Many Christians still sing the hymn that declares:
“What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow! No other fount I know: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
This is the day when we remember the price Jesus paid for our sins. He suffered for us. He was spit upon in our place. He took the beating we deserved. The prophet Isaiah declared that “the chastisement for our peace (with God) was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) Jesus paid it all!!! The Bible declares that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission (no forgiveness for sin).” (Hebrews 9:22) There is power in the blood that stained the old rugged cross…power to make the vilest of us clean before God.
On the day of His suffering and death, as Herod tried to talk the Jew’s out of condemning an innocent man to a cruel death, the people shouted “crucify Him, crucify Him!!! Seeing that they would not relent, Herod took water and washed his hands declaring to them: “I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it!” To which they said: His blood be on us and our children!!” (Matt.27:24-25) They spoke those words with callous indifference but I KNOW what every believer knows today: Without that blood there is no forgiveness – no remission of sins! No pardon for iniquity! No purification of the soul and no peace with God! We need that blood!
Today, take a moment to consider the high price which Jesus voluntarily paid for your sins and mine so that we, by faith in Him could have an everlasting relationship with the Father. It is a bittersweet day – I grieve that He suffered for me but I am also so grateful that He did.
His death is not however, the END of the story….praise God!
Finally, lets address the question of whether God either exists or is good in the light of the fact that evil exists from the standpoint of what God has done to deal with it. The supposition of the skeptic is that God was taken by surprise by the rebellion of the first man and woman in the garden of Eden and is either unwilling or unable to deal with the evil their sinful choice ushered into the world but what does the Bible say?
Was the Lord surprised by the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the garden? No; that in and of itself is an amazing and astounding truth – God knew and still God made man. God KNEW that Adam and Eve would go against His will and disobey the only command He had given them. He KNEW that the “intent of the thoughts” of the hearts of men would be, as Genesis 6:5 says “only evil continuously.” He KNEW that He would have to intervene at great cost to Himself to rescue mankind from the consequences of their rebellion.
First off, God was not surprised by the rebellion of men, the Bible makes it clear that “from the foundation of the world…names were written in the Book of Life” (Revelation 17:8) and that judgment would fall upon those whose names were not written in it (see Revelation 3:5, 20:12-15, 21:27). The Bible also makes clear that God’s answer to the problem of evil was not an after-thought. (John 3:16) declares that God “gave His only begotten Son” (to die for our sins Matthew 1:21, John 1:29) but (Revelation 13:8) indicates that “from the foundation of the world” literally from the dawn of creation, “the Lamb” (God’s only begotten Son) was also “slain.”
It was the sinful choice of Adam and Eve which ushered death and decay (Genesis 3:17, 21, 4:8) into our world. Evil, suffering, physical death (Genesis 3:19) and a spiritual relational separation from our Creator (Genesis 3:22-24, Ephesians 4:18) all have their beginning in the moment of mans first rebellion. Creation itself even now groans under the weighty consequences of the fall (Romans 8:20-22) but God has done great things to overcome the problem of evil.
For one thing, God condemned the instigator of man’s rebellion. Consider (Ezekiel 28:11-19), this passage, addressed to the king of Tyre is clearly speaking to someone besides the king. In fact, with references to the recipient being the “anointed” and “covering cherub” (vs’s 14,16) and to the fact that he was both “in Eden” (v.13) and “perfect in all his ways from the day he was created” (v.15) the recipient is clearly none other than Satan aka Lucifer himself. Consider that Satan was cast down the Bible says in (Ezekiel 28:16-17) and condemned for his evil (Isaiah 14:12-15), and that one day, the deceiver who corrupted Adam and Eve and countless others over all time will be cast first into a pit for a thousand years (Revelation 20:3). After that, Satan will be released for a short time only to lead a final rebellion which God crushes swiftly finally, eternally casting Satan into the lake of fire burning with fire and brimstone forever (Revelation 20:10). Satan was condemned for His prideful rebellion and the evil he helped usher into the world will be condemned with him on that day.
Even more important than the condemnation of Satan is the atonement God made available to every man, woman and child through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in (Romans 5:8,10) “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us….For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Jesus Christ has done more than He ought to have done, more than we deserved, to deal with the evil and sinfulness in our lives (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). He dealt with the problem of evil (sin) from His cross, dying to free us from our bondage to evil (sin) and freeing us from guilt to live a life pleasing to God (Hebrews 9:14). He granted every believer an eternal future where evil will no longer exist. After His resurrection and ascension or return to His Father in Heaven, Jesus, through His Spirit continues to deal with the problem of sin and evil in our lives through His Holy Spirit – warning, convicting and giving us power to overcome sin and live a life which brings glory to God.
