BUT WITH PRECIOUS BLOOD: alla timio haimati: (1Pet 2:22, 23, 24; 3:18; Da 9:24; Zec 13:7; Mt 20:28; 26:28; Acts
20:28; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 9:12, 13, 14; 1Jn 1:7; 2:2; Rev 1:5;
5:9)
As one
sage has encouraged every saint
Reason back from the greatness of
the sacrifice to the greatness of the sin. Then determine to be done
forever with that which cost God’s Son His life.
Precious
(5093)
(timios
[word study]
from time
= to value or honor) describes that which is valuable, highly prized,
desirable, costly, as a precious stone, an apt adjective to modify the
infinite worth of the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God. His blood is
precious because it has a value is which is beyond
calculation or our finite human understanding. If He had not been willing
to shed His precious blood thus paying the redemption price, there
would be no hope for mankind to live forever with God.
Timios means costly in the sense of value and
highly esteemed or held in honor. The blood of Christ is costly
because it is "divine" blood (Acts 20:28),
for Deity became incarnate in humanity (Heb 2:14). For that reason the blood of
Christ is highly esteemed and honored by God the Father.
In the original
Greek sentence, Peter placed timios or precious before blood,
which is a Greek way of placing even greater emphasis on the
indescribable worth of Christ's blood.
What a contrast
with the pagan world, where little silver and gold coins would buy the
freedom of slaves in Rome. Only the precious blood of Christ was of
sufficient worth in the Father's eyes to purchase once for all time
the freedom of men and women fast bound in the chains of their own sin
nature inherited from Adam. For all eternity those redeemed by His
precious blood will cry out
Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing. (Ro 5:12-note)
Blood
(129)
(haima) refers to blood as
the basis of life or what constitutes the life of an individual. (Lev
17:11). Blood is the basic component of a living organism. The
shedding of Christ's blood (death) was the penalty price for sin. What
was foreshadowed in the Levitical system was realized at the Cross
when the Son of God laid down His life in death and ransomed men from
sin. His precious blood paid the ransom price for our redemption (Cf
Re 5:9-note,
Ro 3:24, 25- see notes
Ro 3:24;
25)
Why is
Christ's Blood so precious? To summarize Spurgeon (see sermon
following this list for elaboration on each point)...
1) Redeeming Power
2) Atoning Efficacy
3) Cleansing Power
4) Preserving Power
5) Pleading Prevalence
6) Melting Influence on the human heart
7) Gracious Power to Pacify
8) Sanctifying Influence
9) Power to Give Entrance
10) Confirming power in Covenant
11) Invigorating Power
12) Overcoming Power
Take a Moment to worship
Jesus
as you ponder the preciousness of blood
Play Red Mountain Music's beautiful rendition of
There is a Fountain Filled
with Blood
Red Mt Music (their
works are superbly God Glorifying)
Spurgeon
(The
Precious Blood of Christ - Pdf)
elaborates on the significance of the blood observing that ...
Blood has from
the beginning been regarded by God as a most precious thing. He has
hedged about this fountain of vitality with the most solemn sanctions.
The Lord thus
commanded Noah and his descendants, Flesh with the life thereof, which
is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Man had every moving thing
that liveth given him for meat, but they were by no means to eat the
blood with the flesh. Things strangled were to be considered unfit for
food, since God would not have man became too familiar with blood by
eating or drinking it in any shape or form. Even the blood of bulls
and goats thus had a sacredness put upon it by Gods decrees.
As for the blood
of man, you remember how Gods threatening ran, And surely your blood
of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I
require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every mans brother
will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man
shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. It is
true that the first murderer had not his blood shed by man, but then
the crime was new and the penalty had not then been settled and
proclaimed, and therefore the case was clearly exceptional, and one by
itself; and, moreover, Cain's doom was probably far more terrible than
if be had been slain upon the spot: he was permitted to fill up his
measure of wickedness, to be a wanderer and a vagabond upon the face
of the earth, and then to enter into the dreadful heritage of wrath,
which his life of sin had doubtless greatly increased.
Under the
theocratic dispensation, in which God was the King and governed
Israel, murder was always punished in the most exemplary manner, and
there was never any toleration or excuse for it. Eye for eye, tooth
for tooth, life for life, was the stern inexorable law. It is
expressly written, Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a
murderer which is guilty of death: but he shall surely be put to
death. Even in cases where life was taken in chance-medley or
misadvunture, the matter was not overlooked. The slayer fled at once
to tile city of refuge, where, after having his case properly tried,
he was allowed to reside; but there was no safety for him elsewhere
until the death or the high priest. The general law in all cases was,
So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth
the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed
therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore
the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell
among the children of Israel. Strange is it that that very thing which
defileth, should turn out to be that which alone can cleanse.
It is clear,
then, that blood was ever precious in Gods sight, and he would have it
so in ours. He first forbids the blood of beasts as food of man, then
avenges the blood of man shed in anger; and, furthermore, takes care
that even accident shall not pour it out unheeded. Nor is this all,
for we hear within us the echo of that law. We feel that God has made
blood a sacred thing, for though some can, through use and habit, read
the story of war with patience, if not with pleasure; though the sound
of the trumpet and the drum, and the tramp of soldiery will stir our
heart, and make us for the moment sympathize with the martial spirit;
yet, if we could see war as it really is, if we could only walk but
half across a battle-field, or see but one wounded man, a cold shiver
would shoot through the very marrow of our bones, and we should have
experimental proof that blood is indeed a sacred thing. The other
night, when I listened to one who professed to have come from
battlefields of the American war, I felt a faintness and clammy sweat
steal over me, as he shocked and horrified us with the details of
mutilated bodies, and spoke of standing up to the tops of his boots in
pools of human gore. The shudder which ran through us all was a sure
confirmation of the sanctity with which God has for ever guarded the
symbol and nutriment of life.
We cannot even
contemplate the probability of the shedding of blood without fear and
trembling; and comforts which entail high risks in their production or
procuring will lose all sweetness to men of humane dispositions.
