. WigramIn Psalm 103 David is tracing up to the root of things. Higher and higher the soul climbs, scaling, as it were, this mercy, which after all is beyond all measure. You have redeemed my life from destruction, fed me, cared for me, guarded me. But after all, I cannot measure it: "As far as the east is from the west." Man's widest span would be a poor ruler for that mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.
Mercy that does not ignore the sin
Mercy this wide could sound like God shrugging off what was done. One writer says it is the opposite.
Hamilton SmithTheir sins and iniquities had become the occasion of showing that His mercy and grace is greater than man's sin, even "as the heaven is high above the earth." So we see that God is not indifferent to the sins of His people. He shows mercy to His people. But He deals with them because of their sins, and He removes those sins "as far as the east is from the west."
How the distance was made
If the sins moved, someone moved them. One writer says who took the sins away, and on whom God laid them.
The Christian's FriendGod alone could separate sins from us and lay them on Another. This He did to the praise of the glory of His grace. One day Israel will celebrate this goodness of Jehovah in triumph. They will bless Jehovah because He forgives all their iniquities and heals all their diseases. And they will add, "As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." They will see that Jehovah took their sins from them and laid them upon Christ, and that He was wounded and bruised for them.
The live goat sent away
One writer reads the verse alongside the day of atonement and its two goats. Each goat showed a different side of one act.
C. H. MackintoshThe two goats on the day of atonement give the double aspect of the one act. In the one we see God's glory maintained; in the other, sins put away. The one is as perfect as the other. We are as perfectly forgiven as God is perfectly glorified by the death of Christ… How many of the sins of Israel did the scapegoat bear away? "All." Precious word! Not one left behind. And where did he bear them? "Into a land not inhabited" — a land where they could never be found, because there was no one there to look for them.
What the removal opens up
The sins are gone, and that clears the way for something better.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe guilty one is released, forgiven… The forgiveness of sins includes another thought. Redemption by Christ brings us into a new state. The whole guilty past is forgiven and removed from us, so nothing hinders the enjoyment of what redemption brings us into.
An honest conscience
Knowing your sins are that far off changes how honestly you can look at them. One writer pictures a man whose debts someone else has paid.
J. N. DarbyWhen we see our transgressions completely "blotted out," we have no interest in making our sinfulness look smaller… But if someone in great kindness had paid my debts for me, I could go and look through all my books. And if I found that I had owed a thousand pounds instead of a hundred, it would only deepen my sense of the greatness and value of the love that had paid it all for me. So it would increase my gratitude and joy.
Summary
- Distance measured. No human span can measure God's mercy, so the psalm reaches for the sky's height and the gap from east to west.
- Distance earned. God did not wave sin away. He separated sins from His people and laid them on Christ, who was wounded for them.
- Distance pictured. The live goat carried all the sins to a land with no inhabitants — a place where no one could ever go looking for them.
- Distance shared. The believer is forgiven as perfectly as the death of Christ glorified God. One act, two sides.
- Distance enjoyed. The whole guilty past is gone, so nothing blocks the new state redemption brings. A cleared conscience stops shrinking its debts and turns to gratitude and joy.