The Blood of Christ

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the blood of Christ…do you know how precious that stuff is? Worth more than any earthy thing we could ever possess. Seriously, let’s consider this for a moment. When Adam and Eve sinned they really messed things up. They opened a huge chasm between mankinds relationship with God, a chasm that unfortunately cannot be bridged BUT for the blood of Christ. So Adam and Eve could come out from hiding God had to make them animal skins to cover themselves. (Genesis 2:8-9, 21) but here’s the thing: an animal generally has to be dead before you can skin it. This was the first death God used to make atonement (the literal translation for atone is cover) for sin. From then on out God’s people needed to shed the blood of animals so that they could be in right relationship with God. I gotta tell you though, it was not a perfect system. Now don’t go all pitch fork shouting “blasphemy” on me, God Himself said that the system was flawed! “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under the system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship” [Hebrews 10:1] You see the thing is God’s people continually had to make sacrifices for their sins and even then they couldn’t ever actually be in the presence of God. One guy, the high priest, could go into the Holy of holies once a year and only after extensive purification rituals and sacrifices atoning for his sins and for the people sins. Even after all that they still tied a rope around his ankle and put bells on his robe in case he was struck dead in the presence of the Most High God. See, flaws. Then Jesus entered the picture! (cue the angelic choir sounds) Jesus came to earth for a very specific reason. To be the One sacrifice for all. That short sentence is bigger than it sounds. What Jesus did required personal sacrifice, it required humility, it required obedience, it required blood. When Jesus died on the cross He bridged the chasm, forever! His spilled blood caused the curtain in the tabernacle to rip right in half (from top to bottom none the less) opening the Holy of holies to show that the presence of God was now made available to all! You guys?! This is a HUUUUGE deal!!!!!!! No longer do we need to slaughter sheep, doves and bulls to obtain forgiveness; no longer do we need a High Priest to go into the Lord’s presence on our behalf. Jesus was our High Priest, for all time! The thing about all this that is just blow me over amazing is that because of this, because of the blood of Christ we can go boldly into God’s presence, with no condemnation for our sin. Wow. “And so, dear brothers, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” [Hebrews 10:19-22] We are able to go into the presence of God, whenever, with no condemnation!! God, who is holy and blameless; without sin! That's what Jesus did for us when His blood was spilled.

Hello again darling

Wow. Hello my name is Joni and I am the worst blogger evah! BUT WAIT! There is posts coming in the near future! Pinky promise!