Who does not
sympathize with David in his action with regard to the water procured
by his three mighties! The three heroes broke through the hosts of the
Philistines to bring David water from the well of Bethlehem, and as
soon as he received that water, though very thirsty, and much longing
for it, yet he felt he could not touch it because these men had run
such dreadful risks in breaking thrice through the Philistine hosts to
bring it to him, and therefore he took the water and poured it out
before the Lord, as if it was not meet that men should run risk of
life for any but God who gave life. His words were very touching,
"My God forbid it me, that I should
do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put
their lives in jeopardy for with the jeopardy or their lives they
brought it?"
I wonder at the
cruelty of the great crowds who delight to see men and women running
such fearful risks of life in rope-dancing. How is it that they can
feed their morbid curiosity on such dreadful food, and greet the man
who is foolish enough to run such hazards with acclamations because of
his
foolhardiness? How much more Christ-like the regret of David that he
should have led any man to risk his life for his comfort! How much
more laudable was his belief that nothing short of the highest
benevolence to man, or the highest devotion to God, can justify such
jeopardy of life!
Further permit
me to observe, that the seal of the sanctity of blood is usually set
upon the conscience even of the most depraved of men, not merely upon
gentle souls and sanctified spirits, but even upon the most hardened;
for you will notice that men, bad as they are, shrink from the
disgrace of taking blood-money. Even those high priests who could sit
down and gloat their eyes with the sufferings of the Savior, would not
receive the price of blood into the treasury; and even Judas, that son
of perdition, who could contemplate without horror the treachery by
which he betrayed his master, yet, when he had the thirty pieces of
silver in his palm, found the money too hot to hold; he threw it down
in the temple, for he could not bear or abide the sight of the price
of blood.
Another proof
that even when virtue has become extinct, and vice reigns, yet God has
put the broad arrow or his own sovereignty so manifestly upon the very
thought of blood that even these worst of spirits are compelled to
shrink from tampering therewith.
Now, if in
ordinary cases the shedding of life be thus precious, can you guess
how fully God utters his hearts meaning when he says,
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints?
If the death of
a rebel be precious, what must be the death of a child? If he will not
contemplate the shedding of the blood of his own enemies and of them
that curse him without proclaiming vengeance, what think you
concerning his own elect, of whom he says, Precious shall their blood
be in his sight? Will he not avenge them, though he bear long with
them? Shall the cup which the harlot of Rome filled with the blood of
the saints, long remain unavenged? Shall not the martyrs from Piedmont
and the Alps, and from our Smithfield, and from the hills of
covenanting Scotland, yet obtain from God the vengeance due for all
that they suffered, and all the blood which they poured forth in the
defense of his cause?
I have taken you
up, you see, from the beast to man, from man to God's chosen men, the
martyrs.
I have another
step to indicate to you: it is a far longer one it is to the blood OF
JESUS CHRIST.
Here, powers of
speech would fail to convey to you an idea of the preciousness! Behold
here, a person innocent, without taint within, or flaw without; a
person meritorious, who magnified the law and made it honorable a
person who served both God and man even unto death. Nay, here you have
a divine person' so divine, that in the Acts of the Apostles Paul
calls his blood the blood of God.
Place
innocence, and merit, and dignity, and position, and Godhead itself,
in the scale, and then conceive what must be the inestimable value of
the blood which Jesus Christ poured forth.
Angels must have
seen that matchless blood-shedding with wonder and amazement, and even
God himself saw what never before was seen in creation or in
providence; he saw himself more gloriously displayed than in the whole
universe beside. Let us come nearer to the text and try to shew forth
the preciousness of the of the blood of Christ. We shall confine
ourselves to an enumeration of some of the many properties possessed
by this precious blood. I felt as I was studying, that I should have
so many divisions this morning that some of you would compare my
sermon to the bones in Ezekiel’s vision, — they were very many and
they were very dry; but I am in hopes that God’s Holy Spirit may so
descend upon the bones in my sermon, which would be but dry of
themselves, that they being quickened and full of life, you may admire
the exceeding great army of God’s thoughts of loving-kindness towards
his people, in the sacrifice of his own dear Son.
The precious
blood of Christ is useful to God’s people in a thousand ways: we
intend to speak of twelve of them. After all, the real preciousness of
a thing in the time of pinch and trial, must depend upon its
usefulness. A bag of pearls would be to us, this morning, far more
precious than a bag of bread; but you have all heard the story of the
man in the desert, who stumbled, when near to die, upon a bag, and
opened it, hoping that it might be the wallet of some passer-by, and
he found in it nothing but pearls! If they had been crusts of bread,
how much more precious would they have been! I say, in the hour of
necessity and peril, the use of a thing really constitutes the
preciousness of it. This may not be according to political economy,
but it is according to common sense.
1. The
precious blood of Christ has a Redeeming Power.
It redeems from
the law (Ga 3:13). We were all under the law which says, “This do, and live.”
We were slaves to it: Christ has paid the ransom price, and the law is
no longer our tyrant master. We are entirely free from it Ro 7:4, 5,
6-note,
see where Law is now under the New Covenant - He 8:10-note). The law had
a dreadful curse; it threatened that whosoever should violate one of
its precepts, should die: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us.” (Ga 3:13) By the fear of this curse, the
law inflicted a continual dread on those who were under it; they knew
they had disobeyed it, and they were all their lifetime subject to
bondage, fearful lest death and destruction should come upon them at
any moment: but we are not under the law, but under grace (Ro 6:14-note), and
consequently “We have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
“Abba, Father.” (Ro 8:15-note) We are not afraid of the law now; its worst thunders
cannot affect us, for they are not hurled at us! Its most tremendous lightnings cannot touch us, for we are sheltered beneath the cross of
Christ, where the thunder loses its terror and the lightning its fury.
We read the law of God with pleasure now; we look upon it as in the
ark covered with the mercy seat, and not thundering in tempests from
Sinai’s fiery brow (Ex 19:16, He 12:21-note).
