God’s Covenant

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, … and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:34.

While Jesus is pleading for the subjects of His grace, Satan accuses them before God as transgressors. The great deceiver has sought to lead them into skepticism, to cause them to lose confidence in God, to separate themselves from His love, and to break His law. Now he points to the record of their lives, … which has dishonored their Redeemer, to all the sins that he has tempted them to commit, and because of these he claims them as his subjects.

Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows their penitence and faith, and claiming for them forgiveness, He lifts His wounded hands before the Father and the holy angels, saying, “I know them by name. I have graven them on the palms of My hands.” …

The work of the investigative judgment and the blotting out of sins is to be accomplished before the second advent of the Lord. Since the dead are to be judged out of the things written in the books, it is impossible that the sins of men should be blotted out until after the judgment at which their cases are to be investigated. But the apostle Peter distinctly states that the sins of believers will be blotted out “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ.” When the investigative judgment closes, Christ will come, and His reward will be with Him to give to every man as his work shall be. In the typical service the high priest, having made the atonement for Israel, came forth and blessed the congregation. So Christ, at the close of His work as mediator, will appear … to bless His waiting people with eternal life.—The Great Controversy, 484, 485.