The Blood of Christ: September 2011
Table of Contents
The Blood of Christ
No pen can write, no tongue can tell, what the blood-shedding of Jesus has accomplished. The wondrous fruits of that one sacrifice, both Godward and manward, are infinite in their variety. The intrinsic value of that blood has fully and fairly met all the claims of God, every demand of the law, and the whole need of man. It has laid a foundation, or rather, in itself forms the foundation for the full display, throughout eternity, of the glory of God and the complete blessedness of His people. Its virtue is felt throughout the highest heights of heaven and appreciated there in a way that we can have no conception of here. But in due time its power shall be manifested throughout the whole universe. The vernal bloom of every leaf, flower and blade of grass, the playful lamb and the harmless lion, and the reign of peace and plenty throughout the whole creation in the day of His millennial glory shall alike proclaim the redemption power of the blood of the cross. And on the other hand, the awful consequences of sinners despising that precious blood shall be endured forever in the deepest depths of unutterable woe. Its power must be felt everywhere.
A. Miller
The Blood of Christ
“When they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:33-34).
Many of our richest hymns, both in the gospel and in worship, speak of the blood of Christ. It is a worthwhile meditation to consider — separately and as a whole — those hymns, stanzas and expressions that exalt the worth of His shed blood.
Some, when troubled about whether or not they were saved, have found peace in quoting aloud verses of Scripture that speak of the blood of Christ and the blessedness it brings.
The only Gospel that records the incident of the Lord’s shed blood is the Gospel of John. It is John that emphasizes the Lord Jesus as a divine Person, the eternal Son, the eternal Word, become flesh. The essential glory of His Person is set forth in John as in no other Gospel. So when we read of His blood shed, we are compelled by the Spirit of God to own that this blood is like none other. Indeed, it is the blood of God’s own Son (Acts 20:28 JND).
In considering this vast subject, it is helpful to see the way in which the blood is brought before us in the different epistles. As we might expect, the blood of Christ is not mentioned in certain epistles, and this is instructive as well, for its absence highlights the character of those books. But here are a few references with some brief comments that I trust will elevate in our thoughts the greatness of Christ’s redemptive work and the blessing that results because of His shed blood.
Romans
“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in His blood, for the showing forth of His righteousness, in respect of the passing by the sins that had taken place before, through the forbearance of God; for the showing forth of His righteousness in the present time, so that He should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus” (Rom. 3:24-26 JND). “Much rather therefore, having been now justified in the power of His blood, we shall be saved by Him from wrath” (Rom. 5:9 JND).
The main subject of Romans is righteousness and answers the great question, “How can man be just with God?” (Job 9:2 JND). The epistle provides the answer to Job’s question. We are justified, made righteous and cleared from every charge, through the power (the intrinsic worth) of the blood of Christ.
The cherubim on the mercy-seat, representing the righteous ways of God in judgment, looked down upon the sprinkled blood, thus illustrating the truth that God ever had the death of His Son in view. Based on that propitiatory work, He could righteously “pass by” or “overlook” (Acts 17:30 JND) sins that were committed prior to the Lord’s death and could also righteously justify sinners at this present time. Apart from this, God would have been unrighteous (an impossibility) not to deal with sin when it occurred, but Christ’s shed blood shows to all that God was righteous and acted consistently with His character — both then and now — in justifying the ungodly.
Justification is seen as by grace (ch. 3:24), blood (ch. 5:9), and faith (ch. 5:1). Grace is the source, blood is the basis, and faith is the means. It has been well said, “Faith appropriates what grace supplies.” But the blood of Christ is the foundation upon which grace does supply. That being so, there is no place for works — only the hand of faith reaching out to receive what God has provided.
1 Corinthians
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). “After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).
As Romans outlines the great truths of the gospel — man’s ruin, God’s righteousness and Christ’s redemption — 1 Corinthians addresses matters pertaining to the local assembly. Consequently, we do not find the blood mentioned in connection with the unfolding of specific and eternal blessings that result from Christ’s death, but rather the memorial of that work and our title to partake of His supper at His table, which is central to the existence of the local assembly.
Under the law and the old covenant, given to Moses at Mount Sinai, man’s blessing depended upon his keeping the law. We know what happened: Man failed miserably, thus bringing judgment upon himself. Christ’s shed blood is the blood of the new covenant, and that is the basis on which man can now be blessed. While the new covenant has not yet been formally made with the house of Israel and Judah (Jer. 31:31), the basis of it has already been laid in Christ’s shed blood. While the Christian is not under any covenant, old or new (Rom. 9:4), the character of his blessing is that of the new covenant, which is according to grace, for it all depends on the work of another — Christ. This is the force of the expression “ministers of the new covenant” (2 Cor. 3:6 JND); it was the character of the apostles’ ministry in contrast to the law.
It is in the assembly where we remember the Lord in showing forth His death, by partaking of the loaf and cup. It is only in this context that we read of Christ’s blood in either epistle to the Corinthians. Christ’s shed blood is our title to be at the Lord’s table to partake of that one loaf, thus expressing that we are members of His body (which includes every member of the one body).
In the Lord’s supper, the emphasis is on remembering Him with the symbols before us of His finished work — His body given and blood shed.
Ephesians
“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). “Now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).
The epistle to the Ephesians sets forth the greatness of the believer’s blessings in Christ, both individually and corporately. Written to a Gentile assembly, they had no outward or relative nearness to God, as did the Jew. It is “in Christ” that they would know, as does the believer today, all their blessings, whether election, redemption, acceptance or nearness — not in Adam, in the law, or in themselves, but in Christ. The blood of Christ is the foundation upon which God forgives sin, not grudgingly, if we can so speak, but “according to the riches of His grace.” Indeed, it is according to the goodness of His own heart.
Colossians
“Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20).
While the epistle to the Ephesians brings before us the whole scope of the believer’s blessing in Christ, Colossians emphasizes the glory and preeminence of the Son. Accordingly, whereas in Ephesians 1:7 redemption is noted as being “through His blood,” in Colossians 1:14 (JND) this expression, in keeping with the epistle, does not appear — not because it is not true, but because the theme in Colossians is not the means of our redemption, but the greatness of the One who has accomplished redemption, whether now in present blessedness by His blood or in a coming day by His power.
The groundwork by which the Godhead has made peace and will ultimately reconcile to itself all that can be reconciled — whether animate or inanimate — is the blood of Christ. That which is “under the earth” (infernal beings) will not be reconciled; such will be eternally damned.
Hebrews
“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:12-14). “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20). “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:29).
As we might expect, there are numerous references to blood in the epistle to the Hebrews. Some awareness of the tabernacle, the various offerings, and the order of the Aaronic priesthood is necessary for us to profit by the contrasts between Judaism and Christianity that are outlined in this epistle.
The blood of Christ once offered is contrasted with the blood of bulls and of goats that could never take away sin. In virtue of His shed blood, Christ entered into heaven, having accomplished eternal redemption, in contrast to the high priest who entered into the holiest of all once every year on the day of atonement (Lev. 16:34).
Consequent upon the Lord’s cry, “It is finished,” the veil was rent in the midst from the top to the bottom, thus enabling God to come out in fullest manifestation and blessing to man and enabling man to approach God in a new and living way — that is, not in the rituals of vain tradition, but in the reality of personal faith in a finished work.
In the epistle to the Hebrews, one of the great concerns is that those Jews who had turned away from Judaism to embrace Christianity would turn back to the old forms and ceremonies of Judaism.
In view of this, the writer shows that to revert to the Jewish order of sacrifice and service was to esteem the blood of Christ as “common” and no different than the blood of animal sacrifices offered under the law. This is serious error which by implication would destroy the foundation of all blessing. Only the blood of Christ can purge the conscience. Apart from the death and shed blood of Christ, there is no other sacrifice for sin. His work is sufficient; if it is rejected, it is a brazen insult to Him, the Son of God, and eternal judgment is the awful result.
1 Peter
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Peter likewise writes to the Jews, but only the elect, the redeemed. He contrasts the blood of Christ with the silver and gold used as atonement money which was employed under the law of Moses. The silver is typical of the work of Christ in redemption; the gold is typical of the glory of His Person. Yet it was a lamb, as we read in Exodus 12 at the time of the Passover, which was without blemish and without spot. In the blessed Lord Jesus there was no sin (sin nature) and thus He did no sin. It is the blood of this One, the Lamb of God, that alone redeems us to God.
1 John and Revelation
“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). “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:5).
From the side of the Lord Jesus both blood and water flowed forth: the blood to cleanse us from the guilt of our sin and the water to cleanse us from the defilement of our sin. The blood is applied only once, as is the water when viewed typically of new birth by which we are “clean every whit.” (The water, as typical of the Word of God, is applied in an ongoing way as the cleansing agent from moral defilement we encounter in this world — John 13.)