Honestly, the only answer I can offer – the only answer that the word of God gives to the problem of evil is this: the shed blood of the risen Savior (Revelation 12:11), faith in Jesus Christ (John 16:33) and the new life faith in Him produces (1 John 5:4-5) overcomes it . Not because faith in Jesus eradicated evil in the world around us but because faith in Jesus deals with the evil within us, and will continue to do so, as the Apostle Paul said in (Philippians 1:3-6) “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…”
Apart from God there is no answer to the problem of evil, but by His grace one day every believer will be free of it forever!
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, tears streaming down His cheek He considered both the first Passover as well as the reason He was there that day. I believe that He remembered “the things that made for the peoples peace” when they were in bondage in Egypt – two things then made for their peace:
…God’s hand and sanctified blood
“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying…” (Exodus 12:1)
“‘… I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12–13)
As Jesus rode in to the city of Jerusalem, the place where God said he would place His name (2 Kings 21:4), and the place, which after having been renewed one day in a distant future, God will dwell with men face to face (Rev.21:2); He wept because He saw that just as the people had seemed to have forgotten what God had done to deliver them on the actual day of Passover they also did not recognize the things which God was doing in the moment of Christ’s “triumphal entrance” into the city to make peace with God possible for them.
You see, just as in the first Passover, two things were about to work together again for the peace of God’s chosen people:
…God’s hand and sanctified blood.
When we talk about God’s hand we should understand that we’re speaking of God’s strength – He delivered Israel from Egypt by His strong and mighty arm:
“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” (Exodus 6:6)
He brought the plagues upon Egypt and later in His continuing act of deliverance toward His people He would part the waters of the sea and enable the people to cross the sea bottom as if on dry land.
So, let me ask you something…was there power in the blood of the Passover lamb?
“No.” No there was no power in the blood of the Passover lamb; it’s blood, painted on the lintel and posts of the door (Ex. 12:22) was symbolic of the obedience of those who put it there according to God’s command. There was no power to save in that blood but when God saw the blood, recognizing and honoring both the peoples obedience and His own promise, He spared them from the destroyer (see Exodus 12:23) covering their door Himself. The lamb’s blood was sanctified by God but the power to save was His alone…
…in Jesus Christ both God’s hand and sanctified blood are present.
Jesus is the power of God – today He not only sits at God’s right hand but is in fact God’s right hand man – He is the strength of God and unlike the blood of the Passover lamb Jesus’ blood has power – power to do more than cover one’s sins it cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7) and removes sins penalty (Ephesians 1:7), power to give one a right standing before God, power to deliver one from death…Jesus’ blood has power. Here’s the thing, the Bible states that “… according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22). In order for the power of Jesus’ blood to be effective in our lives to grant us forgiveness and bring us to peace it had to be shed.
Jesus wept not only because He was about to give His life for the peace and deliverance of his people and they neither knew it nor cared; He also wept because He knew the price that all who reject Him will pay.
It was by God’s hand and sanctified blood that His grace and forgiveness is ours today. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8), praise Him for “His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
It may have come as nothing new to you to read that “the many” who Jesus was referring to in His parable (Matthew 22:1-14) is a reference to all people. But Jesus was not teaching so called Christian Universalism or the view that, regardless of belief every human being who has or will ever live will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God.
The Bible makes it clear, while everyone will give answer to God in Heaven for the things that they did in the flesh, not everyone will live there for eternity. Those who believed in the Lord Jesus will give answer at the “judgement seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10) they will be judged and rewarded on the basis of the works they did for Jesus AFTER they believed in Him (see Matthew 16:27, Revelation 2:23, 1 Peter 1:17). The rest of mankind, all who ever lived but never believed in Jesus Christ will appear before Him who sits on the “great white throne” (see Revelation 20:11-15); but they will not have a part in the kingdom of Heaven.
That being said, how DO the “many” who are called become “the few” who are “chosen” (literally ĕklĕktŏs – selected , chosen out from among, or approved) by God?
Look again at the
parable we are discussing; the king’s servants, without discrimination or
partiality and per his orders again went out and invited everyone they could
find to the feast. Those invited came just as they were in terms of character,
social status and even apparel and were supplied the necessary wedding apparel
by the host – the King himself; this was customary during the days in which
this parable was told. That this was the case in our parable becomes apparent
in (vs. 11-12):
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.”
Clearly, everyone at the feast came without the proper attire for a wedding. Graciously, the host provided appropriate attire to all, but one guest did not feel it necessary to take put it on. That one, represents all people (including the religious leaders to whom Jesus directed this parable) who because of self-righteousness, tradition, religion or their good works think that they do not need the approved covering which the king supplied by which to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. The improperly attired guest had been invited like the rest and a way had been made for him to be acceptable to the host but he refused it and was (v.13) bound hand and foot, taken away from the feast and cast “into outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
My friends, remember
this parable concerns the kingdom of Heaven and specifically entrance into it;
this man’s expulsion from the wedding feast illustrates a far more fearful
outcome for the purpose of helping all people see the right and only way to
enter into the kingdom of Heaven.
