20. The specification of "Israel," as well as Judah, shows the
reference is to times yet to come.
iniquity . . . none--not merely idolatry, which ceased among the
Jews ever since the Babylonian captivity, but chiefly their rejection of
Messiah. As in a cancelled debt, it shall be as if it had never been;
God, for Christ's sake, shall treat them as innocent
(Jer 31:34).
Without cleansing away of sin, remission of punishment would be neither
to the honor of God nor to the highest interests of the elect.
whom I reserve--the elect "remnant"
(Isa 1:9).
The "residue"
(Zec 14:2; 13:8, 9).
JFB.
Picture Study Bible