The Blood of Christ in the Bible

1. How is the Church described in the Bible? “The Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood” (Acts xx. 28).

2. How is the central ordinance of the Church of God described? “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord’s death,” and of the cup the Lord says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor. xi. 23-26).

3. How does the Saviour describe what is involved in saving faith? “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. . . . He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. . . . Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood ye have no life in you” (John vi. 53-56).

4. How does forgiveness come to the believing sinner, according to the Scriptures? “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14).

5. How is the believing sinner justified before God? “Being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. v. 9).

6. What is the ground of such justification and salvation? “Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness . . . that He might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. iii. 24-26).

7. What is the guarantee given in Holy Scriptures that the sinner who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is saved? “The God of peace . . . brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. xiii. 20).

8. How is fellowship between God in His holiness and the believer in His life on earth maintained? “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John i. 7). “Obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter i. 2).

9. How is the believer’s right of entry into Heaven, and his assurance of it, set forth? “Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. x. 19).

10. What is the ethical ground of this distinctively Christian assurance? “Christ . . . by His own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. . . . How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience” (Heb. ix. 11-14).

11. What is the theme of the new song sung before the throne of God in Heaven? “Thou wast slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. v. 9).

12. How do sinners of mankind come to that blessed position before the throne of God? “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. vii. 14).

13. What is the ground of the eternal security of the believer? “Now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. ii. 13).

14. How are Satan and all the powers of evil overcome in this present evil world by saved sinners? “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. xii. 11).

15. How is the power of the law of Adamic heredity in the life of the saved sinner broken? “For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation [manner of life] received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who by Him do believe in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God . . . being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter i. 18-23).

16. How is the believer’s separation from the world secured? “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. xiii. 12, 13).

The whole Bible resounds with the voice of God saying, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. ix. 22).

Therefore “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. i. 5, 6).

May the writer of this and all his readers be enabled by grace to join in every word of this ascription of praise to Him concerning whom God’s Word declares: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John iv. 10), and “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John ii. 2′.—Rev. R. WRIGHT HAY.

Thoughts in Affliction.

Let the dear children of God see to it they “acknowledge Him” in all His providences, and never lose sight of Him in His chastisements. Not to feel the rod, or not to suppose chastening to be grievous, would be unbecoming; and not to inquire into the causes of the Lord’s affliction, would be to forget the improvement intended to be made from it; and not to pray for a deliverance from it, would be unsuitable to our circumstances. But to bless the Lord for His sending the affliction—to justify Him in the appointment of it—to acknowledge that He is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works; and while the Lord is correcting, we are cleaving closer to Him; and to lean upon His promises when things are most dark and discouraging; this will be neither to despise His chastening, nor faint under its pressure.—Dr Hawker.