As we close the book, we find the greatest proof of His love and the impetus of our praise is that He washed us from our sins in His own blood. All the redeemed will join in the eternal song, “Thou art worthy ... for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood” (Rev. 5:9).
W. J. Brockmeier
The Blood
Surely it is in the cross that God sets forth the atoning blood. There it was, by the death of His Son, that God reconciled us unto Himself. If we look at some New Testament scriptures, we shall see that we have remission of sins by the blood, justification by the blood, peace by the blood, nearness to God in Christ by His blood, we worship on the ground of the blood, and we shall enter into glory because of the value of blood.
Remission of Sins by the Blood
The divine testimony that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22) shows the impossibility of forgiveness of sins except through the blood. God cleanses us on the ground of sin having been judged and put away, and Christ declares that His blood was shed for many for the remission of sins. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree; thus justice was satisfied, and sins were purged. In Him “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7). The blood, then, is that which gives remission of sins.
Justification by the Blood
Men may succeed in justifying themselves before their fellow-men, but we cannot justify ourselves before God. He knows that we are all guilty and unrighteous. But the Scriptures teach us that those who believe in the Lord Jesus are justified and that they are justified from all things by Him. In the blood, God declares that He is just and the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus. God justifies us through the blood, for the blood of Jesus not only tells us of sin put away, but also of One who was perfectly obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, so that, by the obedience of One, many are made righteous. Therefore we are also told that “being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
Peace by the Blood
Peace with God is only through the precious blood of Christ. It was nothing less than the death of Christ that satisfied God’s justice, and therefore that only pacifies the conscience. This is why the Holy Spirit so often uses those texts which refer to the blood of Christ to give peace to anxious souls. It is an already accomplished peace, and God is now preaching peace by Jesus Christ, not peace by ordinances, duties and the like, but peace by Jesus Christ. All who simply look to Christ and know that they are justified by His blood have peace with God. Why do many anxious souls not have peace? Because they do not believe what God says about the value of the sacrifice of Christ. They look to themselves to see if their experience is good enough, bad enough, or religious enough, but the end of looking to experience for peace must be disappointing. When they look simply to the Lord Jesus, who shed His blood to save sinners, they find peace.
Nearness to God by the Blood
Our sins separated us from God. By nature we were far from God, but now in Christ and through His blood we are made nigh — brought to the Father’s bosom. Thus the believer stands forgiven and blessed in God’s holy presence; thus he is sanctified by the blood of Christ, reconciled unto God, and stands in happy confidence and grace before Him in love.
Worship on the Ground
of the Blood
We enter into the holiest “by the blood of Jesus” and worship the Father. In ourselves there is no ground of praise and thanksgiving, but everything to make us abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes. The blood so fully witnesses to us of the Father’s love and of our eternal redemption and peace that we praise and magnify the unsearchable riches of divine grace. Our consciences are purged, our hearts gladdened, our minds in peace, our souls lifted up, so that we are ready to say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:3).
Glory Because of the Blood
We are purchased by the blood of Jesus. Had not the “corn of wheat” fallen into the ground and died, it would have been alone, but having died, it brings forth much fruit. All believers are the fruit of Christ’s death, are washed in His blood, and will share Christ’s throne in heaven — brought there solely on the ground of the blood of the Lamb. Then we shall sing more sweetly (but not more truly than we can now), “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5-6).
H. H. Snell, adapted
The Precious Blood of Christ
“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5). These words link the story of His blessed work of salvation by blood shedding on His cross with the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt. Let us look for a moment at what this blood shedding has done for our souls.
When God was about to redeem His people out of their state of captivity in Egypt and to lay the ground for His bringing them into that good land and large, a land that flowed with milk and honey, He must not only have a people cleansed from their sins and saved from the judgment which they deserved, but also He must have a righteous answer to the claims of His own nature. This He found for them as for Himself in the blood of the Lamb.
Do you believe in the worth of that sacrifice with God? Has He rested upon His word which said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you”?
The blood was for His eye alone. Israel was shut up in their houses resting on His word; God was shut out, so to speak, when with uplifted hand He was in judgment, and His claims were answered by the blood, and it alone.
