Unity #
32: The Savior’s “Blood of the Covenant”
Dear Father,
We wandered, blind, in the
streets; we were defiled with bloodshed so that no one could touch our garments
(Lam 4:14). You are the righteous Judge, clothed with a robe dipped in blood,
and Your Name is called the Word of God (Rev 19:13). We have shed the blood of
Your people in our hearts and deeds, and thus our bloodguilt was unending. You
required our blood. You are the One who requires blood. Jesus You told us, “this is My blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins”
(Matt 26:28). You have washed away our filth and purged our bloodguilt. Relieve
our burdens and comfort us with Your atonement. Give us wisdom and grace to
understand what true salvation entails.
In Jesus Christ’s Name,
Amen
Dear Beloved,
In this letter, I will be describing our
Savior’s “Blood of the Covenant”. This letter contains the Truths
which have been most dear to my own soul, and I pray that you will be
encouraged and enlightened to see what a great and true salvation that we have
in His Name. For there is a pervasive preaching of an incomplete salvation
which is thus a false salvation because of what is neglected. This false
salvation is defined as “a free ticket to
heaven and perhaps some Spiritual benefits in this earthly life”. But here
I seek to exalt the atonement of my Savior with His blood, by which He has
purchased true salvation for all of His people. This true salvation not only
includes the promise of the home of righteousness after our physical death, but
also our calling, choosing, regeneration, granting of faith and repentance,
justification, sanctification, and glorification. Oh dear saints, many
professing believers have never known what it means to be saved. His Name is
Jesus because He will save His people from their sins (Matt 1:21); there is power, power, wonder-working power
in the precious blood of the Lamb. His blood is effectual!
Before the events of Christ’s death,
resurrection, and ascension, Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the
people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made
with you in accordance with all these words” (Ex 24:8). But apart from the
faith of the Old Testament people in the coming Messiah who would make
atonement for their sins with His blood, they could only make His covenant
void. They brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, to be in
His sanctuary and profane it, even His house, when they offered His food, the
fat and the blood; for they made His covenant void—this is in addition to all
their other abominations (Ez 44:7). God’s Covenant was that if they obeyed Him,
they would live. But in their disobedience, they broke His Covenant, and God
must justly grant them, and should have granted us, death, because of our
bloodguilt. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
(Heb 9:22). But the Blood of the Covenant, the blood of the Lamb, cannot be
made void. For it is not left to mankind to fulfill the terms of the Covenant
in his own power, rather, God Himself fulfills all terms of the Covenant.
We were dead in our trespasses and sins, morally depraved, powerless, and
helpless. Even after we had been raised to Life with Christ, we could not
persevere unto the end if not for the blood of the Covenant. Because of the
blood of His Covenant with us, He has set our prisoners free from the waterless
pit (Zech 9:11). For when Christ appeared as a high Priest of the good things
to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of
goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once
for all, having obtained our eternal redemption. (Heb 9:11-12) Now the God
of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the eternal Covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equips us in every good
thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Oh, Amen!
(Heb 13:20-21). Now we will discuss the effect of the Blood of the Covenant on
those who are purchased by it. These, dear saints, comprise our great and true
salvation!
1. Purchasing of our Souls: Christ is Worthy to take the book and to break its seals; for He was
slain, and purchased for God with His
blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev 5:9). We
were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from our futile
way of life inherited from our forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). The
saints have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14). In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7)
2. Cleansing of our Conscience: If the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much
more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God? (Heb 9:13-14) If we walk in the Light as He Himself is
in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
3. Reconciliation/Access to God: Christ reconciles all things to
Himself, having made peace through the
blood of the cross; through Him, whether things on earth or things in
heaven (Col 1:20). Now in Christ Jesus, we who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph
2:13) We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (Heb 10:19).
4.
Justification/Escape
from His Wrath:
Much more then, having now been justified
by His blood, shall we be saved from the wrath though Him (Rom 5:9)
5.
Release
from Sin:
Jesus Christ is the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler
of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God
and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
(Rev 1:5-6). According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to
obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. Grace and peace is ours
in the fullest measure. (1 Pet 1:2)
6.
Overcoming: They overcame him (antichrist) because of the
blood of the Lamb and because of the
Word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even when faced with
death (Rev 12:11). The saints in white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb, have come out of the great tribulation (Rev 7:14).
7.
Spiritual
Nourishment and Eternal Life: Jesus told us that truly, truly,
unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, we have no life
in ourselves. We who eat His flesh and drink
His blood have eternal life, and He will raise us up on the last day. His
flesh is true food, and His blood is true
drink. He who eats His flesh and
drinks His blood abides in Him, and He in him. As the Father sent Christ,
and Christ lives because of the Father, so he who eats Christ will also live
because of Christ. Christ is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as
the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever. (John
6:53-58)
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer
remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire
which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies
without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he
will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and
has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His
people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. Heb 10
Oh dear saints, His atonement is glorious! His blood has
purchased for us true salvation which includes all the blessings which we have
discussed. It is not simply that His blood can produce these blessings, rather,
there is a power in the blood which will surely cause our sins to be
forgiven, our regeneration, our sanctification, the cleansing of our
consciences, our release from sin, our perseverance until the end, and our
glorification with Christ. May we always proclaim the true salvation of the
Lamb!
Love in Christ,
Preethi
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