Happy is that
man who knows his full redemption from the law, its curse, its
penalty, its present dread (cp Ps 32:1, 2). My brethren, the life of a Jew, happy as
it was compared with that of a heathen, was perfect drudgery compared
to yours and mine. He was hedged in with a thousand commands and
prohibitions, his forms and ceremonies were abundant, and their
details minutely arranged (cp Ro 3:19-note,
Gal 3:23, 24). He was always in danger of making himself
unclean. If he sat upon a bed or upon a stool, he might be defiled; if
he drank out of an earthen pitcher, or even touched the wall of a
house, a leprous man might have put his hand there before him, and he
would thus become defiled. A thousand sins of ignorance were like so
many hidden pits in his way; he must be perpetually in fear lest be
should be cut off from the people of God. When he had done his best
any one day, he knew he had not finished; no Jew could ever talk of a
finished work (Ed: Except One! see Jn 19:30!). The bullock was offered, but he must bring another; the
lamb was offered this morning, but another must be offered this
evening, another to-morrow, and another the next day (cp He 7:27-note). The Passover is
celebrated with holy rites; it must be kept in the same manner next
year. The high priest has gone within the veil once, but be must go
there again; the thing is never finished, it is always beginning (cp
Lev 16:6, 11 = Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur). He
never comes any nearer to the end. “The law could not make the comer
thereunto perfect.” (cp He 7:19-note,
He 10:1-note) But see our position: we are redeemed from this.
Our law is fulfilled, for Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness (Ro 10:4-note); our Passover is slain, for Jesus died; our
righteousness is finished, for we are complete in him; our victim is
slain (1Co 5:7), our priest has gone within the veil (He 10:19-note,
He 10:20-note,
Mt 27:50, 51), the blood is sprinkled (cp He 10:22-note,
He 12:24-note); we
are clean, and clean beyond any fear of defilement, “For he hath
perfected for ever those that were set apart.” (He 10:14-note
= practical, progressive, daily sanctification = a process, not an
arrival in this lifetime contrast the "twin truth" in He 10:10-note
= positional sanctification, a one time event) Value this precious
blood, my beloved, because thus it has redeemed you from the thraldom
and bondage which the law imposed upon its votaries.
2. The value
of the blood lies much in its Atoning Efficacy.
We are told in
Leviticus, that “it is the blood which maketh an atonement for the
soul.” God never forgave sin apart from blood under the law. This
stood as a constant text — “Without shedding of blood there is no
remission.” Meal and honey, sweet spices and incense, would not avail
without shedding of blood. There was no remission promised to future
diligence or deep repentance; without shedding of blood pardon never
came. The blood, and the blood alone put away sin, and permitted that
man to come to God’s courts to worship, because it made him one with
God. The blood is the great at-one-ment. There is no hope of pardon
for the sin of any man, except through its punishment being fully
endured. God must punish sin. It is not an arbitrary arrangement that
sin shall be punished, but it is a part of the very constitution of
moral government that sin must be punished. Never did God swerve from
that, and never will he. “He will by no means clear the guilty.”
Christ, therefore, came and was punished in the place and stead of all
his people. Ten thousand times ten thousand are the souls for whom
Jesus shed his blood. He, for the sins of all the elect, hath a
complete atonement made. For every man of Adam born, who has believed
or shall believe on that, or who is taken to glory before being
capable of believing Christ has made a complete atonement; and there
is none other plan by which sinners can be made at one with God,
except by Jesus’ precious blood. I may make sacrifices; I may mortify
my body; I may be baptized; I may receive sacraments; I may pray until
my knees grow hard with kneeling; I may read devout words until I know
them by heart; I may celebrate masses; I may worship in one language
or in fifty languages; but I can never be at one with God, except by
blood; and that blood, the precious blood of Christ.”
My dear friends,
many of you have felt the power of Christ’s redeeming blood; you are
not under the law now, but under grace: you have also felt the power
of the atoning blood; you know that you are reconciled unto God by the
death of his Son; you feel that he is no angry God to you, that he
loves you with a love unchangeable; but this is not the case with you
all. O that it were! I do pray that you may know this very day the
atoning power of the blood of Jesus. Creature, wouldst thou not be at
one with thy Creator? Puny man, wouldst thou not have Almighty God to
be thy friend? Thou canst not be at one with God except through the
at-one-ment. God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation for our
sins. Oh, take the propitiation through faith in his blood, and be
thou at one with God.
3. Thirdly,
the precious blood of Jesus Christ has A Cleansing Power.
John tells us in
his first Epistle, first chapter, seventh verse, “The blood of Jesus
Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Sin has a directly
defiling effect upon the sinner, hence the need of cleansing. Suppose
that God the Holy One were perfectly willing to be at one with an
unholy sinner, which is supposing a case that cannot be, yet even
should the pure eyes of the Most High wink at sin, still as long as we
are unclean we never could feel in our own hearts anything like joy,
and rest, and peace. Sin is a plague to the man who has it, as well as
a hateful thing to the God who abhors it. I must be made clean, I must
have mine iniquities washed away, or I never can be happy. The first
mercy that is sung of in the one hundred and third Psalm is, “Who
forgiveth all thine iniquities.” Now we know it is by the precious
blood that sin is cleansed. Murder, adultery, theft, whatever the sin
may be, there is power in the veins of Christ to take it away at once
and for ever. No matter how many, nor how deeply-seated our offenses
may be, the blood cries, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.” It is the song of heaven, — “We have washed our robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” This is the experience of
earth, for none was ever cleansed except in this fountain, opened for
the house or David for sin and for uncleanness.
You have heard
this so often that perhaps if an angel told it to you, you would not
take much interest in it, except you have known experimentally the
horror of uncleanness and the blessedness of being made clean.
Beloved, it is a thought which ought to make our hearts leap within
us, that through Jesus’ blood there is not a spot left upon any
believer, not a wrinkle nor any such thing.
“Though in
myself defiled I am,
And black as Kedar’s tent, appear,
Yet when I put thy garment on,
Fair as the courts of Solomon.”
