Not Without Blood

We're going to be continuing our series today. It's entitled, Not Without Blood. I look forward to bringing this to you because one of our responsibilities as ministers of Jesus Christ is to bring meat in due season. There can be nothing more important than for us to understand the sacrifice that God offered to us through His Son, and the sacrifice that that Son willingly and voluntarily gave Himself. We'll be addressing that later on in the course of this message. What are we doing and why are we here? In the first message that I gave a couple of weeks ago here in San Diego, the first message in this three-part series, we came to see the powerful and what I like to call tangible connection between God, His people, and the element of blood down throughout the ages. I want you to kind of think that through for a moment because these are the connecting parts. The plan of redemption came from God to His people, those that are created in His own image. But it dealt with this element of blood. And as I said last time, yes, blood, which sometimes is hard for us to think about or imagine, or to look upon without kind of stepping back for a moment or catching us by surprise. Again, allow me to refresh all of us with the definition of blood for a moment. It's a red fluid. It's pumped by our hearts. That carries life-giving nutrients to every extremity of our body. In that sentence is everything that we're going to be building upon today, biblically, to recognize that there is a heart, there is a source that works a purpose of life giving nutrients, not just to one section of our body, but to every part of the body. And this will come into play as we develop this. And without this red, warm fluid, we, the living, would simply die. And perhaps we have seen in our lifetime people that have died from loss and lack of blood. And of course, Moses codified this all the way back in the book of Leviticus, as we talked about last time, that life is in the blood.

Blood is required to sustain life, whether physically and spiritually, as we'll come to see later on.

Now, just a really quick review again. We're just going to spend about five minutes on the review, then we're going to step into some new material. Last time, what we did, or I stroked to do in this message, was to systematically cover and go down what we call the Trail of Blood.

And we basically covered that Trail of Blood through the Old Testament. We started with the Garden of Eden. Later we went to Abel. Later we went to Noah. Later we went to Abraham and Isaac in the Mounts of Moriah.

Later we went to Israel, both in Egypt and in Sinai. And each step of the way, we stopped, we lingered, we talked about it. And we understood that to have relationship with God, nothing through these patriarchs or these people of old could be done without blood. Very important.

So, what are we coming to here? We're coming to discover that the subject of blood is not marginal, but it is central to the understanding of Scripture. I want to share that again. There's probably other words that we like to center on that may sound kinder, gentler.

Loving, but there's nothing more loving, actually, when we discuss what the subject of blood is about. It's not marginal to understanding Scripture. It's central to understanding Scripture because blood was never designed by God to be an end in itself.

It was never designed to be an end in itself, but to help express. And I'll just say this to jolt us into full awareness of the magnitude and the shocking gravity of sin, which humanly we can diminish, we can push aside, we can dismiss.

But in God's economy, there's no way of excusing sin, which is missing the mark, which is going against God himself.

When we sin, when we have sinned, we have cut ourselves off from God.

And so what the element of blood brought to us was that we might have worship and full and intimate relationship with God without anything in between.

And this is going to be a theme that we're going to be talking about up to the time of the New Testament Passover. And from within Eden and forward, the Almighty stated to that, have a relationship with he that is holy. Let's understand for some of us that may be newer to the Word of those that are watching today, God is holy, just is.

There are things about God's nature and God's attributes that are. He has life inherent. He alone and the Word, now Jesus to Christ and now exalted, alone are uncreated.

And they alone have life inherent. They don't need somebody else's blood.

Their spirit, they're uncreated. And yet they give you and me by their gift life. That's what we want to understand.

Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. And it came through his great sacrifice. And so when we go to Hebrews 9 verse 7, which is kind of the underlining scripture for this series, nothing could be done, not without blood. Or as it says in the New Living Translation, always with blood.

With that said, last time there's something I want to center on before we take off here. And that is the powerful principle of substitution.

It's a word that we might be familiar with, especially when we were in school. We would have what? Substitute teachers.

One would sit in for another that was not present. And this is a very powerful term that is used in understanding scripture. It's the powerful principle of substitution that something must die.

That we might have something that might live. That's simply how it is.

We also came to understand God's increasingly personalized teaching method as he moved from blood on altars to doorposts.

To ultimately, as we did last time, remember we had our live session, a little interactive of the sprinkling of the blood that happened on the covenant people at Sinai. So kind of just think about that. That blood moved from an altar to doorposts to even being sprinkled on the people at the foot of Sinai. But we're going to take it a whole, whole different step further today as we go through this message to be able to seal a covenant.

