Day 24 - Friday, March 24
Redemption Through the Blood of Christ
Scripture: Hebrews 9:7 & 11-14
But into the [Most Holy Place] only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Poetry:
"The Blood of Christ"
by William Cowper
There is a fountain fill’d with Blood,
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, as vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious Blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransom’d Church of God
Be saved to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

BY THE BLOOD
Blood is a fascinating thing! In it is contained our personal DNA and the essence of who we are. It is the very imprint of the generations of our families, their histories and experiences. Carried through it are the nutrients that sustain us, and cause a child to grow and develop. Blood cells help to fight infection and disease, and even carry oxygen for all parts of the body to be sustained. When it becomes diseased, we become diseased. When we lose enough of it, our life ends. And, if you have visited the bloodmobile, or ever needed a transfusion, you know that sharing this precious gift can save a life.

It is significant that our salvation is tied to blood!

From the very beginning, from the time of Adam and Eve’s first sin, man has been separated from God. God hates sin and sin had no place in the garden, nor any part in the sacred today, or in heaven and the eternal with God. Our only hope of salvation from the death that we deserved because of our own sin and the sin of humankind was and is the payment of that sin through the death and blood of the Sinless One.

Under the first covenant, the priests of the Hebrews knew that the penalty for sin was the death and blood of the animals that were to be sacrificed. And these weren’t just any animals. These were the spotless, the perfect, the select and best of their breed. These blood sacrifices were completed regularly and once a year on the Day of Atonement, a national day of repentance when the High Priest made sacrifice for the sins of the people in the Holy of Holies. But animal sacrifices were a temporary fix for a long standing problem;the problem of man’s sin.

Onto the scene comes the Redeemer, the Savior, Jesus Christ, God Incarnate. And everything changed!

“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”  Christ becomes the mediator of a new covenant with God that says our sin debt has been paid with blood!  His blood once and for all has paid the price for all of mankind’s sins, through which we receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

The sins of Adam and Eve and the sins of the family of Adam that have been carried in that blood for all human history are cleansed. Your sins and mine were washed away by the blood of the Lamb of God. Have you embraced this great gift of salvation and redemption made possible through the blood of Christ?

Believing that God came down in the form of Christ to pay the price of sin for you and me, and after his death was raised on the third day to join His Father in Heaven, is necessary to receive this gift of salvation. If you’ve never verbally acknowledged the tenets of the Christian faith I encourage you to do so with the simple prayer “I believe.” And join me in thanking the risen Christ for the gift of salvation through His precious blood!

PRAYER
Father, thank you for the gift of Salvation received through the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you that your plan for our salvation was one of simple belief in the forgiveness of sin through his death and resurrection. It’s hard to imagine the pain Christ endured that day on Calvary when his blood became the payment for my sin. As a guilty child of Adam, but now a guiltless child of the King, I thank you! In our Savior Jesus’ name.  
Amen.  

Rick Bee
Senior Director of Alumni & Parents