You have no
spiritual beauty, beloved, apart from Christ; but, having Christ, he
himself saith, “Thou art all fair my love, there is no spot in
thee.” Oh, precious blood, which makes the blackamoor white as snow
and takes out the leopard’s spots! Oh precious blood, removing the
hell-stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting me to stand accepted
in the beloved, notwithstanding all the many ways in which I have
rebelled against my God!
4. A fourth
property of the blood of Christ is Its Preserving Power.
You will rightly
comprehend this when you remember the dreadful night of Egypt, when
the destroying angel was abroad to slay God’s enemies. A bitter cry
went up from house to house as the firstborn of all Egypt, from
Pharaoh on the throne to the firstborn of the woman behind the mill
and the slave in the dungeon, fell dead in a moment. The angel sped
with noiseless wing through every street of Egypt’s many cities; but
there were some houses which he could not enter: he sheathed his sword
and breathed no malediction there. What was it which preserved the
houses? The inhabitants were not better than others, their habitations
were not more elegantly built, there was nothing except the bloodstain
on the lintel and on the two side posts, and it is written, “When I
see the blood I will pass over you.” There was nothing whatever which
gained the passover for Israel but just the sprinkling of blood. The
father of the house had taken a lamb and killed it, had caught the
blood in a bason, and while the lamb was roasted that it might be
eaten by every inhabitant of the house, he took a bunch of hyssop,
stirred the bason of blood and went outside with his children and
began to strike the posts, and to strike the door, and as soon as this
was done, they were all safe, all safe: no angel could touch them, the
fiends of hell themselves could not venture there. Beloved, see, we
are preserved in Christ Jesus. Did not God see the blood before you
and I saw it, and was not that the reason why he spared our forfeited
lives when like barren fig trees, we brought forth no fruit for him?
When we saw the blood, let us remember it was not our seeing it, which
really saved us; one sight of it gave us peace, but it was God’s
seeing it that saved us. “When I see the blood I will pass over
you.” And to-day, if my eye of faith be dim, and I see the precious
blood, so as to rejoice that I am washed and I can scarce see the
precious blood in it, yet God can see the blood, and as long as the
undimmed eye of Jehovah looks upon the atoning sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus, he cannot smite one soul that is covered with its scarlet
mantle. Oh, how precious is this blood-red shield! My soul, cower thou
down under it when the darts of hell are flying: this is the chariot,
the covering whereof is of purple; let the storm come, and the deluge
rise, let even the fiery hail descend beneath that crimson pavilion my
soul must rest secure, for what can touch me, when I am covered with
his precious blood? The preserving power of that blood should make us
feel how precious it is. Beloved, let me beg you to try and realize
these points. You know, I told you before, I cannot say anything new
upon the subject, neither can I embody these old thoughts in new
words. I should only spoil them, and be making a fool of myself, by
trying to make a display of myself and my own powers, instead of the
precious blood. Let me ask you to get here, right under the shelter of
the cross. Sit down now beneath the shadow of the cross and feel, “I
am safe, I am safe, O ye devils of hell; or ye angels of God — I could
challenge you all, and say, ’Who shall separate me from the love of
God in Christ Jesus, or who shall lay anything to my charge, seeing
that Christ hath died for me.’” When heaven is on a blaze, when earth
begins to shake, when the mountains rock, when God divides the
righteous from the wicked, happy will they be who can find a shelter
beneath the blood. But where will you be who have never trusted in its
cleansing power? You will call to the rocks to hide you, and to the
mountains to cover you, but all in vain. God help you now, or even the
blood will not help you then.
5. Fifthly,
the blood of Christ is precious because of its Pleading Prevalence.
Paul says in the
twelfth chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews, at the twenty-fourth
verse, “It speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Abel’s blood
pleaded and prevailed; its cry was “Vengeance” and Cain was
punished. Jesus’ blood pleads and prevails; its cry is “Father,
forgive them!” and sinners are forgiven through it. When I cannot
pray as I would, how sweet to remember that the blood prays! There is
no voice in my tongue, but there is always a voice in the blood. If I
cannot, when I bow before my God, get farther than to say “God be
merciful to me, a sinner,” yet my advocate before the throne is not
dumb because I am, and his plea has not lost its power because my
faith in it may happen to be diminished. The blood is always alike
prevalent with God. The wounds of Jesus are so many mouths to plead
with God for sinners — what if I say they are so many chains with
which love is lead captive, and sovereign mercy bound to bless every
favored child? What if I say that the wounds if Jesus have become
doors of grace through which divine love comes forth to the vilest of
the vile, and doors through which our wants go up to God and plead
with him that he would be pleased to supply them? Next time you cannot
pray, next time you are crying and striving and groaning up in that
upper room, praise the value of the precious blood which maketh
intercession before the eternal throne.
6. Sixthly,
the blood is precious where perhaps we little expect it to operate. It
is precious, because of its Melting Influence on the human heart.
“They shall
look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as
one that mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for
him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” There is a
great complaint among sinners, when they are a little awakened, that
they feel their hearts so hard. The blood is a mighty melter.
Alchemists of old sought after a universal solvent: the blood of Jesus
is that. There is no nature so stubborn that a sight of the love of
God in Christ Jesus cannot melt it, if grace shall open the blind eye
to see Christ. The stone in the human heart shall melt away, when it
is plunged into a bath of blood divine. Cannot you say, dear friends,
that Toplady was right in his hymn —
“Law and
terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone,
But a sense of blood-bought pardon,
Soon dissolves a heart of stone.”
Sinner, if God
shall lead thee to believe this morning in Christ to save thee; if
then wilt trust thy soul in his hands to have it saved, that hard
heart of thine will melt at once. You would think differently of sin,
my friends, if you knew that Christ smarted for it. Oh! if you knew
that out of those dear languid eyes, there looked the loving heart of
Jesus upon you, I know you would say, “I hate the sin that made him
mourn, and fastened him to the accursed tree.” I do not think that
preaching the law generally softens men’s hearts. Hitting men with a
hard hammer may often drive the particles or a hard heart more closely
together, and make the iron yet more hard; but oh, to preach Christ’s
love — his great love wherewith he loved its even when we were dead in
sins, and to tell to sinners that there is life in a look at the
crucified One — surely this will prove that Christ was exalted on high
to give repentance and remission of sins. Come for repentance, if you
cannot come repenting. Come for a broken heart, if you cannot come
with a broken heart. Come to be melted, if you are not melted. Come to
be wounded, if you are not wounded.
