Now Think On This
Steve Martin
"…then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14, Complete Jewish Bible)
When my Charleston sister Mary requested a photo I had taken in Ireland in May 2018, of her wearing a red scarf as we walked the Dublin city park, the Holy Spirit quickened me to write about the blood. The red blood that flowed from the Savior’s body. For us.
The red blood that saves us from our sin.
Remember the Christian hymn (so ancient by some terms these days) we used to sing in church? “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” (Robert Lowry (1826-1899 – See below for the full lyrics from 1876.)
How many still believe in the blood of Jesus? How many still believe in sin? If there is no sin, then why the big deal about the blood? Some would say there is no longer any need to preach about the blood of the Messiah, to teach about the necessity of His sacrificial death on the Roman cross, that rugged tree.
Does it matter what others would say about something they have dismissed, to do away with “sin”, “guilt”, “shame”, “forgiveness”? If there is no God, then it would not matter.
But because there is the One and True God, then it most certainly does. To use a now worn out cliché’ in another way, “Sin matters.”
To put this in simple terms, we needed a restoration, a redemption, a way to return to the Creator of all life, the One Who sets the rules. Because of sin committed back in the Garden of Eden (and yes, Adam and Eve really did exist) there became a separation from God the Father for all mankind. But down through the many centuries He patiently and consistently revealed, first to the Jews, and then the Gentiles, how to get that relationship restored.
There must be a cleansing from the wrong. There had to be Someone to become the Passover lamb, the one who knew no sin, to fulfill the requirement that the Holy God had properly put in place. Only the Son of God, Yeshua, met that established law, and only He could fulfill the prophetic promises of His coming with exactness. Only He could meet the requirements of perfection, to bring about the forgiveness of sin.
It was sin that removed us from God the Father, being His Holiness does not permit sin in His presence. It was the unblemished blood that could bring us back. Only the blood of the Messiah would meet that requirement. Without spot. Without blemish. The Perfect Lamb of God. He was the substitution for us, to forever cover the sin that would have kept us from the eternal relationship God the Father so desires with us, His creation.
“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:17-21, NKJV)
For those of us who believe, who have repented and received Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on our behalf, in order for us to be restored to God the Father, for eternity we will give thanks.
For those who have yet to acknowledge that their sin has separated them from God, and can only be forgiven when they call on the Name of Yeshua (Jesus), may your heart be opened to the truth, and may you too receive the gift of eternal life that comes only through confessing and believing.
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA