GOD is holy, and man is a sinner. Hence it is utterly impossible that man can dwell with God unless he be first cleansed from sin. Many and varied are man’s thoughts as to how. In God’s revelation of Himself and His ways alone, that is, in the Scriptures, can we find the solution of the question. The unerring testimony of the Word of God is clear and sure.
1. What is it that cleanseth? From one end of the Scripture to the other, speaking broadly, we find the same testimony. Nothing but blood. In figure, shadow, and type the Old Testament abounds with it. The whole system of Judaism is based on it. Every sacrifice under the law witnesses to it. On the ground of death and blood shedding alone can any sinner of Adam’s race stand before God. In the earliest dealings of God with fallen man, and throughout his history, the same unerring testimony is found, that without blood no sinner is clean in His sight. Self-judgment and confession of sin have their place, and a God-fearing walk and good works follow after, but without shedding of blood is no remission of sins (Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)). It is the blood which cleanseth.
2. What blood cleansed? None but the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). Not all the blood of beasts slain on the Jewish altars ever took a speck of sin away from a single sinner before the eyes of God. The value of their blood was only typical, as to their standing before and approach to God, as men on earth. For heaven no blood but the blood of Jesus could possibly suffice. Had the blood of bulls and goats availed, why did Jesus die? Why was His blood shed? The answer is simple and plain. The blood of Jesus Christ His (God’s) Son cleanseth us from all sin. All the offerings of men’s doings, from Cain onwards, until this day are utterly unavailing to cancel sin. All the offerings of blood from Abel’s firstlings of his flock down to the very last that has been or ever will be offered are equally so. Nothing but blood can cleanse from or cancel sin, and none other than the precious blood of Jesus.
3. Who is He whose blood cleanseth? It is the blood of Jesus Christ, and the Scriptures say that He is God’s Son. God would cleanse sinners that they might dwell with Him in glory. Neither works nor the blood of bulls and goats could do it; hence, when the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son. The second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son, whoever dwelleth in the Father’s bosom, became Man. “A body hast thou prepared me.” “And they shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” And Peter confessed Him, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the Lamb of God’s providing, a lamb without blemish and without spot. He offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot to God, was accepted, and forsaken of God as the holy sin-bearer on the cross. He gave up His life. His precious blood was shed. Without it there is no remission of sins. With it there is cleansing from all sin. It is the precious, all-cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
4. Whom does His blood cleanse? Sinners who believe. It was shed for all. All have need of its cleansing power, for all have sinned. There are great moral differences, no doubt, among men, and a greater or lesser degree of guilt. But whether we have sinned ten times or a million, in thought, word, or deed, all alike need its efficiency. No sinner ever did, no sinner does, no sinner ever will enter the glory of God without being cleansed by the blood of Christ. Men trust in themselves, their works, their religion in a thousand different ways, but all is utterly unavailing to commend ourselves to God. He has given us all up as hopeless and worthless, and has given His Son to die for us―lost, ruined, and hell-deserving sinners. And the greater sinner you are, the greater your need of an interest in His blood, and the greater the glory to God, when you trust therein and are cleared thereby.
But you may be a most moral, careful, religious man, and think you are much less a sinner than thousands around, and yet, when you get into the light of the presence of God, and see yourself there, you will be led to loathe your self-righteousness, as much as you thought you loathed grievous sin. And so you will learn your deep need too, of being cleansed by Christ’s blood, as much as the greatest sinner out of hell. The blood of Christ cleanses sinners, sinners of all kinds, great and small, moral, religious, worldly, wicked, all. All, without exception, need to realize its cleansing power to reach the glory of God.
5. What does Jesus’ blood cleanse from? It cleanses from sin. Now the deeper sense you have of what sin is, the deeper will be your joy and peace, when you are cleansed from it by the blood of Christ. You will never learn the gravity of sin, or the extent of your guilt, by looking at yourself or at others. We all are sinners, and have never known God and His holiness, hence are slow to form a just estimate of it. You will best learn the gravity of sin through what it cost God to put it away. Nothing but the death and blood-shedding of His own Son could accomplish it. The sorrows of the cross, when the Son of God, made sin, endured the judgment, the forsaking of God: the bitter and agonizing cry of the Son of the Blessed, as He drained the awful cup, should speak to you, and humble you to the very dust. All He passed through, to meet the depths of your great need, should speak with power to your soul of the terrible state man had fallen into, under the mastery of sin. Sin is a foul blot on God’s creation, and on God’s creature, man. You are inextricably fouled and corrupted by it. But Christ’s blood can cleanse you, as it has thousands, yea, millions of others. Nothing else can. It was shed to cleanse from sin. Avail yourself then of its cleansing efficacy and power, and you will be clean in the sight of God, and rendered meet for His blessed presence and glory.
6. How much sin does His blood cleanse from? From all sin. You may see that the blood can cleanse from sin, but may be Satan comes with all his power against you, and your conscience, as you look back upon a more or less misspent life, responds that his accusations are only too true. And it seems too good to be true that you can be cleansed from all, by the blood alone. Your inmost thought is, Surely I must in some way or other be better first. Nay, that is impossible. To be right with God you must be cleansed from all sin; and your best efforts could assuredly never do that. If you be satisfied with your efforts, God is not, for you are shutting out the blood. Nay, nay, we repeat it, and press it home upon you, you need the blood, ―the blood that cleanses, ―that cleanses from sin, ―that cleanses from all sin. Every spot, every stain, every speck is forever removed from before the eye of God the moment you trust in the all-cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, His Son. Infinite mercy, wondrous grace, boundless love, the blood, the precious blood, the blood of the Lamb of God’s providing cleanses us from all―from every sin. A sinner cleansed therein is whiter than snow forever before God. Not one whit better in himself, but clear and clean before God. It all lies in the infinite value of the precious blood, shed once for all. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. May God give you to know this for yourself, that peace thereby may be yours now, and glory with Christ hereafter.
7. When does His blood cleanse? Now. Not in the future, but now. This is the last point we would press upon you, one that all seem so prone to forget. Tomorrow may be too late forever. God’s time for the sinner to be cleansed is now. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)). Another moment may be too late. Christ is coming, and death too is here. Your life hangs on a thread. At any moment your summons might come. You have no lease here for the future. God, who gave you a soul, will demand it. He may do so today. How does it stand with you? Be honest with yourself, in the light of God, and an eternal future. Are you cleansed from all sin before Him, by the blood of Christ? Or are you not? If not, now is the moment to trust Him. Poor, troubled, sin sick sinner, venture your all on the blood, venture now.
This may be your last opportunity. The day of God’s grace is running rapidly by. The Lord is about to rise up and close the door, and judge the ungodly. But as a Saviour, He sits at God’s right hand, and as a Saviour for you. He says to you, as it were, in this little paper, “Behold My blood, shed for rebels, shed for sinners, shed for all, shed for you. Trust that now, and it shall cleanse you now from all sin; and shortly I will claim you as My blood-bought and cleansed one for Myself, to dwell with Me in glory forever. Trust then this moment, and be happy, and follow Me through this world for My glory, till you dwell with Me in the bright world where I have prepared a place for you to everlasting days.”
E. H. C.