WHAT DID JESUS ACCOMPLISH



WHAT DID JESUS ACCOMPLISH?

Part III: SHED HIS LIFEBLOOD

The Bible over and over declares, “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11,14; Deut. 12:23). This is true in both the physical and spiritual sense. When God made Adam, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath [oxygen] of life” (Gen. 2:7). Every cell in the human body must have oxygen in order to live, and that oxygen is carried by the blood to each cell. So when the Bible says the life is in the blood, it means that the oxygen that every cell needs to live is delivered to it by the blood.

Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6:53-56). Here we see the life is in the blood principle demonstrated in the spiritual sense. As oxygen in the blood imparts physical life, so Jesus’ lifeblood imparts “eternal life”! Christians drink the blood of Jesus by believing he shed his blood on their behalf to cover their sins. The Apostle John wrote, “…The blood of Jesus Christ…cleanses us from all sin” (I Jn. 1:7); and, Jesus “washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5). I call this a spiritual blood transfusion from Jesus to each faithful believer. Let’s look at five principles to understand the nature of this transfusion.

1. Propitiation

Paul wrote, “…Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Rom. 3:24,25). What does propitiation mean? It means an act of appeasement in order to turn away anger; a gift given in order to regain favor or goodwill. A good example of propitiation is the way in which Jacob reconciled with Esau. Jacob fled for his life after stealing his brother Esau’s blessing, and forty years later, Jacob still feared for his life. So upon his return, he gave Esau a present in order to “appease him” (Gen. 32:20). Jacob’s gift was a propitiation to turn away Esau’s anger, and it worked.

In nearly all pagan religions, the devotees’ god is seen as angry and in need of appeasement, hence the need for works, sacrifices, and penance. In one sense, the Creator God is the same. He shows himself to be angry over sin. Paul wrote, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” (Rom. 1:18). Let’s understand a fundamental concept concerning all religions. With the exception of Christianity, all religions of all times are or were works-based. The Christian religion does not require works, sacrifices, or penance in order to appease God’s anger over sin. Just like Esau’s, God’s anger is turned aside by a gift, the blood of his son. The gift of appeasement which Christians present to God is their faith in and acceptance of Jesus’ blood. And so we read,

“And he [Jesus] himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the the whole world….In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I Jn. 2:2; 4:10).

2. Redemption

When someone breaks the law, we say they “owe a debt to society.” The debt may be a fine or incarceration or both, and when that fine is paid and/or the prison term is served, we say they have “paid their debt to society.” The key word is debt incurred for breaking the law. The Bible says the debt for breaking the laws of God—sin—is the death penalty (Rom. 6:23). And just like man’s law, that debt must be paid before a person can go free. But what can a man offer to God for his life? The Bible shows that Jesus was willing to give up his lifeblood as a substitute for us, so that we could be spared. And because Jesus was God, his life was worth more than all human lives combined. He could be a substitute for everyone! Jesus paid our debt to God for sin. He walked into death row, opened our cell door, let us go free, and was executed in our stead. The awesome love of God!

Paul told the elders at Ephesus, “…shepherd the church of God which he [Jesus] purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). The blood of Jesus paid our debt to God so that we could live. In so doing, Jesus “purchased” us, we belong to him, to always remain in his service.

The Bible often uses the metaphor captivity when describing the effects of sin. As in being taken captive by sin, or enslaved by sin. Think of it as a kidnapping, being held captive, awaiting the payment of a ransom. This is where the biblical word “redemption” comes in. The Greek word means “ransom,” not to pay a ransom, but the ransom itself. The money one pays the kidnappers. The Bible shows us that Jesus’ blood was the money, the payment, used to ransom us from kidnappers who were going to kill us. Paul wrote, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all…” (I Tim. 2:5,6).

Paul wrote, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). And the apostle Peter wrote,

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Pet. 1:18,19).

3. Remission

The English words redemption and remission are so inextricably connected that many do not see or understand their distinction. Yet the New Testament uses a different Greek word for each. The Greek word for remission means “freedom, deliverance, or liberty.” Remission is the result of redemption. Once the debt for our sins was paid, we were set free. Once the ransom was paid, we were liberated from captivity. Jesus told his disciples, “For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mtt. 26:28). Jesus read the words of Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth, words which described what he came to accomplish,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk. 4:18).

The Greek word for remission, deliverance, and liberty is the same. The passage in Isaiah 61:1,2 from which Jesus was quoting adds, “the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” The blood of Jesus gives us remission—deliverance, freedom, and liberty!

