Brother-Paul
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- Jul 14, 2015
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The Blood of Jesus Christ
The blood is the life. The blood of Jesus Christ is the very soul and life of the gospel. Its place in the New Testament is central, vital, and unique. Jesus himself declared that by His blood alone could eternal life be obtained.
John 6:53-57
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have not life in yourselves. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life.... My blood is drink indeed.... He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him"
Luke 22:20
It is the Blood of the new covenant. "This cup is the new covenant in My blood"
St. Paul speaks of it as the blood of God.
Acts 20:28
"Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Ghost made you bishops to feed the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood"
By the blood of Christ we are said to be redeemed, justified, reconciled, cleansed, sanctified, and glorified. It is the propitiation for our sin, the deliverer and sanctifier of our souls, the means and sustenance of our life, the strength and victory over all adversaries of the soul. It cleanses the soul from all sin, and makes us more than conquerors over every assault of evil.
No wonder St. Peter speaks of it as "precious blood" 1 Peter 1:18-19
What Are We to Understand by the Blood of Christ?
It is important that a word so vital should be understood, though it is not necessary to understand before its power can be realized.
The simple belief in the revealed fact that the blood of Christ atones for sin and saves the soul is enough to bring salvation.
The power operates without the understanding of the "how."
Faith receives and rejoices in the good news, though it may not be able to understand and explain. It behooves us to know. Faith is not unreason. Nothing could be more false than the idea that it is the assent to things not proved, the evidence of things not true to reason. It is not a faculty that makes credulity meritorious.
Faith deals with the unseen, not with the unreasonable. It proves. It searches the deep things of God, that it may be able to give reasons for its hope. Therefore it behooves us to know all we can of the reason and process of redeeming grace. We may never fathom and reason why the blood of Christ atones for sin, nor how it brings life and cleansing to them that believe; but there is much that we may and ought to know. Such knowledge strengthens faith, deepens reverence, inspires devotion, and constrains to service. It is perfectly clear that the reference is not to the material blood. Our Lord insisted upon its spiritual interpretation. The blood is a figure of speech. In the language of our Lord it is perfectly clear that coming and believing, and eating and drinking mean much the same. When His hearers tried to make His teaching absurd by a literal interpretation, He answered that it is the spirit that quickeneth; the letter killeth, and the flesh profiteth nothing. The mind that revolts against the use of the word has got neither poetry nor spiritual perception. Its interpretation is not in the grammar and the dictionary, but in the eyes of the heart. There is no separate vocabulary for spiritual things, and the words of the earth have to be borrowed as paths for the mind to realms of spiritual truth. The New Testament references to the blood of Christ are not to the physical blood, but to the spiritual truth of which it is the symbol and sign.
"According to the Scriptures"
The blood of Christ must be interpreted according to Old Testament significance.
All through the Old Testament God is jealous for the blood. From the beginning this fountain of vitality has been fenced about with solemn commands and terrible penalties. The prohibition of blood as a food is based upon a declaration of its significance, which explains the divine jealousy concerning it.
Lev 17:11
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life"
For this reason also, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."
Blood is sacred, almost divine. It is the life, the very soul.
The blood was offered in sacrifice because it was the life. It was not slain in the shedding; it was set free. The body was not offered.
The body without the blood was dead, and therefore it was burned without the camp; but the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy-seat within the Holy Place. It was presented to God. The atoning virtue was not in the material substance of the blood, but in the life of which it was the seat.
A distinction is made between the shedding, the offering, and the sprinkling of the blood.
- The shedding is the work of the sinner
- the offering and sprinkling, the work of the priest.
Death is the punishment of sin; the life released in sacrifice is presented and united to God.
These things are an allegory. The blood is the life. The blood of Jesus Christ is the outpoured life of our Lord.
He "offered himself without spot to God" Hebrews 9:14
He "gave himself for me" Galatians 2:20
The Cross is a manifestation in time of an eternal reality.
The Blood was shed from the foundation of the world.
The Lamb is in the midst of the throne, standing as it had been slain.
The Blood is as eternal as the throne and the altar.
That is why the New Testament always speaks of it in the present tense. It cleanseth and speaketh.
Through it we have redemption, enter the holiest, have peace, and are made nigh to God.
There is no Cross in heaven, but the bleeding Lamb has always been there.
The Cross is the time-symbol of eternal love.
Christ died for our sins upon the Cross, but the Lamb of God still stands in the midst of the throne.
He still gives himself.
The finished work of Calvary is not an unrelated act.
The crucified Lord, who died to redeem, lives to save.