So we want to understand that.

So our anchor verse is Hebrews 9 and verse 7.

And we need to ask ourselves, not without blood. Is this simply a throwback to the Old Testament for Hebraic people with a messianic understanding, but no further application? We're going to go much deeper today because last time we centered on the Old Testament. Today we're basically going to be centering on the New Testament. And even beyond that, not just what perhaps a Moses or men spoke about, but at the end of this message, what heaven tells us about the importance of blood, maybe in a way that you have never perhaps seen. So to answer the questions, today's message will focus on the ultimate lamb, Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. So we're going to investigate it together. His words, those of His immediate followers, to appreciate the scope of His sacrifice. Join me if you would in John 1. If you'll join me in John 1.

And we're going to pick up the thought here. We recognize that John is in the wilderness, and he is baptizing people. He's putting covenant people actually underneath the water in a ministry of repentance.

But then we find something that happens here, which is interesting. In John 1 and verse 29, the next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold the Lamb of God. Now, if you'll notice carefully in your Bibles, that is capitalized. When words like that are capitalized, those are names or titles of God the Father or Jesus Christ. In this sense, it's going to be Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

So we recognize that Him coming, something was going to happen. Something was going to be offered that would take away not only your sins and my sins, but the entire sins of the world, ultimately.

And then let's pick up the verse in verse 33.

I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said unto me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remains on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

So we basically have a two-fold announcement that is occurring in these statements by John on the Jordan. John the Baptizer. Number one is that the individual that is approaching Him is the Lamb of God. John the Baptizer, in a sense, had special lenses to understand what the role of his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, was.

Then, number two, we notice in verse 33, it is this the Lamb of God and in His ministry that will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

But note the order.

The blood had to be in place. The Lamb of God. The blood had to be in place, just as it had been in the Old Testament, before the rest could come. Before the Spirit could come, the blood had to be in place.

From the very beginning of His earthly ministry and throughout, Christ clearly showed how He came into this world to give His life, thus die, and that the shedding of His blood was fundamental towards redemption. And receiving the life He had to offer. Join me in a verse that we might not be quite as familiar with, but again, showing where the early apostles were in John 3. Join me if you would in John 3.

Let's pick up the thought in verse 11. Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. If I have told you, this is Jesus speaking, earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe it if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus is drawing upon something that actually occurred back in the Old Testament.

Join me if you would for a moment in Numbers 21. In Numbers 21, Israel was in trouble, and God was not pleased with them.

And so this event came about that Jesus is drawing upon. In Numbers 21 and picking up the thought in verse 8.

Well, let's actually go up here to verse 5. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.

So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.

Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people.

And then the Lord revealed something. He said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole.

And it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.

So they made a pole, and they put the image of a fiery serpent on top of that. And God's instruction was to those that will focus on that fiery serpent.

They will live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, and so it was if a serpent had bitten anyone, where he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

And then the children of Israel moved on.

Here is Moses, supplicating God.

A man that was in the gap between life and death.

People were dying because of their sin, because of their lack of gratitude towards the God of Israel. So he prayed to God on their behalf as an intercessor.

God gave him a plan.

He said, do this.

Moses standing between life and death.

He did what God asked him to do, and the rest is history. This is the example that is being drawn upon now as we go back to John.

To recognize where it says here in John, and as Moses lifted up his serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

This is the first aspect of hint or mention of what would be in Jesus' future.

In being put on a stake, on being put on a pole.

That one man had to die.

That all might live. That he would bear our sins.

Bear our complaints. Bear our lack of gratitude.

Bear our desire for self-rule rather than God's rule.

And he took that upon himself and did so.

But then it flows into a more natural scripture that we're very familiar with. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Because God did not come to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.

Let's notice some other verses here in the book of John that are spoken by Jesus himself about his sacrifice. In John 6, verse 53, where he's speaking to the audience, and he says this, Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Remember, where there is not blood, and where it is not flowing, where it is not going to every extremity, there is death. But here this verse says something differently, that to drink his blood, if you don't, you have no life in you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides. That means dwells.

Means connected.

There's an intimate relationship in me, and I in him.

He in me, she in me, in I in her, in I in him.

Notice what's happening here, as we go through this trail of blood throughout the Bible.

It started on altars.

Later on, it would be on door frames.

Exterior. Outward.

Later, it would be sprinkled on the exterior of people up against Mount Sinai. But now this takes a dramatic turn.

Not something that is put on something else, placed on something else, or even on our outside.