If you are a
Christian today the process was NOT initiated by you. “He who began a
good work in you” (see Phil. 1:6) – God the Father, by way of His Holy
Spirit invited you into the kingdom of Heaven. The Spirit of God convicted you
both of your own sinfulness and neediness (John 16:7-15) as well as of the love
of God in Jesus Christ toward you (Romans 5:8-11) and when you believed, you
were clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Colossians 2:14, 2 Corinthians
5:21).
The apostle Peter wrote in (1 Peter 1:18-19:
“…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.”
That precious blood of Jesus, shed on Calvary’s cross cleanses us from all unrighteousness and by it, we are in essence clothed in garments of white (see Psalm 51:7, Isaiah 1:18-20; Revelation 7:9-14). To be clear, our covering is NOT external. While one day, in the kingdom of Heaven we will wear a garment of white, believers today have an internal covering: the blood of Jesus “cleans(es) our conscience(s) from dead works to (or, so that we can) serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14). By faith in the shed blood of Jesus, we “…were WASHED, but you were SANCTIFIED, but you were JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God;” (1 Corinthians 6:11) the blood of Jesus Christ having cleansed us from all sin (see 1 John 1:7).
The blood of Jesus and His righteousness exchanged for our sinfulness from His cross IS the covering by which we may be numbered among the accepted few….
Join me for the conclusion to this study tomorrow…
As I see it, the two most important agents at work to transform the minds and lives of the followers of Christ to become more like Him are also two of the most neglected and or abused subjects in a great many churches today – the blood of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Both the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are actively involved in the transformation process from the very beginning of a persons Christian walk – without them no one could ever know, walk with or grow to become more like Jesus Christ.
The last time we spoke on this subject I mentioned that once a person receives spiritual life through Jesus Christ, he or she cannot help but give some immediate evidence of the fact. The reason for my assertion stems from my opening remark – the two agents of transformation are actively at work from the beginning to give us a “right mind” (Mark 5:15) about our sin and need of forgiveness and about God’s grace to sinners made possible by the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
In the more or less traditional (some might call them “old school” ) churches, where hymns are still sung one song asks the question:
“Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”
Likewise, in the New Testament Jesus declared to a group of people who had been following Him (John 6:53-56):
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
In our day, people understand the words of the hymn about as well as those listening to the words of Jesus as He addressed them about His body and blood. We are not talking about taking a bath in Jesus’ blood any more than Jesus meant for people to literally eat Him. In actuality, Jesus was promising life to whomever would personally appropriate His shed blood by faith to their lives as an atonement for their sin. Jesus’ blood changes our standing with God, by that blood we have life (John 6:54), a standing before the Father (Ephesians 2:13), holiness, access to and fellowship with God (Heb 10:19, Romans 5:8-10) and redemption (1 Peter 1:17-21). The blood of Jesus cleanses our consciences (Heb 10:22) from evil – from outward sinful actions and inner tendencies to sin. By His blood our souls are purified and forgiven; without it there can be no “remission of sins” (see Heb. 9:22). The Bible declares in (Heb 9: (13)-14):
“…how much more (than the blood of bulls and goats) shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
When applied to our lives, Jesus’ blood gives us a standing before Almighty God but it is the Holy Spirit who drew us to Jesus (see John 6:44) through conviction of sin (John 16:8) and by grace (Ephesians 2:8) and abides in us from the moment we first believed (see Romans 8:9): “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His;” – that Spirit of God applies the blood of Jesus to our lives cleansing us and transforming us from the inside out.
You may recall that Jesus said:
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:4–8, NKJV)
From the inside out the Spirit manifests Himself; His presence changes us and reveals Christ in us (when we get out of the way) so that He who gave us life may be glorified in us as others “see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) and produce fruit through us (John 15:5,8).
The Holy Spirit gives us life (John 6:63) when we believe in Jesus; He opens the word of God to our understanding and leads us in the process of the transformation of our minds (Romans 12:2, Titus 3:5), His presence and our submission to Him enables us to demonstrate the character of Christ through our lives (Gal 5:16-25):
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
The Spirit of God gives us direction, illuminates the Word, speaks to our hearts, convicts us when were wrong, encourages us when we’re weak, seals us to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30) but can also be grieved and quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19) in our lives by constant disobedience and disregard.
These two agents or transformation work in us till our dying day to transform (conform) us to be have the mind and attitude of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 8:29) and fitting us for the kingdom of heaven. Thus, I conclude that though no believer will ever be perfect in this life and will still occasionally sin and have need of repentance, each one will nevertheless bear some witness or evidence through their lives that they have been and continue to be with Jesus.
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