"Redemption Through His Blood"
It is difficult to understand those who see in this gospel of redemption by His blood nothing but vulgar materialism and immoral outrage. They charge the vulgarity upon those who glory in the Blood, but it is they who see nothing but offense where others see the glory of God. Things are revealed to the simple that the clever cannot receive. There is life for a look.
As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so was the Son of Man lifted up.
The healing was neither in the rod nor in the serpent, but those who looked were healed.
Redemption is through His blood shed upon the Cross.
There is no salvation in the wooden cross nor in the historic fact of Calvary, but it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
It is faith that makes the Cross effective.
Romans 3:24-25
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood"
We were not redeemed with silver and gold. We were bought with a price, but it was not a cash transaction. Love always pays in blood.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He died for all, and all died in Him.
Faith says: "He loved me; He died for me; He gave himself up for me! Through His death I live. By His blood I am saved."
Cleansing Through the Blood
The necessity for such sacrifice is indicated in the terms that set forth what it accomplished.
Such words as propitiation, atonement, redemption, reconciliation, and justification declare the gospel of the cross of Christ.
It adjusted man's relationship to God. It does more than that. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.
Through His blood there is forgiveness for sin and cleansing from all unrighteousness.
What Christ did for us in death is proved by what He does for us in life.
That He is the propitiation for sin is good news; but the glory of the Cross is that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" 1 John 1:7
How does the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse from sin? How does blood cleanse?
There is no external process such as we associate with external and material washings. The figure is of the function of blood in the body.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from sin as the natural blood cleanses the impurities of the body. The blood that carries nutriment to the cells also carries away from the cells all waste and impurities.
The blood of Christ cleanses, not by material application, but by the power of an indwelling life.
The life He offered up for us He imparts to us. "Christ liveth in me."
The blood of Christ is the symbol of His surrendered and imparted life. Again He gives himself—not to die for us, but to live in us.
The Blood that atoned in its shedding cleanses in its working. As there could be no remission without shedding of Blood, so there can be no sanctification but by the cleansing of Blood.
We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
We are justified by His blood; we are cleansed by His blood; we have access to the Father through the blood of His Son; we overcome the wicked one by the blood of the Lamb; we enter through the gates into the city through the blood of His cross. The redeemed are before the throne of God and the Lamb, because they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
At the gate of heaven nothing avails but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son.
"Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"
The Gospel of the Cross by Samuel Chadwick
Let us pray using the following words of scripture...
Hebrews 10:19-25, 35-39
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Lord we are eternally grateful to you. Thanks be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name. Amen
The blood is the life. The blood of Jesus Christ is the very soul and life of the gospel. Its place in the New Testament is central, vital, and unique. Jesus himself declared that by His blood alone could eternal life be obtained.
John 6:53-57
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have not life in yourselves. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life.... My blood is drink indeed.... He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him"
Luke 22:20
It is the Blood of the new covenant. "This cup is the new covenant in My blood"
St. Paul speaks of it as the blood of God.
Acts 20:28
"Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Ghost made you bishops to feed the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood"
By the blood of Christ we are said to be redeemed, justified, reconciled, cleansed, sanctified, and glorified. It is the propitiation for our sin, the deliverer and sanctifier of our souls, the means and sustenance of our life, the strength and victory over all adversaries of the soul. It cleanses the soul from all sin, and makes us more than conquerors over every assault of evil.
No wonder St. Peter speaks of it as "precious blood" 1 Peter 1:18-19
What Are We to Understand by the Blood of Christ?
It is important that a word so vital should be understood, though it is not necessary to understand before its power can be realized.
The simple belief in the revealed fact that the blood of Christ atones for sin and saves the soul is enough to bring salvation.
The power operates without the understanding of the "how."
Faith receives and rejoices in the good news, though it may not be able to understand and explain. It behooves us to know. Faith is not unreason. Nothing could be more false than the idea that it is the assent to things not proved, the evidence of things not true to reason. It is not a faculty that makes credulity meritorious.
Faith deals with the unseen, not with the unreasonable. It proves. It searches the deep things of God, that it may be able to give reasons for its hope. Therefore it behooves us to know all we can of the reason and process of redeeming grace. We may never fathom and reason why the blood of Christ atones for sin, nor how it brings life and cleansing to them that believe; but there is much that we may and ought to know. Such knowledge strengthens faith, deepens reverence, inspires devotion, and constrains to service. It is perfectly clear that the reference is not to the material blood. Our Lord insisted upon its spiritual interpretation. The blood is a figure of speech. In the language of our Lord it is perfectly clear that coming and believing, and eating and drinking mean much the same. When His hearers tried to make His teaching absurd by a literal interpretation, He answered that it is the spirit that quickeneth; the letter killeth, and the flesh profiteth nothing. The mind that revolts against the use of the word has got neither poetry nor spiritual perception. Its interpretation is not in the grammar and the dictionary, but in the eyes of the heart. There is no separate vocabulary for spiritual things, and the words of the earth have to be borrowed as paths for the mind to realms of spiritual truth. The New Testament references to the blood of Christ are not to the physical blood, but to the spiritual truth of which it is the symbol and sign.