7. But then
comes in a seventh property of the precious blood.
The same blood
that melts has A Gracious Power To Pacify. John Bunyan speaks of the
law as coming to sweep a chamber like a maid with a broom; and when
she began to sweep there was a great dust which almost choked people,
and got into their eyes; but then came the gospel with its drops of
water, and laid the dust, and then the broom might be used far better.
Now it sometimes happens that the law of God makes such a dust in the
sinner’s soul, that nothing but the precious blood of Jesus Christ can
make that dust lie still. The sinner is so disquieted that nothing can
ever give him my relief except to know that Jesus died for him. When I
felt the burden of my sin, I do confess all the preaching I ever heard
never gave me one single atom of comfort. I was told to do this and to
do that, and when I had done it all, I had not advanced one inch the
farther. I thought, I must feel something, or pray a certain quantity;
and when I had done that, the burden was quite as heavy. But the
moment I saw that there was nothing whatever for me to do, that Jesus
did it long, long ago, that all my sins were put on his back and that
he suffered all I ought to have suffered, why then my heart had peace
with God, peace by believing peace through the precious blood. Two
soldiers were on duty in the citadel of Gibraltar, one of them had
obtained peace through the precious blood of Christ, the other was in
very great distress of mind. It happened to be their turn to stand,
both of them, sentinel the same night; and there are many long
passages in the rock, which passages are adapted to convey sounds a
very great distance. The soldier in distress of mind was ready to beat
his breast for grief: he felt he had rebelled against God, and could
not find how he could be reconciled; when, suddenly, there came
through the air what seemed to him to be a mysterious voice from
heaven saying these words, “The precious blood of Christ.” In a
moment he saw it all: it was that which reconciled us to God; and he
rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now did those words
come directly from God? No. They did as far as the effect was
concerned — they did come from the Holy Spirit. Who was it that had
spoken those words? Curiously enough, the other sentinel at the far
end of the passage was standing still and meditating, when an officer
came by and it was his duty of course to give the word for the night,
and with soldier-like promptitude he did give it, but not accurately,
for instead of giving the proper word, he was so taken up by his
meditations that he said to the officer, “The precious blood of
Christ.” He corrected himself in a moment, but however, he had said
it, and it had passed along the passage and reached the ear for which
God meant it, and the man found peace and spent his life, in the fear
of God, being in after years the means of completing one of our
excellent translations of the Word of God into the Hindoo language.
Who can tell, dear friends, how much peace you may give by only
telling the story of our Savior. If I only had about a dozen words to
speak and knew I must die, I would say, “This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners.” The doctrine of substitution is the pith and marrow
of the gospel, and if you can hold that forth, you will prove the
value of the precious blood by its peace-giving power.
8. We can
only spare a minute now upon Its Sanctifying Influence.
The apostle
tells us in the ninth chapter and the fourteenth verse that Christ
sanctified the people by his own blood. Certain it is, that the same
blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action act
upon the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out
the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that
which streams from the veins of Jesus. If you want to know why you
should be obedient to God’s will, my brethren, go and look upon him
who sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, and the love of Christ
will constrain you, because you will thus judge, “That if one died
for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that we which
live might not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him that died
for us and rose again.”
9. In the
ninth place, another blessed property of the blood of Jesus, is Its
Power To Give Entrance.
We are told that
the high priest never went within the veil without blood; and surely
we can never get into God’s heart, nor into the secret of the Lord,
which is with them that fear him, nor into any familiar intercourse
with our great Father and Friend, except by the sprinkling of the
precious blood of Jesus. “We have access with boldness into this
grace wherein we stand,” but we never dare go a step towards God,
except as we are sprinkled with this precious blood. I am persuaded
some of us do not come near to God, because we forget the blood. If
you try to have fellowship with God in your graces, your experiences,
your believings, you will fail; but if you try to come near to God as
you stand in Christ Jesus, you will have courage to come; and on the
other hand, God will run to meet you when he sees you in the face of
his anointed. Oh, for power to get near to God! but there is no
getting near to God, except as we got near to the cross. Praise the
blood, then, for its power of giving you nearness to God.
10. Tenthly —
a hint only. The blood is very precious, in the tenth place, for Its
Confirming Power.
No covenant, we
are told, was ever valid, unless victims were slain and blood
sprinkled; and it is the blood of Jesus which has ratified the new
covenant, and made its promises sure to all the seed. Hence it is
called “the blood of the everlasting covenant.” The apostle changes
the figure, and he says that a testament is not of force, except the
testator be dead. The blood is a proof that the testator died, and now
the law holds good to every legatee, because Jesus Christ has signed
it with his own gore. Beloved, let us rejoice that the promises are
yea and amen, for no other reason than this, because Christ Jesus died
and rose again. Had there been no bowing of the head upon the tree, no
slumbering in the sepulcher, no rising from the tomb, then the
promises had been uncertain fickle things, not “immutable things
wherein it is impossible for God to lie,” and consequently they could
never have afforded strong consolation to those who have fled for
refuge to Christ Jesus. See then the confirming nature of the blood of
Jesus and count it very precious.
11. I have
almost done; but there remains another, it is the eleventh one, and
that is The Invigorating Power Of the precious blood.