We're now noticing something. Are you ready? We're going into the interior.

We're going into the interior of the people that God is working with.

Now, you know, and I know, that we don't drink blood. This was something that went around the Roman Empire to get rid of the Christians. Don't you know? They're cannibalistic.

They misinterpreted what it meant to drink blood.

But notice that God has always wanted to, if I can put it this way, wanted to get inside of us. Remember Adam and Eve? They had the fig leaf religion. They tried to cover up from the outside. They thought as long as we could do things on the outside. But God wants to go in. God wants to go into each and every one of us. He wants our insides, not just our outside. Because if our insides are at one with God, the rest is going to flow. Because remember, when our hearts are right, when our hearts are pumping, as it were, the blood of Jesus Christ that was given for us, and we internalize that, that's going to go out to everything that we touch. Just like your heart with the blood pumps blood to every extremity of your body. And that's what God's always wanted. He doesn't want our outside. He wants our heart. And so we take a look at that.

So we notice something. A few points.

We drink His blood, figuratively.

Otherwise, we have no life.

No life. That is why it is so important to go through repentance, to go towards baptism and faith, and to be baptized. You can have physical life, but you at that point don't have spiritual life.

God's looking to have a heart given to you. Not a repair job, but a new job. A new heart.

A new heart.

When we drink the blood of Christ, as it were, we are offered eternal life. It says that we'll be raised up on the last day. That's a different existence. There is now a different promise that was not given to ancient Israel at that time.

He says that my blood is drink indeed.

And for the first time, symbolically, blood is internalized on the door of the frames of our heart.

Now, I want you to think about this. Here's the PowerPoint for a moment. In ancient Israel, I'm going to walk here for a moment.

Let's say this is a... I'm over here.

In ancient Israel, here's the door frame in Goshen.

And they had to take the blood of a lamb and put it there.

And it says that God would be looking... He said that He would be looking for the blood. And the blood that I see, I will pass over that household. But even as He passed over, He passed through another people, the Egyptians. But now, when we see what God is doing with the Israel of God, God is no longer doing doorposts.

He's no longer putting blood on altars.

He wants... Are you with me? What He wants is He's putting the... As we accept in belief that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, He is putting, in that sense, figuratively, and in a sense, spiritually, literally, I'll get to that. He's putting that blood on the frames of our heart.

He's going inside. You're not messing with the outside. He's dealing with the inside to where He will dwell. When that blood is put on the door frame of our heart, as it were, that's when He begins to dwell with us. That's just like it says in 1 Corinthians 3, 16 through 17, Know you not that you are the temple of God.

And the word there for temple is naos, which means the holy of holies that God has elected you and selected you to literally dwell inside of you.

God's no longer dealing just simply with the outside.

He did that with ancient Israel. It didn't work.

God is doing an inside job on each and every one of us.

Join me, if you would, in Matthew 26. In Matthew 26, the words of Jesus.

And let's pick up the thought if we could in verse 27. This is after He had already offered up the bread at the New Testament Passover, the bread that represented and symbolized His body.

But then, Odesen was says, then He took the cup and gave thanks.

Now, what was in the cup? In the cup was wine and gave it to them, saying, drink from it all of you.

Notice there's an invitation and a statement, but it's an inviting statement, especially what's about to be pronounced.

For this is my blood. Now, if you'll notice this very carefully, if you're a student of the Bible, look at my.

Is my capitalized or not capitalized in your Bible? Can somebody help me?

Okay, if it's capitalized, what does that mean?

That's personal. And normally that is talking about the Godhead, whether it be the Father or whether it be the Son when you're reading the Bible. We are talking about in that sense, because again, let's remember as we come up to the New Testament Passover, Jesus was not only the Son of Man. He was not just a human being. He was the Son of God. He was God, Emmanuel, God with us in the flesh.

So notice what he's invited drink from it. All of you for this is my in the sense, this is divine blood that is pulsating through human veins. There's a God. Jesus was fully God and fully man, which is shed for many for the remission. That means the release.

The freedom from sin.

But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink anew with you in my Father's kingdom.

So we notice something very special here.

To drink blood figuratively in the wine for the remission of sins. I'd like to give you some words for remission for a second, just to spark your heart and to create more awareness of what's going on here. You can just go to any dictionary and it says remission is forgiveness. It's pardon.

In the Greek, it literally means to dismiss or a release.

