What then of the passages referred to in Psalms 51:1,9 and Isaiah 44:22? Look at the context, and modifiers especially of
Isaiah 44:22:
Isaiah 44:22 KJB - I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Notice in this instance, there are word modifiers to
"blot out", being
"as a thick cloud" and
"as a cloud", which alters this particular definition, from destroy completely to
cover/conceal completely, as in
blot out from sight, but
not blot out from existence. This is how
"clouds" in scripture are spoken as
"covering" something, concealing it from view, but not causing it to cease from existence.
For instance:
Exodus 24:15 KJB - And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
Exodus 24:16 KJB - And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
Exodus 40:34 KJB - Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
We can see that when a
"cloud" "covers" something, even as the
"waters cover the sea", or thick clouds the Sun, or the
"blood of the Lamb" "covers" sin/s, it is not gone, but concealed behind something, as clothing covers, as Christ's righteousness:
Job 36:32 KJB - With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it [not to shine] by [the cloud] that cometh betwixt.
Job 38:9 KJB - When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
Psalm 105:39 KJB - He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.
Lamentations 3:44 KJB - Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that [our] prayer should not pass through.
Ezekiel 32:7 KJB - And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
Is the Sea gone being covered by waters? Is the Sun removed from existence being covered by the thick clouds? Is then the sins blotted out from existence from being covered as a thick cloud covers, or are they still in existence but out of present sight?
This is the same as it is written here:
Micah 7:19 KJB - He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Notice, that the sins are still in existence at the bottom of the
"depths of the sea", even
"covered by the waters", yet still needing to be dealt with which is exactly what
Psalms 51 speaks of when it refers to the sins of David being blotted out [vs 1,9], since he knew of the Day of Atonement, in regards the Sanctuary:
Psalm 51:4 KJB - Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest.
Notice the two step process, which do not happen at the same time:
[1] Mercy/hide face = forgiveness, and
[2] Blot out the sins:
Psalm 51:1 KJB - [[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.]] Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psalm 51:9 KJB - [1] Hide thy face from my sins, and [2] blot out all mine iniquities.
It is clear that God would
not have to "
hide [cover] his face" from David's or our sins
if doing so is to actually
"blot" them out of existence. When the sins are truly
"blotted out" God no longer has to "
hide [cover] his face" from us, then we can see him face to face.
This is why David could say, himself knowing, that there was no other
"pattern" of way, and required the High Priest, the Sanctuary, Ark, Blood,
confessed and forsaken sin, and
the Day of Atonement [Leviticus 16, 23] etc:
Psalms 77:33 KJB - Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?
Exodus 28:15 KJB - And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; [of] gold, [of] blue, and [of] purple, and [of] scarlet, and [of] fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.
Exodus 28:29 KJB - And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy [place], for a memorial before the LORD continually.
Exodus 28:30 KJB - And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.
For if in the Day of Atonement the confessed sin was not actually forsaken, or other sins picked up in its place and not confessed and also forsaken, that person could be "cut off" forever, no matter how many times they had come throughout the year with Sacrifice:
Leviticus 23:29 KJB - For whatsoever soul [it be] that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
This is made clear through the very
"pattern", in which in Leviticus 4,
"an atonement" [Leviticus 4:20,26,31,35 KJB] could be made on any day throughout the Year, by a person bringing the required sacrifice, etc, and so that persons sins could be confessed over the sacrifice, transferred to the flesh and blood, and then the blood would be taken into the Sanctuary, where it was 'stored'.
While the person was
"free",
"justified",
"forgiven",
"covered", that person then had to go forth from the gate of the Sanctuary with the realization of the cost of sin to the Son of God and walk no more in sin [transgression of the Law, the Ten Commandments], and the Priest, and later High Priest had further work to do. This is the difference between atonements made in
Leviticus 4 throughout the year, and
the very specific and necessary Atonement in Leviticus 16, 23, in the Once a Year, the Day of Atonement.
Now, what has the
"forgiven" sinner need of the Day of Atonement and that which is therein, if any such sinner had already throughout the year, already brought their sacrifice and was
"covered" by the
"blood" and
"forgiven"? Much everything.
Differing Atonements. The first is for forgiveness, the latter for blotting out of the record of sin therein stored in the Sanctuary and its
"cleansing" [Leviticus 16:19 KJB, etc]. It has been shown you many times about the Books of Heaven, and the sins therein recorded, yet it is connected with God's own people here, since the sinning must be eliminated totally from their lives, iow the actual committing of sin must be put to death through Christ Jesus.