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. 26:2828For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 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. 10:1919Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (Hebrews 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