Wednesday Word, September 14, 2016: Faith in His Blood
“Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood …” Romans 3:25
When the blood of Christ is highly prized and valued, the result is a vibrant spiritual life. However, when the blood is undervalued and under-emphasised, it leads to spiritual decay. When there is a shallow view of the blood, it results in a shallow view of sin and vice versa. When we look at Church history, we see that as the church loses sight of the blood, it goes into spiritual recession. How we urgently need to be filled with the Father’s thoughts about the blood. The more we understand the blood, the more we will become vibrant worshippers and appreciative followers of the Lamb.
Our verse introduces us to the word “propitiation”, one of God’s “salvation words” rarely used today. It refers to Christ’s death as the sacrifice which exhausted the wrath of God. Because of the shed blood, there is no longer any storm of wrath for God’s people. As in the days of the flood, Noah’s family was safe in the Ark and sheltered from the storm of God’s fury and justice. So it is that each one who trusts in Christ alone to save them, is safe from the wrath to come. Jesus is our Ark. He alone has accomplished a real redemption that has dealt with the retribution of God and the curse of the broken law of God.
Now here’s some more good news; Jesus is a greater saviour than we are sinners. By grace, believers have been given faith. It’s a faith which believes that Christ’s shed blood has made the satisfactory offering for our sins. The wrath offering was made. His blood was shed, and faith now sees what it accomplished for us. Indeed, it is by faith alone that the accomplishments and benefits of this one great wrath offering are applied to us. Without a doubt, faith in the blood is an essential part of our Christian life.
Of course, none of this makes any sense unless we see our part in the death of Christ. Sometimes I find it good to look at myself and say, "Miles McKee you are a crucifier of the young Prince of Glory. Your sins shed His blood.”
Have you ever done that? Have you ever seen yourself as the Christ slayer? If not, the matters of faith and grace are a mystery to you. It’s only in the measure that we see ourselves as undeserving sinners, guilty of killing the one who was God that we can enjoy the abundant grace and mercy of Heaven. After all, if we are worthy, we don’t need grace for grace is exclusively for the unworthy. The person who has never had even a small sense of abhorrence for the part they played in the death of Christ is still in spiritual darkness.
'Twas you, my sins, my cruel sins,
His chief tormentors were;
Each of my crimes became a nail,
And unbelief the spear.
'Twas you that pulled the vengeance down
Upon His guiltless head:
Break, break, my heart, O burst my eyes!
And let my sorrows bleed.
IsaacWatts
But for those of us who have seen the part we played in that awful death, we see that the only way of deliverance is by faith in His blood. Faith in the blood is God’s appointed way for sinners. However, if we believe that none of this applies to us, then we are lost.
Strike, mighty grace, my flinty soul,
Till melting waters flow,
And deep repentance drown my eyes
In undissembled woe.
Jesus has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood …” Romans 3:25.
And that’s the Gospel Truth!