"According to the Scriptures"
The blood of Christ must be interpreted according to Old Testament significance.
All through the Old Testament God is jealous for the blood. From the beginning this fountain of vitality has been fenced about with solemn commands and terrible penalties. The prohibition of blood as a food is based upon a declaration of its significance, which explains the divine jealousy concerning it.
Lev 17:11
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life"
For this reason also, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."
Blood is sacred, almost divine. It is the life, the very soul.
The blood was offered in sacrifice because it was the life. It was not slain in the shedding; it was set free. The body was not offered.
The body without the blood was dead, and therefore it was burned without the camp; but the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy-seat within the Holy Place. It was presented to God. The atoning virtue was not in the material substance of the blood, but in the life of which it was the seat.
A distinction is made between the shedding, the offering, and the sprinkling of the blood.
- The shedding is the work of the sinner
- the offering and sprinkling, the work of the priest.
Death is the punishment of sin; the life released in sacrifice is presented and united to God.
These things are an allegory. The blood is the life. The blood of Jesus Christ is the outpoured life of our Lord.
He "offered himself without spot to God" Hebrews 9:14
He "gave himself for me" Galatians 2:20
The Cross is a manifestation in time of an eternal reality.
The Blood was shed from the foundation of the world.
The Lamb is in the midst of the throne, standing as it had been slain.
The Blood is as eternal as the throne and the altar.
That is why the New Testament always speaks of it in the present tense. It cleanseth and speaketh.
Through it we have redemption, enter the holiest, have peace, and are made nigh to God.
There is no Cross in heaven, but the bleeding Lamb has always been there.
The Cross is the time-symbol of eternal love.
Christ died for our sins upon the Cross, but the Lamb of God still stands in the midst of the throne.
He still gives himself.
The finished work of Calvary is not an unrelated act.
The crucified Lord, who died to redeem, lives to save.
"Redemption Through His Blood"
It is difficult to understand those who see in this gospel of redemption by His blood nothing but vulgar materialism and immoral outrage. They charge the vulgarity upon those who glory in the Blood, but it is they who see nothing but offense where others see the glory of God. Things are revealed to the simple that the clever cannot receive. There is life for a look.
As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so was the Son of Man lifted up.
The healing was neither in the rod nor in the serpent, but those who looked were healed.
Redemption is through His blood shed upon the Cross.
There is no salvation in the wooden cross nor in the historic fact of Calvary, but it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
It is faith that makes the Cross effective.
Romans 3:24-25
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood"
We were not redeemed with silver and gold. We were bought with a price, but it was not a cash transaction. Love always pays in blood.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He died for all, and all died in Him.
Faith says: "He loved me; He died for me; He gave himself up for me! Through His death I live. By His blood I am saved."
Cleansing Through the Blood
The necessity for such sacrifice is indicated in the terms that set forth what it accomplished.
Such words as propitiation, atonement, redemption, reconciliation, and justification declare the gospel of the cross of Christ.
It adjusted man's relationship to God. It does more than that. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.
Through His blood there is forgiveness for sin and cleansing from all unrighteousness.
What Christ did for us in death is proved by what He does for us in life.
That He is the propitiation for sin is good news; but the glory of the Cross is that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" 1 John 1:7
How does the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse from sin? How does blood cleanse?
There is no external process such as we associate with external and material washings. The figure is of the function of blood in the body.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from sin as the natural blood cleanses the impurities of the body. The blood that carries nutriment to the cells also carries away from the cells all waste and impurities.
The blood of Christ cleanses, not by material application, but by the power of an indwelling life.
The life He offered up for us He imparts to us. "Christ liveth in me."
The blood of Christ is the symbol of His surrendered and imparted life. Again He gives himself—not to die for us, but to live in us.
The Blood that atoned in its shedding cleanses in its working. As there could be no remission without shedding of Blood, so there can be no sanctification but by the cleansing of Blood.
We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
We are justified by His blood; we are cleansed by His blood; we have access to the Father through the blood of His Son; we overcome the wicked one by the blood of the Lamb; we enter through the gates into the city through the blood of His cross. The redeemed are before the throne of God and the Lamb, because they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
At the gate of heaven nothing avails but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son.
"Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"
The Gospel of the Cross by Samuel Chadwick
Let us pray using the following words of scripture...
Hebrews 10:19-25, 35-39
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Lord we are eternally grateful to you. Thanks be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name. Amen
