July 2022

Good morning,

That chorus was a mainstay in my youth group while growing up. (I wonder if anyone sings it anymore.) And, whereas the song has profound truths, I liked it mostly because it gave my squeaky adolescent voice a chance to hit the descending low notes, one letter at a time, "G-O-N-E, gone."

The words, "Buried in the deepest sea," provide a powerful visual of what God has done for us. In fact, long before my youth group sang it, Micah said it: "God will again take pity on us … He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." (7.19)

The "depths of the sea" came into being on earth's 3rd day. That's when the Creator said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place." And, without hesitation, "it was so!"

Oceanographers have given a name to those waters below the heavens; they call them the Global Ocean—a continuous body of water that encircles our planet. It covers 71% of the earth's surface, and contains an estimated 330 million cubic miles of … you guessed it, water.

Getting our arms around something that large is mindboggling. Therefore, to make things simpler, they've divided the Global Ocean into five regional oceans—the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Artic.

However, even with the new names, we still know so little about our ocean.

Did you know that twelve people have now traveled to the surface of the moon—a roundtrip of more than 500,000 miles? And yet, only three people have ever descended to the deepest part of the ocean—a journey of just seven miles.

Why is that?

Well, take a dive with me and you'll see…

• Beginning at the ocean's surface, the first 700 feet is the Sunlight Zone. The visibility is clear for a few feet, and then becomes darker as you descend. As we dive deeper, the water pressure becomes more challenging. At 100 feet, the pressure is four times what it is on the surface. At 250 feet, the water pressure becomes unbearable even for the best scuba divers.


• From that point to 3,300 feet, we enter the Twilight Zone, where the waters grow increasingly darker and ultimately turn black. The water pressure has now increased to 1,500 pounds—the equivalent to having a buffalo sitting on every square inch of your body.


• Then comes the Midnight Zone, plunging to 13,000 feet. There is no light, and therefore no growth of plants or plankton. All animals—some of whom create their own light—are either predators or scavengers. The water pressure reaches 6,000 lbs. psi. Now, you've got a family of buffalos sitting on every square inch.


• The Abyss Zone comes next, dropping to 20,000 feet with temperatures near freezing. It's perpetually dark. Life here is dramatically different, with frightening creatures displaying ghoulish feeding habits. It truly is an abyss.


• Finally we've reached the deepest part of the ocean—the Hadal Zone, named after Hades, the mythological Greek god of the underworld. This lifeless area drops to 37,000 feet and touches the earth's tectonic plates.

It was in these "depths of the sea"—ironically, named Hades—that Micah said God would "cast all our sins."

God is so good to us! And how appropriate that He chose the most unbearable and unreachable spot on earth to symbolize the graveyard of our sins.

As pastors, we have the extreme privilege of proclaiming this sin-burying news. A Savior willingly took our place on the cross and paid for our salvation. God erased our sins from the pages of time, buried them in the deepest sea, and then said, "I will remember them no more!"

Praise God, my sins are G-O-N-E, gone!

Blessings,