And so it is for any sinner now who will bow to his state and rest in simple faith upon the word of the living God and believe what the precious blood of Christ has done for him with God. How complete is the answer in that blood for all his sins! Will any say, “It is not enough”? Will any suppose that God has not accepted it? Some may hesitate and suppose that, because they do not feel that they have peace, it is still uncertain. They base their thoughts upon their own experiences. Faith bases its thoughts on what God has said about it and that He who thought of and planned this way of meeting our sins and His claims and who has accepted what He had Himself appointed is forever and eternally satisfied. This leaves no room for a doubt. All is settled, eternally settled, for all who believe in Him and the satisfaction of God in what His Son has done.
Let us turn to the New Testament and see what this blood has done for us and how full is the Word of God of the certain portion of those who thus believe.
1. Brought “nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2).
Here we learn the condition of those who stand in its precious value with God. Their former state is described in the previous verse: “Remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Such was their description, and such may be your description. Nay more, he may be much more sadly described elsewhere in God’s Word, for he may not be a Gentile, but a professing Christian man. It is a Gentile who is here described. When we turn to 2 Timothy 3, we find what God tells us of ourselves if unbelievers still in heart: “Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Such and in such a way does God describe the professing Christian who has not Christ. Solemn words, and well calculated to rouse to terror the heart on which they fall, the calm, quiet, conscience-searching description which He gives. May the Lord open the ear and reach the conscience of such to see his own solemn ruin and read this description as his own! “Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.”
In Ephesians 2 we read these words: “But now.” How blessedly does the Word of God testify for such itself! It leaves it not to the poor sinner to say what he thinks that blood has done for him; the Spirit of God, after describing the one side, adds this precious word, “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Once we were “afar off,” “without God,” “without Christ” and “without hope,” but now we are “made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
2. Washed from our sins (Rev. 1:5).
One thus brought nigh needs more than this. His conscience would only dread the presence of God, which only laid bare his uncleanness in His sight, and therefore He puts a word in the heart of such: “To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
3. “Through His blood [we have] the forgiveness of our sins” (Eph. 1:7).
Here we find the blessed consciousness of what we possess as being forgiven. “Forgiven” by God is a blessed portion and possessed by all who believe in Jesus. Many trust in Him who have not this portion. Many would not give up their trust in Christ for a thousand worlds, yet they are not consciously the possessors of forgiveness. God has forgiven them, yet they do not believe it. They look into their own poor hearts and rest on what they think of it and feel about it. They rest on a sandy foundation and do not rest upon the living, solid and imperishable security of the Word of God. Let them lay their finger on this verse in Ephesians (ch. 1:7) and try, if they can, to take up the words which God has provided for faith and say, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Does their heart hesitate by the look within? Or do they, with bold, God-honoring faith, say, “Yes, I have forgiveness through the blood of Christ.”
4. “Being justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:9).
“It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” is the challenge of the Apostle. The soul possesses and enjoys forgiveness as its portion, and which can only be known by itself. The enemy may accuse, but in the blessed consciousness of forgiveness we do not heed him. When the Apostle turns the soul to God Himself as the justifier, not merely that the soul is justified before Him, but that He Himself has justified it, then the enemy may accuse in vain. In the verse above, we find the blessed groundwork for God counting the believer righteous, or, in other words, a justified person. Blood has been presented to God, and it has met His claims — answered the righteous nature of Him who cannot look upon iniquity — and through it God is free to act according to His own righteous nature in justifying the ungodly. When He justifies, who is it that can condemn? The soul that has been “brought nigh” by blood, that has been “washed ... in His blood,” and who has “forgiveness ... through the blood” can now rest in His presence, “being justified by blood.”
5. “Having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20).
That soul can now not only rest in His presence, being justified, but can look around and gaze with a worshipping heart by faith upon the fullness of Godhead seen in Jesus and know that in His day of weakness (as it were), when His blood was shed on His cross, the peace of God’s throne was eternally made. I say “the peace of God’s throne” because, while many rejoice, through grace, at their own future and in the peace they possess with God — being justified “by faith” and “by blood” — yet they do not yet see fully that the bright presence of Godhead’s fullness is filled with peace. It is like the holy place of the tabernacle with the clouds of incense, which speaks of the peace and satisfaction of the throne of God, in the perfection of the work by which all things in heaven and earth will be reconciled and by which we have been reconciled to the fullness of Godhead’s glory.
6. “In whom we have redemption through His blood” (Eph. 1:14).
