You may be familiar with the vocal ranges of a standard four-part harmony—soprano, alto, tenor and bass. There are, however, other lesser-known parts such as mezzo-soprano, contralto and baritone. The lowest vocal register of them goes by the Italian title “basso profundo.” (Think of Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and Tony the Tiger.)
In high school one of my friends was, in fact, a basso profundo. Our choir director assigned him a solo that highlighted his deep vocal range. It was a hymn written by Charles Weigle called “Down Deep in the Sea” and the first stanza went like this:
My sins have been cast in the depths of the sea,
Down, deep in the sea;
So deep they shall never be brought against me,
Down, deep in the sea.
The chorus began at a low note, but when he got to the final line of the song, “Down in the depths of the sea,” the accompaniment would stop, and he would descend down a vocal scale where to an astonishing low tone. Even today I can hear him singing that refrain:
Down! Down! Down! Down!
Down in the depths of the sea.
The sins of the past, are all gone at last,
Down in the depths of the sea.
It was a simple song that used a vocal technique to communicate a tremendous biblical truth. It is a promise found in one of the minor prophets.
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Mic. 7:18–19)
Sins are not a physical thing to be cast into a body of water but this analogy, perhaps, is more powerful than you realize. First, the depths of the sea is still territory that is vastly undiscovered. The “Challenger Deep,” the deepest valley in the Pacific Ocean is nearly seven miles down (about 1.2 miles farther below sea level than Mount Everest is above it!) Second, it is essentially unlivable. The only known form of life down there are microbes.
Third, and most important, in the Hebrew culture the sea is considered to be a place of chaos and death. Jonah’s descent into the sea corresponds with Christ’s descent into the grave. Isaiah 27:1 prophesies that God will slay “the dragon that is in the sea.” After Jesus’ return, in a final act of triumph over evil, Revelation 21:1 says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” There will be water in heaven (the river of the water of life) but there will be no sea. That is to say that chaos and death will be destroyed.
What God was saying through the prophet Micah, then, was that He would banish your sins into an exceedingly remote and uninhabitable place. When, in 1 John 1:9, it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” it means that the sins of your past have been sentenced to an inescapable, unsurvivable end. The freedom found in that fact is captured in the final stanza of the song.
From sin’s condemnation I now am released,
Down, deep in the sea;
And all of the dread of the past is now ceased,
Down, deep in the sea.
Don’t stand at the waterline, staring at the ripples where your sins were cast. The dismay, anxiety and fear that accompanied them sunk to the bottom as well, never to be reclaimed. Don’t go fishing. Choose to live like the free person God has declared you to be.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1)
(If interested, a rendition of the song can be found HERE)