Priceless blood

Priceless blood

You know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. – 1 Peter 1:18-19

Hebrews 9:11-14

 11 [Christ] has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.

 12 With his own blood – not the blood of goats and calves – he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

 13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.

 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Laura Keene was a British stage actress and theater manager. On the night of 14 April 1865, Laura Keene’s company was performing Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. President Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, were in attendance watching the play. During the 3rd act, John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Lincoln in the presidential box.

According to Smithsonian magazine, Keene made her way to the presidential box where Lincoln lay during the confusion. She knelt beside Lincoln’s unconscious body and cradled his head in her lap. Some of Lincoln’s blood trickled on her dress, leaving a crimson stain. Over the years, five swatches have survived, and one was donated to the National Museum of American History. It is considered priceless because it is the blood of one of the greatest and most revered man that ever lived. It was further hallowed because an evil doer cruelly executed him.

If the blood of Abraham Lincoln is priceless because he was one of the most remarkable men who ever lived, how can we possibly set a value on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? The Scriptures refer to the blood of Christ as precious (1 Peter 1:19). The blood of Lincoln was precious in the sight of many. But the blood of Christ is precious in the sight of God, His Father.

The blood of Christ has two meanings in the Scriptures. On the one hand, it refers to the actual blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that He shed on the cross. On the other hand, it refers to His sacrificial death on the cross.

In the second case, the blood of Christ is a figure of speech, a metaphor. In ancient times, when the blood of a person or animal was shed, it referred to their death. There was no such thing as a blood transfusion. Thus the term blood is used as a figure of speech, metonymy, for death. The blood of Christ is a catchphrase for the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

However, the blood of Christ is not merely a metaphor. “To be atoning, Christ’s death had to be a sacrificial blood-shedding, and His blood had to be shed in the death of the cross. In other words, death and blood are not mutually exclusive terms. Each supposes the other” (Alan Cairns).

The blood of Christ is precious because of Who the Lord Jesus Christ is, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the King of Kings, and the Lord of lords.

But Christ’s blood is also precious for a more crucial reason: what it accomplished.

Romans 5:8-9

 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

Because of the blood of Christ, His death on the cross, the sin debt of all humanity has been paid once and for all. The blood of Christ is the source of redemption, atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation to God the Father.

1 Peter 1:18-23

 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.

 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

 21 Through Christ, you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

 22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

 23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

The ransom for sin required death, the death of the innocent, spotless Lamb of God. When children of the King accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, our ransom was paid, and we have been cleansed and forgiven our sins. We have been born again and introduced to eternal life with God forever. We are part of His Forever Family.

REFLECT & PRAY

“The blood of anyone is ‘precious’ (costly), far above gold or silver, but that of Jesus immeasurably more so (A.T. Robertson).

Father help me to comprehend and appreciate how immeasurably precious the blood of Christ is. Without it, I would still be lost in my sins.

INSIGHT

The Greek word translated as precious is timios. Timios refers to something of great worth or cost; held in esteem, respected, honored, valued, prized, precious, of high price, costly, as a precious stone. The name Timothy is derived from this word.

For millennia, people have asked a question of great pith in various ways. What does it take to enter into a right relationship with the living God? Can it be purchased with gold or silver? Can we use other forms of valuable items or even cash?  Can we earn it by our own efforts? The apostle Peter answered this question once and for all.

1 Peter 1:18b-19

 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold

 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Our redemption and freedom were secured not by things that were temporal or perishable. The Greek word translated as perishable is phthartos. Phthartos can be translated in numerous ways: something that can be destroyed (TEV); “which can lose its value” (GECL); “doomed to decay” (Brc); “of transient value” (Phps); “which can become worthless” (USB).

Our atonement and forgiveness were secured by the costly sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. During the Old Testament period, the animal sacrifice system required the death of an innocent animal was necessary for atonement. weThThreggfdz ikii I  The blood of Christ, His death on the cross, provided forgiveness and redemption.

O the Blood of Jesus

There is power, power,

Wonder working pow’r,

In the blood of the Lamb.

There is power, power,

Wonder working pow’r,

In the precious blood of the Lamb.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

© Dr. H 2022