It's a release from what you owe because of what you've done. Can you imagine? Let's just use this figuratively. Let's just say for some reason you've mounted up a quarter of a million dollars of debt that you owe.

There's no way out.

And you get a statement in the mail.

Debt forgiven.

No payments. Any longer due.

You're free.

You can have your life back again.

That's what remission is. But we not only have our life back again in this life, but as we drink of that blood of the new covenant, we are given the hope of another life beyond death.

Eternal life, as you ladies have been studying recently in your study group. Eternal life without the bite of sin.

Interesting. In Matthew 20 and verse 28, join me if you would there for a moment.

Again, discussing the aspect of blood.

Actually, I'll pick it up in verse 27.

And whoever desires to be your first among you, let him be your slave.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. And notice and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The greatest service ever provided in the universe is for the one who was the Word with the capital W. Who was, in that sense, uncreated. Is uncreated.

And came down and moved into the created world.

Became a human being.

A human being that had a heart, not only towards God, but had a human heart.

That had a heart that pumped out blood to every extremity of his body as long as he could.

But then was on that stake, was on that cross, was on that altar of Golgotha.

And around three o'clock in the afternoon, on that day, that day of days, his heart stopped beating.

The blood stopped pulsating.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

And the big decision was had that had been made long ago from the very foundation of the world.

I'd like to write a story. It's been many years since I've read it here, but I'd like to read it.

Please listen to it.

It's called The Great Decision.

A little boy was told by his doctor that he could save his sister's life by giving her some blood.

The six-year-old girl was near death, a victim of disease from which the boy had made a marvelous recovery just two years earlier. Her only chance for remission was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.

Johnny, would you like to give your blood for Mary?

The doctor asked. The boy hesitated. Interestingly, his lower lip started to tremble.

And then he smiled and said, sure, Doc, I'll give my blood for my sister.

Soon, the two children were wheeled into the operating room and Mary pale and thin, and Johnny, robust, and the picture of health. Neither spoke but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As his blood siphoned into Mary's veins, one could almost see new life come into her tired old body. The ordeal was almost over when Johnny's brave little voice broke the silence.

Say, Doc, when do I die?

It was only then that the doctor realized what the moment of hesitation, the trembling of the lip, had meant earlier. Little Johnny actually thought that in giving his blood, so his sister, so his sister, he was giving up his life. And in that brief moment, he had made the great decision.

It's quite a story. That young man was willing to give his blood to give his life, that somebody else might live that was near and dear to him.

I want each and every one of you as my family in Christ to know this, that our Father above loves each and every one of you so dearly, so fondly, and wants all in all for you, and wants to spend eternity with you. That he had a chat long ago with the one that was known as the Word.

They had that talk. They recognized what was going to have to happen, that you and I, you and I might be able to share eternity with them.

That one amongst them would die.

And in that death, as grievous as it was, that in that death and in that moment of death, that the Word, now Jesus of Nazareth, would die, that you and I might live with them forever in worthwhile eternity.

And that's what we need to think about when we come up to the New Testament Passover.

That as we partake of that bread, as we partake of the bread, and then as we partake of the wine, the gift of life, that our Savior's heart stopped in his physical body.

That red, warm fluid no longer reached any of the extremities in his body.

And actually, that sense later with the water would be poured out.

That's what our Savior did for you and for me. Did he tremble a little bit, just like little Johnny did? Sure. Garden of Gethsemane. He said, Father, if there's any way that this can be taken off of me, if there's any earthly way, and I think that was the Son of Man, that was his humanity speaking out, because every Jew knew what a crucifixion was like. They'd seen a number in their lifetime.

So for a moment, he trembled, as it were, and said, Father, I'm really, but is there any other? And he went through with it, and never looking back from the Garden of Gethsemane, the big decision was made for you and for me. Join me if you would in Hebrews 9. In Hebrews 9, and let's pick up a thought by the author of Hebrews. In Hebrews 9, and let's pick up the story in verse 6.

Speaking of his priesthood as our heavenly high priest in the blood, Now, when these things had been prepared, thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services, but into the second part, that is the Holy of Holies, the high priest went alone once a year, but not without blood.

There's the scripture which he offered for himself and for people's sins, committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was, not the way into the holy spirit, the holiest of all was, not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regarding the conscience, concerning only with foods and drinks and various washings and fleshy ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation.

But Christ came as high priest, of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation, not with the blood of goats or calves, but with his blood. He entered into the most holy place, that's the Holy of Holies, once for all having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death, not somebody else's death. As we know in the book of Hebrews, this high priest, as he comes into the heavenly tabernacle before our God and accepts our repentance, he is our heavenly high priest and it is his blood that he's carrying, not a turtledove, not a bullock, not a lamb.