If you want to
know that you must see it set forth as we often do when we cover the
table with the white cloth and put thereon the bread and wine. What
mean we by this ordinance? We mean by it, that Christ suffered for us,
and that we being already washed in his precious blood and so made
clean, do come to the table to drink wine as an emblem of the way in
which we live and feed upon his body and upon his blood. He tells us
“Except a man shall eat my flesh and drink my blood, there is no life
in him.” We do therefore, after a spiritual sort, drink his blood,
and he says “My blood is drink indeed.” Superior drink! Transcendent
drink! Strengthening drink — such drink as angels never taste though
they drink before the eternal throne. Oh beloved, whenever your spirit
faints, this wine shall comfort you; when your griefs are many, drink
and forget your misery, and remember your sufferings no more. When you
are very weak and faint, take not a little of this for your soul’s
sake, but drink a full draught of the wine on the lees, well refined,
which was set abroad by the soldier’s spike, and flowed from Christ’s
own heart. “Drink to the full; yea, drink abundantly O beloved,”
saith Christ to the spouse; and do not thou linger when he invites.
You see the blood has power without to cleanse, and then it has power
within to strengthen. O precious blood, how many are thy uses! May I
prove them all!
12. Lastly,
and twelfthly — twelve is the number of perfection.
We have brought
out a perfect number of its uses — the blood has An Overcoming Power.
It is written in the Revelation, “They overcame through the blood of
the Lamb.” How could they do otherwise? He that fights with the
precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon that will cut through
soul and spirit, joints and marrow, a weapon that makes hell tremble,
and makes heaven subservient, and earth obedient to the will of the
men who can wield it. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence,
death ceases to be death: hell itself would be dried up if that blood
could operate there. The blood of Jesus! heaven’s gates are opened;
bars of iron are pushed back. The blood of Jesus! my doubts and fears
flee, my troubles and disasters disappear. The blood of Jesus! shall I
not go on conquering and to conquer so long as I can plead that! In
heaven this shall be the choice jewel which shall glitter upon the
head of Jesus — that he gives to his people
“Victory,
victory, through the blood of the Lamb.”
And now, is this
blood to be had? Can it be got at? Yes, it is free, as well as full of
virtue, — free to every soul that believeth. Whosoever careth to come
and trust in Jesus shall find the virtue of this blood in his case
this very morning. Away from your own works and doings. Turn those
eyes of yours to the full atonement made, to the utmost ransom paid;
and if God enables thee, poor soul, this morning to say, “I take that
precious blood to be my only hope,” you are saved, and you may sing
with the rest of us,
“Now,
freed from sin, I walk at large;
The Savior’s blood’s my full discharge,
At his dear feet my soul I’ll lay,
A sinner saved, and homage pay.”
God grant it may be so, for his name’s sake. Amen.
><> ><> ><>
Spurgeon
also wrote the following description regarding "The precious
blood" of Christ -
Standing at
the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all
distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is "precious"
because of its
redeeming and atoning efficacy.
By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are
redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made
one with him.
Christ's blood is also "precious" in its
cleansing power;
it "cleanseth from all sin." (1Jn 1:7)
"Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow." (Is 1:18)
Through Jesus' blood there is
not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing
remains (Ep 5:27-note).
O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the
stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted
in the Beloved (cf Ep 1:6-note), notwithstanding the many ways in which we have
rebelled against our God.
The blood of Christ is likewise
"precious" in its
preserving
power.
We are safe
from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood (cf Exodus
12:13, 14). Remember it
is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being
spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for
God's eye is still the same.
The blood of Christ is "precious"
also in its
sanctifying influence.
The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its
after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to
subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no
motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the
veins of Jesus. (1Pe 1:2-note)
And precious, unspeakably precious, is this
blood, because it has an
overcoming power.
It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb."
(Re 12:11-note)
How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious
blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat.
The blood of Jesus!
Sin dies at its presence
(Ro 6:10, 11-see notes
Ro 6:10;
11), death ceases to be
death (He 2:14, 15-
notes
cf 1Cor 15:54, 55, 56): heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! We shall
march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its
power! (Spurgeon, C H: Morning and Evening)
><> ><> ><>
Price of
Redemption (Our Daily Bread) - All America
waited anxiously. Many of us prayed. Captain Scott O'Grady's
F-16 had been shot down as he was flying over Serbia. Had he
been killed or captured? Was he seriously injured? The hours
ticked by. Five days passed. On the sixth day another pilot
picked up a faint message from O'Grady's radio. He was alive,
managing somehow to hide from hostile soldiers. Immediately all
the resources needed for a daring rescue operation were set in
motion. O'Grady was snatched up to safety by a helicopter--and
the US rejoiced. Newsweek magazine reported that the weapons and
machinery used for the rescue of that one pilot were valued at
$6 billion. We can't estimate the value of one human
soul--because we could never calculate the price God paid to
rescue us. In grace, motivated by His love, He sent His Son to
become our Savior. Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His
precious blood to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness (1
Peter 1:18-19). If all the stars in all the galaxies were changed
into platinum, that incalculable sum could not begin to purchase
our salvation! Let us, therefore, give our lives in full
surrender and obedience to the One who gave His all for us. --V C Grounds
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
--Robinson
Jesus gave his
all for me--how can I give Him less?
><> ><> ><>
Holwick's Illustrations - In
a missionary hospital in Vellore, India, Reeve Betts and Paul Brand
encountered difficulty in trying to set up a blood bank. The Indian
people themselves offered the biggest challenge. To them, blood is
life, and who can tolerate the thought of giving up lifeblood,
even to save someone else? In one case, a 12 year old girl had a very
bad lung. Dr. Betts told the family it had to be removed if her life
was going to be saved. The family members nodded with appropriate
gravity. The surgery required at least three pints of blood, and they
had only one, so the family must donate two more. At that news, the
family elders huddled together, then announced
a willingness to pay for the additional pints. Reeve flushed red at
their response. The veins in his neck began to build. Working to
control his voice, he explained that they had no other source of blood
- it could not be purchased. They might as well take the girl
home and let her die. The family went back into conference. After more
lively discussion the elders emerged with a great concession. They
pushed forward a frail old woman weighing perhaps 95 pounds, the
smallest and weakest of their extended family. The family had decided
to offer her as a transfusion donor, they reported. The doctors could
bleed her. Dr. Betts fixed a stare on the sleek, well-fed men who had
made the decision and then his anger took over. In halting but
more-than-expressive Tamil he blasted the dozen or so cowering family
members, jabbing his finger back and forth from the husky men to the
frail woman. Finally, with a melodramatic flourish, Reeve rolled up
his own sleeves and called over to Dr. Brand, "Come on, Paul - I can't
stand this! I won't let that poor girl die just because of these
cowardly fellows. Bring the needle and bottle and take my blood."
