The precious blood of Christ.—1 Peter 1:19

HE Word of God is the only book that conveys to us a correct

idea of the sanctity and meaning of blood. The instructions of

God as to its nature and use in the Levitical economy  present the spectacle to the mind invested with an impressiveness dreadful

in its character and profound in its meaning. In God’s eye, blood was a sacred thing.

The solemnity with which He regarded [it] and the vigilance with which He shielded it are remarkably striking. We marvel

not at this. By the instrument of blood, Jehovah was to unfold His divine character, illustrate His moral government, and achieve His miracle of mercy in behalf of fallen man, in a way so wonderful and resplendent as the intelligent universe had never beheld.

That one thing—BLOOD—was to fill the world with His glory, heaven with His

redeemed, and eternity with His praise!

Hence the sacredness and value of blood in God’s view…

What an impressive spectacle would meet the eye of the devout Israelite as he entered the temple to worship!

He would see blood upon the

altar, blood upon the sides of the altar, blood in the bowls of the altar,

blood flowing around the altar; and in that blood, so profusely shed

and minutely applied, his

penitent  heart would confront the truth:

“Without shedding of blood there is no remission

” (Heb 9:22); and his

believing eye would behold the “precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb

without blemish and without spot” (1Pe 1:19); “the Lamb slain from

the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8).

Such is the vital truth that is now to engage our thoughts. Among all

the precious things of God, there is not one so precious, so inestimable,

so influential, as the “precious blood of Christ.” All salvation, all purity, all peace, all holiness, all hope, all heaven is bound up in the atoning blood of Immanuel. There is no acceptance for the sinner, no

cleansing for the guilty, no pardon for the penitent, no sanctification

1 Levitical economy – time of the Old Covenant under the Levitical priests.

2 dreadful – inspiring reverence; awe-inspiring.

3 resplendent – having great beauty and splendor.

4 penitent – feeling regret for one’s sins with serious purpose to amend the wrongdoing.

5 remission – forgiveness; pardon of sin.

For the believer, but in the [substitutionary] sacrifice of the Son of God.

With nothing are honesty and tenderness of conscience, soul-prosperity, the power of prayer, purity of heart, holiness of life, related, so closely entwined, as the “precious blood of Christ.”

It becomes, then, of the greatest moment that we should have scriptural, spiritual, realizing views of this great truth. The point at which we are liable to come short is, not so much our depreciatory views of the essential worth of atoning blood as of the necessity of the application of it to the conscience. How few there are of the Lord’s people who are walking with the blood upon the conscience! “For this cause many

are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1Co 11:30). We detect this deficiency and defect in the experimental7

religion of many, by the absence of a wakeful conscience, of deep spirituality of mind, of

minute confession of sin, of closeness of walk, and a Christ-like temper

and spirit. Nor this alone. To what may we trace the doubt and uncertainty as to their personal salvation, the lack of assured peace, joy, and communion with God, which imparts a sickly hue to the Christianity

of so many, which dims their light, impairs their vigor, and makes

them so easy a prey to Satan’s assaults and the world’s seductions, but

to the absence of close dealing with the atoning blood? The application

of blood was a truth distinctly seen, even amid the dim twilight shadows of the Levitical and prophetical dispensations.

The blood of the sacrifice was of no avail until it was applied, brought into contact with

the object. That object then—whether a person or a thing—became relatively holy. Touched by the sacrificial blood it was regarded as sanctified—as set apart for the holy Lord God; but until the blood was applied it was a common thing. How glorious the gospel of this! The believing soul must come in contact with the atoning blood of Christ; and in order to maintain holiness and closeness of walk with God—the essence of true religion—and to pass through life’s duties, trials, and temptations as a royal priest, realizing our high calling of God, there