Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The Blood of Christ as it operates Godward

The Blood of Christ is shown to operate effectually in three ways - Godward, manward and Satanward. There is absolute need for us to appropriate the values of the Blood if we are to go on...

The Blood is for atonement and has to do first with our standing before God. We need forgiveness for the sins we have committed, lest we come under judgment; and they are forgiven, not because God overlooks what we have done but because He sees the Blood. The Blood is therefore not primarily for us but for God...Throughout the Old and New Testaments the word 'blood' is used in connection with the idea of atonement, over a hundred times, and throughout it is something for God...

In Leviticus 16 we find that on the Day of Atonement the blood was taken from the sin offering and brought into the Most Holy Place and there sprinkled before the Lord seven times...No man entered the tabernacle, except the high priest. He alone took the blood and, going into the Most Holy Place, sprinkled it there to make atonement before the Lord. Why? Because the high priest was a type of the Lord Jesus in His redemptive work [Heb 9.11,12]. It was a transaction between the high priest and God in the Sanctuary, away from the eyes of the men who were to benefit by it. The blood was presented to God as something He had accepted, something in which He could find satisfaction.

In Exodus 12.13 the shedding of the blood of the passover lamb in Egypt for Israel's redemption is one of the best 'types'...of our redemption. The blood was put on the lintel and on the doorposts, whereas the meat, the flesh of the lamb, was eaten inside the house; and God said: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you'. The blood was not meant to be presented to man but to God, for the blood was put on the lintel and on the doorposts, where those feasting inside the house would not see it...

God is the One who demands that the Blood be presented, in order to satisfy His own righteousness... The Blood of Christ wholly satisfies God...The Blood is first for God to see. We have to accept God's valuation of it. We have to believe that the Blood is precious to God because He says it is so [1 Pet 1.18,19]. If God can accept the Blood as payment for our sins and as the price of our redemption, then we can rest assured that the debt has been paid. If God is satisfied with the Blood, then the Blood must be acceptable...A holy and righteous God has the right to say that the Blood is acceptable in His eyes and has fully satisfied Him.

[Extracted from The Normal Christian Life by W.N.]
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