February 09

“We are come……..to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).

The issue is not whether you have come to the knowledge of God or of Christian doctrine, or to the observance of religious ceremony, or to some form of spiritual experience; the question is whether you have come to the “blood of sprinkling”.

Blood plays the most important part in scripture. In the Old Testament it speaks of death and is symbolic and typical.

“For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people” (Hebrews 9:19). “And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.” (Hebrews 9:21)

In the New Testament it speaks of life and is real and powerful, its power being not only to cleanse from sin but to make holy.

“For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14).

Ah! The Blood of Jesus! It carries with it and in it the life of Him whose Blood it was and Who Himself is God! “For the life of every creature is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). The life of God dwelt in the Blood of Christ; the Eternal Spirit was in the life of that Blood. It is this infinite worth that gives it its power; not only in atoning once and for all for sin but in opening heaven to those who take hold of the offer of His Blood and draw nigh to God.

Alas, how many settle for the former and ignore the latter.

But coming to the Blood is not meant to be a once only thing but a place of permanent residence. Life can only be found in the Blood; it is the only thing that can satisfy God’s requirement that “without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). In this sinful life, we can never say “it is finished”, we must constantly be seeking to shelter in the Blood of Christ.

“Looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) is how we are meant to live. “To Whom coming” (1 Peter 2:4) is the expression Peter uses; not to Whom I have come but to Whom I am always coming. If we have once come to the Blood of sprinkling, we will feel the need of coming to it every day. Past experiences are of doubtful value in feeding believers, a present and continuous coming alone can bring the joy of salvation and the strength to walk in His ways.

Happy is the man who has this one desire; to feed on the presence of Christ; such a man will never be content with mere rules, doctrines and ordinances; that is like offering an empty glass to a man dying of thirst.

So “let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).