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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 9 |
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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 9 |
Without Shedding of Blood
There Is No Remission
Sunny David
Blood plays some role in the system of belief for most religions of the world, as it did also in the Old Testament Jewish religion. Christianity, however, is the only religion which observes that God Himself became a man and shed His own blood for the ransom of humanity. The eternal Word, Who was with God from the beginning and was God, put on flesh and blood. We know Him best as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who shed His blood for us to wash us from our sins (John 1:1, 14; Philippians 2:6-8; Acts 20:28).
Sin is the biggest human problem! “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” says Romans 3:23 (NKJV). Further, Isaiah 59:2 reads, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Almost all people everywhere on earth realize the presence of sin in their lives. This is evident from the many different religions that exist on earth. People everywhere worship God, though in several different ways, just as we read in Acts 17:23-31. Why do people worship, make all kinds of offerings, as well as follow various religious rituals and traditions? There is only one purpose, and that is, they all want to go to Heaven to be with God. They are all trying to please or to appease God, often by offering Him silver, gold and money or by making difficult journeys to presumed holy religious places. Yet the Bible says, “…Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
Sinful man has nothing to offer God to redeem himself from sin (Isaiah 64:6). “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Therefore, it was vitally important and absolutely imperative for God Himself to become a man and to shed His own blood to atone for man’s sin. Thus, He provided man the way to come to Him (John 14:6).
Before His death on the cross on which Christ shed His blood, our Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper in His memory for His followers (1 Corinthians 11:20-26). There are two elements that comprise that memorial observance – unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine (grape juice). The Bible says, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28). The blood Christ shed on the cross was for many for the remission of sins.
His blood was shed to redeem man from sin and its wages (Romans 6:23). We read, “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 of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Ephesians 1:7 reads, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
The blood of Christ was shed for our justification. According to Romans 5:8-9. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” The blood of Christ justifies man because Christ took the sins of man upon Himself and shed His blood for the remission of those sins. This is the point the apostle was making in 2 Corinthians 5:21. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
By shedding His blood for our sins, Christ became the propitiation for our sins, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24-25). The apostle John wrote, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). To propitiate means to win back the friendship and the approval of an angry or aggressive person, in this case, God – against whom all have sinned.
Redemption, justification, propitiation and forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ pertains exclusively to those who are in Christ rather than out of Christ. So then, the question arises: “How may one as a penitent believer in the healing power of the blood of Christ get into Christ to receive all these benefits?”
The Bible authorizes only one sure way to get into Christ, and that is, one must, as a believer, repent of all wrongs and be baptized into Christ’s death for the remission of sins. Listen to the inspired apostle Paul. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4). Christ shed His blood when He died, in His death, and therefore when one is Scripturally baptized – immersed in water – he is baptized into Christ’s death. Thereby, a person contacts the saving blood of Christ. The apostle said in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ sent Ananias to tell Saul (Paul) what he, as a penitent believer, “must do” (Acts 9:6) to wash away his sins. “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Likewise, the apostle Peter instructed a large crowd of believers to “…Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38). Remission of sins, justification, propitiation and washing of sins by the blood of Christ all are made possible when one believes in Christ, repents of sins, confesses Christ to be the Son of God and is baptized into the death of Christ.
