Selie Visa
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
-- 1 Peter 1:18-19
1) The Power of the Blood:
Blood possesses power because the soul or life is in it and that blood is sacrificed to God on the altar. It has redemptive power. The life of a man is more valuable than many sheep, goats, or oxen. The sacrifices and offerings of animals in the Old Testament times were only types and shadows that point to the blood of Jesus Christ.
2) The Precious Blood:
Precious means of inestimable value. The Greek order is "With precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish in itself and without spot contracted by contact with others, even the blood of Christ." Though very human, he remained pure in himself ("without blemish"), and uninfected by any impression of sin from without ("without spot"), which would have deemed him unfit for being our atoning Redeemer. Consider the costly price of our redemption from sin. We are bought by the blood of Christ. Gold and silver being liable to corruption themselves, can free no one from spiritual and bodily death; they are therefore of little value.
3) Redemption:
Jesus came to bear the sins of mankind. His blood had satisfied the law and righteousness of God. By doing so, he had overcome the power of sin, death, and hell. People must know that they have been redeemed not by corruptible things such as silver and gold, things which have no power of life but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. It was by the eternal spirit in our Lord that his blood had its value and power.
In 1 John 1:7 we are told, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." Man is sold under sin as a slave; shut up under condemnation and the curse. The ransom was, therefore, paid to the righteously incensed God the Judge. It was accepted as a vicarious satisfaction for our sin by God since it was his own love as well as righteousness that appointed it. We have been purified from sin because of the sanctifying power of the blood of Jesus.
An Israelite sold as a bondservant for debt might be redeemed by one of his brethren. As we could not redeem ourselves, Christ assumed our human nature to reach down to us and become our nearest of kin and brother.
4) Reconciled:
The word of God says, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). The blood of Jesus is about breaking the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, making peace and turning enemies into friends.
The close relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God was broken when they disobeyed him. Sin has separated us from God. He is holy and righteous and sinners cannot go near him. We were once far off from the presence of God our Heavenly Father. But through the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross, we have been brought near to him not only for this present time but also for eternity.