Full and perfect is the word “redemption.” It implies there is no return, no change in what has been done for those who are in Christ. As He is, so are they in this world. He will never undo what He has done, never will leave the blessed place as man which He now has entered through the work of redemption. So those who possess a portion in Him find it as unchangeable as Himself; they are redeemed and have redemption in Him. What rest of soul! No uncertainty characterizes their blessed lot! While all is uncertain here below, all is certain there.
7. “Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate” (Heb. 13).
As surely as we possess in Him the glory on high, so surely does it put us in the place of rejection here. Sanctified by blood! Set apart from man and put into the place which Jesus had below. This is the portion of the redeemed. How many defile themselves and depart from this place and embrace the world again! Yet, so surely as the blood of Christ has given us a place in the brightness of the glory of God’s presence, where the perfections and value of the precious blood of Christ appear, so surely is it our place and portion while on earth to identify with our Master and Lord “without the gate.” This is where He suffered for our sins and for God. Those who suffer for Him “bearing His reproach” have here no continuing city, but seek one to come.
May we know for our own soul’s portion that we, by blood, have been “brought nigh,” “washed,” “forgiven” and “justified,” that the peace we possess is the peace of the throne of God, that we have redemption by blood, and that we have been sanctified — separated to his Lord’s place here and, by blood, sanctified to the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3).
Words of Truth
The Value of the Blood
At the time of the Passover, the Israelites were to kill the lamb, and then they were to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood (Ex. 12:7,22). Further, God said, “The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). God was going to pass through the land as a judge, and the only thing that could save the soul from God’s judgment was the sprinkled blood. But there is another point that is often missed — the hyssop must be used. It was to be dipped in the blood, and in this case the Israelite had to use it himself. If we are going to get any of the value of the blood of the lamb, we must use the hyssop as well. The typical meaning is this, that the soul in the sense of absolute good-for-nothingness avails itself of the death of Christ. We may believe that Christ died and rose and that He finished the work of atonement, but we may not appropriate the value of His death to ourselves. When we get down in self-judgment, brokenness, and repentance before God, I believe then our souls use that bunch of hyssop. We flee, as sinners of the deepest dye, to Christ. The judgment due to us has fallen upon God’s dear Son, and the Lord passes over us in righteousness. The blood upon the lintel keeps God as a judge out. He cannot judge twice — first the lamb, and then the firstborn. Peace with Him is the result. Peace with God does not rest upon our feelings. It is the atoning blood of the Lamb, God’s own Lamb, before God’s eye, that is the basis of our peace. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” It is not when we see the blood; it is God who sees it.
Possibly we say, I do not think I appreciate the blood of Christ sufficiently. Surely we do not, but God does, and He says, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” We must understand this, that the basis of the peace of our souls with God is that shed and sprinkled blood (Ex. 12:8).
W. T. P. Wolston, adapted
Born of Water
It is very helpful to the soul to see the place that “water” has typically in Scripture, as well as the blood. Both are very important, for both flowed from the side of the Lord Jesus in death, as John bears witness (John 19:31-35).
The blood is mentioned first, as the basis of all for God’s glory. In that precious blood-shedding, all that He is in holiness and righteousness against sin and in love to the sinner has been made good, involving pardon and peace for us. But when we come to the application of these blessed realities to us, the order is reversed. “This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6). There is something needed before the blood, namely, the Word, of which water is the symbol. This needs to be applied to the soul in the power of the Spirit that there may be the awakening of the conscience and the conviction of sin, to which the blood applies. The Spirit, the water, and the blood is the order of application.
The Water
We find water mentioned in the Old Testament as a type. On the day of the consecration of Aaron and his sons, they were washed with water (Lev. 8:6), as well as sprinkled with blood later on (vs. 23). This washing was never repeated, though in the laver between the tabernacle and the altar they washed their hands and their feet when they went into the tent of meeting and came near unto the altar (Ex. 40:31).
The Lord Jesus speaks of this double action of water in John 13. Under the symbol of the washing of His disciples’ feet, He brings out His present service for His own. His action is of deep significance for us — “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” This washing is essential to our having part with Him in the realization and enjoyment of His presence where He has gone. Peter objects, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus says to him, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” He declares that there was one first application of the water that needs never to be repeated, being connected with the communication of a new life and nature by the Spirit, in which alone there is true cleansing. Second, there is the constant need of the application of the water to our ways, in a world where we are so easily defiled and rendered unfit for the enjoyment of the presence of the Son with the Father. Briefly, it is the Word as applied to the soul first at the new birth and second by the Lord in His constant service for us in grace, of which the Lord speaks under the symbol of water.