The family fell silent and watch in awe as Brand dutifully fastened a
cuff around Reeve's upper arm, swabbed the skin and plunged the needle
into this vein. A rich red fountain spurted into the bottle and a
great "Ahhh!" rustled through the family and spectators. At once there
was a great babel of voices. "Look, the sahib doctor is giving his own
life!" Onlookers called out shame on the family for allowing the great
doctor to give himself in the presence of so many kin. The family got
the message. Before the bottle was half-full, two or three came
forward and put out trembling, outstretched arms. The reputation
spread: if the family refused blood, the great doctor himself would
give his own. (Holwick's
Illustrations)
AS OF A LAMB: os amnou:
(Ex 12:5; Isa 53:7; Jn
1:29; Acts 8:32, 33, 34, 35; 1Cor 5:7,8; Rev 5:6; 7:14; Rev 14:1 -- See Torrey's Topic
"Paschal
Lamb Typical Nature of")
JESUS, THE FULFILLMENT
OF THE OT
PASSOVER LAMB
Lamb
(amnos) pictures a lamb as was used for sacrifice in the OT
(and until 70AD and the destruction of the Temple, for Jewish
sacrifices in the NT, especially at the time of Passover each year -
after 70AD there was no Temple and so for some 2000 years orthodox
Jews have had no appropriate place to sacrifice! Why? Because the
ultimate sacrifice was made once for all on the Cross!) and in the NT
refers to Jesus (Yeshua) the Messiah (Hebrew = Mashiach; Greek =
Christos), the
Passover lamb who was pre-figured in the Exodus by Moses (see
study of
Typology) and then
explained by Paul...
Speak to all the congregation of
Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take
a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb
for each household. 4 'Now if the household is too small for a lamb,
then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one
according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man
should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be an
unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from
the goats. (Ex 12:3, 12:4, 12:5)
clean out
(aorist
imperative
= command to do this now, do it effectively! This speaks of our
practice which is based upon our new position of "unleavened") the old leaven, that you
may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened (Descriptive of
our position in Christ = new creations = new creatures now have new
practice = clean out the old leaven). For Christ our
Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the
feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1Cor
5:7, 8)
Messiah's
precious blood which provides for the deliverance of sinners (who
receive by faith His substitutionary, atoning sacrifice) is likened to the deliverance of Israel out
of Egypt. The lamb during the Exodus was the means of sparing the people,
delivering them from the destroying who passed over them (Passover).
Similarly, Jesus is now the means of delivering those who are willing
to apply His blood in order that the eternal judgment of God may "pass over"
them. Paul spoke of the Messiah...
Whom God displayed publicly as a
propitiation (satisfaction of God’s righteous anger) in His blood
through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in
the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously
committed. (Ro 3:25-note)
NLT helps understand what Paul is saying "For God sent
Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger
against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed
his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair
and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times."
Under the Mosaic
system, a temporary atonement (or covering) could be obtained for
forgiveness of sins by offering the blood of an unblemished and
unspotted lamb (Ex 12:5; Nu 28:3). But this merely served as a type of
the future offering of the blood of Christ, without contamination by
either inherent sin (inherited from Adam) or practiced sin.
The
Messiah (Greek = Christos = "the Christ") was recognized by
John the Baptist as the sacrificial Lamb Who God had provided for
sinful mankind to make possible individual redemption from the
penalty, power and ultimately even the presence of sin...
The next day he (John the Baptist)
saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb (amnos) of
God Who takes away (literally to lift up which pictures the way in
which He was able to lift up and carry away) the sin of the
world!...and he (John the Baptist) looked upon Jesus as He walked, and
said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (Jn 1:29,36)
Elsewhere in the NT
arnion which is the diminutive of amnos and which means
"little pet lamb" is used of Christ (Re 5:6-note)
The Lord Jesus
is called the Amnós of God because He sacrificed
Himself at the time of the
Passover (John 2:13, cp Ex 12:5, 1Co
5:7,8).
Peter was a witness of Christ’s sufferings (1Pe
5:1-noe) and mentioned His
sacrificial death often in this letter (1Pe 2:21-note;
1Pe 3:18-note;
1Pe 4:1-note,
1Pe 4:13-note;
1Pe 5:1-note).
In calling Christ a Lamb Peter was reminding his readers of
an Old Testament teaching concerning the doctrine of
substitution: an innocent victim giving his life for the guilty.
The doctrine of sacrifice permeates God's Word, beginning in Ge 3:21, when God
(by implication) killed animals in order that
He might provide covering or clothing for Adam and Eve. A ram died for
(in the place of, as a substitute for) Isaac (Ge 22:13) and the
unblemished
Passover lamb was slain for (instead of, as a substitute for) each Jewish household (Ex
12:1-51, 5, 6, 7,13). Messiah was
presented as an innocent Lamb in Isaiah 53:7 (our Substitute - Isa
53:4, 5, 6). The price of redemption was pre-figured as the blood of a
lamb (ram in Ge 22:13) and fulfilled in the precious blood of the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29, 36), purchasing
men off the slave block of sin (Ro 6:17, 18-note,
Jn 8:36, Re 5:9-note),
out of the dominion of Satan (Col 1:13-note,
Acts 26:18), from the curse of the Law (Ga 3:13) and from the fear of
death (He 2:15-note).
><>><>><>
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST:
THE ETERNAL LAMB OF GOD
In eternity
past Messiah was...
the Lamb slain FROM (before) the
foundation of the world. (KJV, Re 13:8-note)
Abraham's son
of promise, Isaac, asked...
