Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

• 1 John 1:7

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

• Acts 20:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

• Romans 8:28

“When we speak of the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all sin, we do not mean the physical blood shed on Calvary, but the whole life of the Son of God which was poured out to redeem the world. All the perfections of the essential nature of God were in that blood, and all the holiest attainments of mankind as well. It was the life of the perfection of Deity that was poured out on Calvary, ‘… the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood’ (Acts 20:28). We are apt to look upon the blood of Jesus Christ as a magic-working power instead of its being the very life of the Son of God poured forth for men. The whole meaning of our being identified with the death of Jesus is that His blood may flow through our mortal bodies. Identification with the death of Jesus Christ means identification with Him to the death of everything that never as in Him, and it is the blood of Christ, in the sense of the whole personal life of the Son of God, that comes into us and ’cleanseth us from all sin’.”

• Oswald Chambers, The Place of Help (Daily thoughts for Disciples, July 25)

I like Rev. Chambers’ take on the blood of Christ, not that a small drop of blood from the cross could not cleanse all the sin from everyone, when you consider that Jesus was perfect, and He is infinite.

But Christ’s blood throughout His ministry cleansing us is an interesting concept.  The morning philosophy post talked about 31 names for God in the Bible.  Jesus healed the sick (Jehovah-Rapha).  Jesus provided for people (Jehovah-Jireh) as in feeding large crowds.  So, in blood pulsing through Jesus’ veins as these things happened can show that blood working to cleanse us.

Thus, it may not have been the one and a half gallons of blood in a human body that cleansed the sin, but the blood over the course of His ministry.

But in answering the first question in the title, we are left with the second one.

In a world of inclusion, the universalists are off on this one.  We are not all saved.  Romans 8:28 is clear, if you read the entire verse.  “For those that love the Lord” might apply, maybe, to some who are in love with the idea of Jesus saving them.  But do they even know Jesus?  “And the part about “those who are called according to His purpose” defines it even more.

God loves the entire world.  God would prefer that no one is lost, but God is Holy and He cannot abide sin.  Thus, those who are not washed in the blood of Jesus will be told to depart, for God does not even know them.

To be among those washed in the blood, we must unconditionally surrender to Jesus.  In other words, we must believe and trust (in every way possible) in Jesus.  He is sufficient.  Remember what He did with a few fish and loaves of bread.  That little drop of blood does not wash away all the sins from everyone, but it can wash away your sins, if you go “all in.”

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.