R.C. Sproul

Now David is giving the contrast to the woe, which is the blessedness.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.

I can't think of anything more foundational to the Christian life than that.

because every Christian is a person whose sins have been forgiven.

And to enter into that reconciled relationship with God by which our sins are forgiven is to enter into a state of blessedness.

We are blessed not because we are righteous, but we are blessed because we are forgiven.

And so David begins this psalm with that announcement, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Now remember when we looked at Psalm 51, I said that the two chief metaphors for redemption in the Bible are

the blotting out of transgressions, the removing of transgressions, or the covering of one's guilt by the righteousness of Christ.

And so he said, not only are we blessed by forgiveness, but we're blessed because our sin has been hidden from God.

Our sin has been covered.

And the first covering was the clothes that God condescended to make for Adam and Eve when they were ashamed of their nakedness and were hiding and seeking to conceal themselves from the gaze of God.

but then we see the covering on the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement with the blood of the sacrifice, then supremely we see the covering of our nakedness by the righteous garments of Christ.

That is the blessing of forgiveness.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

and in whose spirit there is no deceit."

At the heart of the gospel is this concept of imputation, which means a legal transfer of accounts, a reckoning or a transfer.

On the one hand, in the cross, in the drama of the cross, we see our sins transferred to Christ.

who is our substitute.

That is, our sins are imputed to Him legally, so that when God looks down from heaven at His Son on the cross, He sees one who is covered with our guilt, covered with our iniquity by way of imputation.