WHERE is the lamb? (Ge 22:7,
cf notes
Jehovah Jireh - God our Provider)
John the
Baptist answered...
BEHOLD the Lamb of God, Who takes away
the sin of the world (John 1:29)
John in heaven...
saw between the throne (with
the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing as if
slain (Re 5:6-note)
Throughout
eternity, the redeemed and the angels cry...
WORTHY is the Lamb! (Re 5:11, 12, 13, 14-See
notes
Re 5:11,
12,
13,
14)
><>><>><>
PASCHAL LAMB
SHADOW OF MESSIAH
(R A Torrey)
A type of Christ -Exodus 12:3;
1Corinthians 5:7
A male of the first year -Exodus 12:5; Isaiah 9:6
Without blemish -Exodus 12:5; 1Peter 1:19
Taken out of the flock -Exodus 12:5; Hebrews 2:14,17
Chosen before-hand -Exodus 12:3; 1Peter 2:4
Shut up four days that it might be closely examined -Ex 12:6; Jn 8:46;
18:38
Killed by the people -Exodus 12:6; Acts 2:23
Killed at the place where the Lord put his name -Dt 16:2,5-7; 2Chr
35:1; Lk 13:33
Killed in the evening -Exodus 12:6; Mark 15:34,37
Its blood to be shed -Exodus 12:7; Luke 22:20
Blood of, sprinkled on lintel and door-posts -Ex 12:22; Heb 9:13,14;
10:22; 1Peter 1:2
Blood of, not sprinkled on threshold -Exodus 12:7; Hebrews 10:29
Not a bone of, broken -Exodus 12:46; John 19:36
Not eaten raw -Exodus 12:9; 1Corinthians 11:28,29
Roasted with fire -Exodus 12:8; Psalms 22:14,15
Eaten with bitter herbs -Exodus 12:8; Zechariah 12:10
Eaten with unleavened bread -Exodus 12:39; 1Corinthians 5:7,8;
2Corinthians 1:12
Eaten in haste -Exodus 12:11; Hebrews 6:18
Eaten with the loins girt -Exodus 12:11; Luke 12:35; Ephesians 6:14;
1Peter 1:13
Eaten with staff in hand -Exodus 12:11; Psalms 23:4
Eaten with shoes on -Exodus 12:11; Ephesians 6:15
Not taken out of the house -Exodus 12:46; Ephesians 3:17
What remained of it till morning to be burned -Exodus 12:10; Matthew
7:6; Luke 11:3
UNBLEMISHED AND SPOTLESS: amomou kai aspilou:
(Jn 7:18; 8:46, 2Cor 5:21;
Heb 4:15, 7:26, 9:14)
Unblemished
(amomos
[word study]
from
a = without + momos = spot, blemish, blot, flaw) is
literally without spot or blemish and so is free from faultiness.
This picture
reminds one of the Old Testament sacrificial animal which was required
to be free of defects. Under Jewish law before an animal could be
offered as a sacrifice it must be inspected and if any blemish was
found it must be rejected as unfit for an offering to God. Only the
best was fit to offer to God.
Amomos -
8x in 8v - Study these other uses of amomos = Eph 1:4-note;
Ep 5:27-note;
Php 2:15-note;
Col 1:22-note;
He 9:14-note;
1Pe 1:19; Jude 1:24; Rev 14:5-note.
NAS = above reproach(1), blameless(5), unblemished(1), without
blemish(1). Take a moment to worship the worthy Lamb and meditate on our position as
blameless in Christ the Blameless One Who emptied Himself to
take All the Blame on Himself (1Pe 2:24-note,
2Cor 5:21)! Then read
Spurgeon's devotional where on
faultless the KJV translation of blameless. Then motivated
by this truth and enabled by the Spirit walk in a manner worthy of
your call to be blameless and
Do
all
things
without
grumbling
or
disputing;
so that you will
prove yourselves to be
blameless and
innocent,
children of
God
above reproach (amomos
= blameless)
in the
midst of a
crooked and
perverse
generation,
among
whom you
appear as
lights in the
world" (Php 2:14, 15-see notes
Php 2:14;
15)
In its secular
use amomos was a technical word to designate the absence of
something amiss in a sacrifice or something which would render it
unworthy to be offered.
In the
Septuagint (LXX)
amomos is used three times in one verse noting that the
Nazarite (notes)
shall present his offering to the LORD: one male lamb a year old
without defect (amomos) for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a
year old without defect (amomos) for a sin offering and one ram
without defect (amomos) for a peace offering" (Nu 6:14)
Barclay adds that amomos...
thinks of the whole man as an
offering to God. It thinks of taking every part of our life, work,
pleasure, sport, home life, personal relationships, and making them
all such that they can be offered to God. This word does not mean that
the Christian must be respectable; it means that he must be perfect.
To say that the Christian must be amomos
is to banish
contentment with second bests; it means that the Christian standard is
nothing less than perfection. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
Amomos in classical Greek
was a technical word signifying the absence of something amiss in a
(pagan) sacrifice or something which would render it unworthy to be
offered.
In reference to Jesus the
Lamb of God, "unblemished" clearly alludes to the sinlessness of Christ
which is often affirmed in Scripture
(2Co 5:21; 1 Peter 1:22
- note
1Jn 3:5; Jn 8:29).
In Adam all men are
blemished, but in Christ all are now blameless having been "covered" by His precious "blameless"
blood
Spotless (784)
(aspilos
[word study]
from a = without + spílos = spot) means without
blemish or defect (outward condition) and figuratively in a moral
sense, pure (inward character). Peter is describing the flawless
integrity and uncompromising holiness of the God-Man Christ Jesus. He
Alone is as our ideal of personal purity, a vision believers should
ever hold before their gaze in anticipation of Christ's return, the
"example for (us) to follow in His steps" (1Pe 2:21-note).
Don't follow the example of the false teachers who are spots and
blemishes (2Pe 2:13-note) but follow the spotless
One.
Aspilos - 4x in 4v - 1Ti 6:14; Jas 1:27; 1Pe 1:19; 2Pe 3:14