4. Justification

Justification is one of the more difficult scriptural concepts to understand, especially for works-based Christians. That term is actually an oxymoron since a person who is works-based cannot be a Christian! A Christian must be faith-based! Make no mistake, works have their place in a Christian’s life, but one must not get the cart before the horse. Now, let’s begin to understand the biblical concept of justification. Paul wrote,

“But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:8,9).

The Greek word for justified means “to render innocent,” to be declared innocent. That seems clear enough. Jesus’ blood paid the debt for all of our past sins. Note that I emphasized past. The question has always remained: since Christians cannot help but still sin, how is the debt for that paid? This is where justification comes in. It explains how God sees Christians who sin, and how they can still have a relationship with Him. When a person repents before God, and accepts in faith the blood of Jesus to cover his sins, that blood covers past, present, and future sins from that moment on. God declares that person innocent from then on—they are justified!

Earlier we saw where Jesus became our substitute and died in our stead. The scriptures show how he could do this. He took all our sins and placed them on his own head. Paul wrote, “For he [God] made him…to be sin for us…” (II Cor. 5:21); and, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us…” (Gal. 3:13). Do we grasp what these words mean? When Jesus took upon himself all our sins, he actually became the embodiment of all those sins, like he was the sinner who had committed them himself. Jesus did not just take away our sins, they were transferred to him. That’s why Jesus felt abandoned on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46). Jesus’ father had to look away from his son at that moment. Isaiah said, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).

On one of the many occasions when the Israelites complained against God, he “sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6). The snakes represented their sins, which killed them. God instructed Moses to fashion a bronze snake, again a representation of the peoples’ sins, and mount it atop a pole, and when anyone looked up at the snake they “lived” (v9). Jesus referred to this event in reference to himself when he said,

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:14,15).

Remember, Moses’ snake represented the sins of the people, which killed them. Jesus was saying he would be like the bronze snake, he would represent the sins of all mankind. When the Israelites looked up (a type of belief, faith), they were given physical life. Jesus was saying that whoever looked up (believed) at him, would be given eternal life.

So now we have seen that our sins were pardoned by being transferred to Jesus. But that transferal works both ways. Earlier I quoted Paul, but did not complete the verse. He wrote, “For he made him to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (II Cor. 5:21). What does the last clause mean? Just as Jesus was made to be something he was not—sin, so have pardoned sinners been “become” something they were not—righteous. As God transferred our sins to Jesus, so did He transfer Jesus’ “righteousness” to the former sinner. That’s what it means to be justified by God.

God sees us as something other than what we are, which is someone who still sins because we are human. When God sees us, He sees his Son, Jesus, and his righteousness. This is what the Bible means by living under God’s grace. Even when we sin, our relationship with God does not fail. We are His children, living under His constant care, love, and protection. The Bible shows us that leaven is a type for sin. Since all Christians sin, then they have some spiritual leaven. Yet Paul wrote, “Therefore purge out the old leaven [sin], that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7). Paul seems to be saying two contradictory things. First he says Christians contain leaven, or sin. Second he says Christians are unleavened, or without sin. Which is it? Both.

The first expresses a reality: Christians still sin. The second expresses the way God sees His children—without sin. Here is where faith enters in. Do you believe this truth? Paul asked, “Who shall bring a charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Rom. 8:33). Yes, all charges have been dropped against us once and for all!

Now some will undoubtedly conclude: So you believe in once saved always saved. The answer is both: no and yes. First, the scriptures are very clear that a Christian, once justified, can fall out of God’s grace through neglect or willful actions. He can have his “conscience seared with a hot iron,” and eventually face the second death. On the other hand, a Christian who sins does not fall out of God’s grace. He is not re-imprisoned on death row and have to go through the whole process leading to justification again. He does not fall out of favor with God, but rather he repents, gets back up, and keeps going forward.

King David wrote, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psa. 32:1,2). Paul expanded on David’s words when he wrote, “Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works (Rom. 4:6). Justification is the act by which God imputes, or ascribes, the righteousness of Jesus to those who have been washed with his blood.

5. Reconciliation

Paul wrote, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:10). Our sins made us enemies to God, but the blood of Jesus wiped away those sins, making way for reconciliation with God. The apostle James wrote, “And the scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted [KJV, “imputed”] to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God” (Jas. 2:23). What James is saying is that Abraham’s faith brought justification from God, whereby he could be reconciled to God and be his friend. Christians have been reconciled, gone from being enemies of God to now being close friends just like Abraham!

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