New Birth
This brings us to the beginning of all God’s ways with us in grace — the new birth. Without it our eyes will never see the kingdom of God, for “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” That which is born of the flesh may be religious, as it was in Nicodemus, and even blameless in outward life, as in Saul of Tarsus, but it is flesh and never can be anything else than flesh, and it is only fit for the judgment of God. But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; that is, it has the essential nature and character of its source, as the flesh has of its source. There can be no purification of the flesh. It must be dealt with either in the cross or else in the lake of fire.
This shows us, then, why the water for purification as well as the blood for propitiation came from the side of Jesus in death. It is the Word applied by the Spirit that is the mighty instrument of this change. This participation in the life and nature of God carries with it the sentence of God’s judgment upon all that is of the flesh. And the purification is by the communication of a new life and nature in which we are clean every whit. Thus in John 13, while Judas was yet present, the Lord has to say (vs. 11), “He knew who should betray Him. ... Ye are not all clean.” Judas having gone out (vs. 30), He can say in John 15:3, “Now ye are clean, through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
Cleansing From Defilement
Both James and Peter confirm the force of the symbol of water. “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth” (James 1:18). “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23). By the use of the symbol we are carried beyond new birth, to take in also its effects in the cleansing from the defilement of sin, as the blood was needed for cleansing from its guilt.
Paul comes in to complete the testimony, for in speaking of Christ’s love to the church, who gave Himself for it, we learn that His was not only a love of the past, but of the present. If He has cleansed it with the washing of water by the Word, it is that He may form it more and more like Himself by the same means, for the Word is the revelation of all that He is, who has set Himself apart in glory, as the object for our souls, thus to be the source, measure, character and power of our sanctification and of our being formed like Him. Nor is this all, for His love will never be satisfied till He can present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot of defilement or wrinkle of old age or any such thing, but all that His heart can delight in forever (Eph. 5:25-27).
J. A. Trench, adapted
The Blood on Us
That the precious blood of Christ was shed for us is the grand foundation truth of Christianity. It speaks of the amazing love of God toward us even when we were yet sinners. It tells us of sins judged, peace made, and the sinner, on believing, cleansed. It assures the sin-burdened heart that God is for him and not against him, and it bids the trembling soul to rest in His love. To such, the words of Jesus come with unspeakable comfort: “This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). What love! Yes, in richest grace, He died for the ungodly!
It is also most blessed to know that Jesus who was dead is alive again, and that forevermore, and He has gone into heaven itself by His own blood, so that now we have boldness to “enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19). Yes, the veil having been rent, it is our sweet privilege to draw near. How marvelous that such sinners of the Gentiles as we were should now, by the precious blood of Christ which is always before the eye of God, be cleansed from all sin and be able to come, by faith, through the Spirit, into His very presence where Jesus is. It is His own Word which assures us that we have remission of sins, and, by that “new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh,” we can draw nigh to God. What peace and comfort to be thus in the presence of God where Jesus has gone by His own blood and where we are privileged to come with boldness! It may be, however, that many dear children of God stop short at the first of these great truths of Scripture — of having remission of sins through the blood of Jesus which was shed for many — and they are, perhaps, entire strangers to this second truth — of liberty to draw near to God by His blood. Yet there are some who have traced the Lord in resurrection and ascension and know the unspeakable comfort and blessedness of entering with boldness into the holiest of all by His blood and, when there, have had their hearts drawn out in worship and thanksgiving.
Sanctification
There is another truth of great practical value concerning the blood. It is this, that it has been sprinkled on us, that is, not only the cleansing power, but the sanctifying or consecrating value of the blood of Jesus has been brought home to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We read of “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” and of being “sanctified” with the blood of Jesus.
In the consecration of the priests, who were in some respects remarkably typical of us, certain parts of their bodies had the blood put upon them. This is not the blood merely made known for relief of conscience, most blessed as that is, but to show that the person is practically as well as personally set apart for God. We are not our own. We are henceforth to live, not to ourselves, but to Him who died and rose again for us.
