What land? Emmanuel’s land—a garden enclosed, and measured by the line of God’s eternal purpose; including all the redeemed of the Lord, who will ultimately be brought to glory. The map of “that land” was in the mind of Jehovah, when he made this promise through the prophet. He remembered his covenant engagement before the foundation of the world in reference to its redemption. He saw it encumbered by mountains of sin, and blasted by the fiery curse of the law; and in the fulness of time, he sent his Son to deliver it. To remove iniquity is to remove its penalty and its pollution. Christ hath accomplished both for believers. He “bore our sins in his own body on the tree!” He carried upon his own shoulder the burden which must have sunk the whole human race to eternal perdition. By enduring our punishment, he provided for our purification. In his own wounds a fountain was opened wherein we may wash and be clean. From his own heart the balm was extracted whereby our moral leprosy may be cured. “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” See how our great High-priest removes the iniquity of his people; not, like Aaron, by many sacrifices; but by the single offering of himself, “in one day.” The word which is here rendered “remove” is in the original the same as that which is used to express the translation of Enoch. As Enoch was removed from the earth, beyond the sight of man, and the power of death; so sin is removed by the Mediator—removed for ever from the believer’s heart and conscience—blotted out—cast into the depth of the sea—carried away into the land of forgetfulness. The removal is perfect and everlasting. This was a work which Jewish sacrifices were too weak to accomplish. For two thousand years the victims bled upon the altar, and not a single sin was actually removed. Every year the goat of the burnt-offering must bleed afresh, and the scape-goat must be sent away into the wilderness. But Jesus, the great ante-type of all these emblems, removed in one day, by a single offering, the iniquities of all who believe in him, from the fall to the end of time. All the sacrifices that preceded his coming were intended only to remind men that they were sinners, that they needed an atonement, and that justification and eternal life could flow only from the meritorious sufferings of the future Christ. But when the substance came, the shadows passed away, and the promised work was at once accomplished; and all our iniquities were lost in the sea of mercy, which rose to a full tide in the Mediator’s merit.