Friday, January 9, 2015

“Sprinkled with his blood”


2who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:  May grace and peace be yours in abundance.   3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

The life is in the blood, so says our God.  This was said to Noah.  When animals are taken to feed we who are humans, the blood is to be poured out, the life is not to be consumed.  In the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, where life for life was taken, but where animals served as substitutions for humans sacrificed for their own sins, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar, a sign and symbol of life offered to God.

When Jesus died upon the cross, his blood was spilled, life for life for us all.  He is the Son of God, he is the one worthy to be sacrificed on all our behalves, the final sacrifice according to the Law of Moses, one sacrifice, once for all for us all.  The sacrifice of Jesus is the substitute, making atonement with our God, to make things right with God once and for all.

This is the significance of being sprinkled with his blood.  Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.  As the lamb was sacrificed, so was Jesus sacrificed. 

It is the blood spilled with the body broken that we commemorate at the Lord’s Supper. 

The blood of Jesus sprinkled on the exiles, as the blood was sprinkled on the altar, connection of the Temple in Jerusalem now directly to the Exiles of the Diaspora.

Jesus’ blood was spilled that I might be forgiven for my sins.  Such is the power and the love.

No comments:

Post a Comment