When the priests were consecrated, the blood was put upon the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, for they were wholly set apart for the service of the sanctuary according to the will of God. And, surely, when we have the consciousness that we are set apart for God in His own sovereign grace by the blood of Jesus and gift of the Holy Spirit, it draws us into those paths and occupations which we know are pleasing to Him. We cannot go far wrong, if the Lord witnesses to our consciences of remission of sins, if we are inside the veil in virtue of that blood, and also have the consciousness of its personal value as setting us apart for God.
The Ear
The tip of the right ear was marked with blood because by the ear we receive communications; it is an avenue to our minds and hearts. Our judgments are formed according as we hear. “As I hear, I judge.” We receive instruction through the ear, and there is a remarkable connection between the mouth and the ear. As to ministry of the Word, the true servant hears first and then speaks. So it was with the perfect Servant. “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious” (Isa. 50). If evil men and seducers get our ear, there is scarcely any limit to the damage we may receive. Satan first got Eve’s ear, and then her heart transgressed against God. Oh to have the constant sense in our souls that our ears are wholly for God, so that day by day and hour by hour, like a little child, we may be able to look up and say, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”
The Hand
The thumb of the right hand being marked with blood shows that we are set apart to minister to others according to the will of God and as He has given ability and opportunity. We therefore read, “Let us wait on our ministering”; whatever be the line of things God has appointed us to be engaged in, let us wait on Him about it and wait for opportunities for carrying it out. In this we shall prove the truth of Scripture: “He that waiteth on his master shall be honored.”
The Foot
The great toe of the right foot was also marked with blood, because we are consecrated by the blood of Jesus to walk in obedience to the will of God as not our own, but set apart for Him. We are therefore to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus and for the glory of God. Oh to have the constant remembrance in our souls of being set apart for God by the blood of Jesus!
As a matter of fact, however, our spiritual energy sometimes becomes exhausted, we grow weary in well doing, and we faint in our souls. What then? For our encouragement God says, “He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” We must learn the insufficiency and weakness of the strongest and fairest of natural resources: “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” And what then? Again we are encouraged: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40).
Things New and Old, 24:159
The Water and the Blood
“This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6).
John alone of the evangelists mentions the flowing of the blood and water from Christ’s side; he alludes to it in his epistle too. It is a beautiful testimony of divine grace, answering the last insult man could heap upon Him. They drove Him outside the camp, put Him to death on a cross, and then, to make assurance doubly sure, the soldier gives Him a blow with his spear. Salvation was God’s answer to man’s insult — sin in his rejection of Him — for the blood and water were the signs of it.
In John’s epistle the water is named first, because, looked at on God’s side, water comes first; in the history it cannot: “Forthwith came there out blood and water”; in the epistle, “Not by water only, but by water and blood.” The point is that eternal life is not found in the first Adam, but in the second; the witnesses to this are the water, the blood and the Spirit. You need purifying to have eternal life; you will get it nowhere but in death, and in that of Christ in grace. You need expiation, and the blood of Christ makes that; you need the Holy Spirit. Christ is not only dead, but glorified, and the Spirit is given, the witness that there is no life in the first Adam but in the Son. His power is found in that which marks the total breach of the first man with God and of God with him, save in sovereign mercy. In the epistle, John is showing that moral cleansing will not be enough. The Spirit is named first when God applies it. The Word is the instrument, but it is by death itself. You must have cleansing, but the cleansing is death. The water coming forth from the side is purity, and you can have purity by death only, and by His death.
J. N. Darby
The Blood Avails
For:
Purchase: Acts 20:28.
Justification: Rom. 5:9.
Redemption: Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Peter 1:19.
Bringing nigh: Eph. 2:13.
Peace: Col. 1:20.
Purging of the conscience: Heb. 9:14.
Entrance into the holiest: Heb. 10:19.
Sanctification: Heb. 13:12.
Cleansing: 1 John 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2.
Washing (or freeing) from sin: Rev. 1:5.
Bible Student, 3:8
There Is a Stream of Precious Blood
There is a stream of precious blood
Which flowed from Jesus’ veins,
And sinners washed in that blest flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains,
And sinners washed in that blest flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That Saviour in his day,
And by that blood, though vile as he,
Our sins are washed away.
Our sins are washed away,
Our sins are washed away,
And by that blood, though vile as he,
Our sins are washed away.
Blest Lamb of God, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till every ransomed saint of God
Be saved to sin no more.
Be saved to sin no more,
Be saved to sin no more,
Till every ransomed saint of God
Be saved to sin no more.
Cowper, Echoes of Grace #268