He's one and one, he is all. And he did it willingly. Notice that it says here that to cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Let's understand something. Remember the trail of blood. Start out with a lamb on the altar outside of Eden.

Little lamb died. Later on, we have the story of Noah, sacrificing in the mountains of Ararat. Later on, we have a brahm, the man of pence and the man of altar, sacrificing. And then we understand the story of Israel and the doorposts. We understand the story of the Israelites being sprinkled with blood. But now there is something that goes into the interior that when we have belief, when we have belief in the blood of Jesus Christ, it saturates, it sinks in, it deals with our insides. And it not only deals with forgiveness of sin, but also our conscience, which continues to nag us, which we need to kind of cut with scissors.

Because so often we ask God to forgive us of our sins, but we keep on lingering on it. It's still there. And this holy blood is so incredible that God says it can, if we do believe, can cleanse our conscience, that we can be a totally new person in front of our Father, in total acceptance. He's not worrying about what we did. He's concerned about what we're doing as we move forward in faith in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. As you come up to the New Testament Passover, recognize that God is not only going to forgive you of your sin, but this saturating sacrifice of Christ from the heart of God now in us pumps that blood, as it were, figuratively, throughout our extremities.

Nothing is left untouched, including our conscience. How often do we use that phraseology? Oh, you've got a guilty conscience. When you're a Christian, you're not to live with guilt. Forgiveness is forgiveness. And when we come to baptism, or later on, when we err and we stumble, as we will, and we come before the Father and say, Father, forgive me in Jesus' name, forgive me, when we say in Jesus' name, that bears a lot of titles on there and a lot of activity of Jesus.

And God says, I remember that moment. I remember when I looked down on Golgotha and I saw my son dead and the blood going down. I remember that. And I remember what we, because God had to, in a sense, allow his son to die too, right?

The one time when the Father, when the Son needed the Father the most, the Father did not come in. He allowed his son to be the who was the creator, to be killed by the creation. Just think that one through. And so he remembers that. And so that when you repent, it's just like God taking your sin, you're sincere about it.

God takes your sins and it's like he puts them in the deepest part of the ocean. I think the Marianas Trench, unless it's gotten deeper since I was in junior high, I think is about 36,000 feet down below the waves.

It's like he takes our sins and drops them into the Marianas Trench. I don't think anything is living down there. Maybe so. Maybe one of those things that are kind of scary that they have on television and the nature program, you know, little bug eyes and lights going. But that's not all he does. In a sense, then he puts a sign at top on a buoy on top of that trench where he's placed your sins, where he's distanced the judgment from what you and I have done. And he puts a sign up there, no fishing allowed.

And that means you. And that means me. No fishing allowed. No trudging it up again. No trying to get it back because we've lived with something so long. No, when we've given it to God, it's done. It's over. It's out. He forgives and forgives thoroughly. But what I would like to do is we see what Jesus said while he was on earth, and the apostles say much, and I'll allow you to read that. But something I want to kind of finish up with here is simply this. What does heaven have to say about this? Jesus died 31 A.D. was resurrected. It is right now at the right hand of the Father in heaven. But what does heaven have to say about this? We know that Paul wrote about it. We know John wrote about it. We know Peter wrote about it. I was going to share that with you, but I'll let you read that through. When we talk about what does heaven say about it, we step into an ageless, timeless setting, and yet there's a future tense to this, too, as we look at the book of Revelation. And maybe you've never thought about this before, but I'll share a few thoughts with you about the book of Revelation and the blood of Christ. Number one. You might want to shut this down. Number one. The term the Lamb is mentioned 28 times in the book of Revelation. Just in case you're worrying, I say this as a Christian. I know Christians are always interested in prophecy. The word Lamb is mentioned more than the word Beast or False Prophet. Did you know that? I think that's great. And yet so often, humanly, we get all concerned about the Beast or the False Prophet. And humanly, we should be concerned because we're still down here on terra firma. But I wanted to share with you that the word, the title of the Lamb, is mentioned 28 times and is laced throughout the Bible. Join me if you would, and I'm going to just go through a few here with you. Join me if you would in Revelation 1.

And I'm saying this to encourage you because there's so much upload in the front of encouragement that Jesus and the Father, because it is the revelation of the Father through Jesus Christ and then given to John, that you want to let them know that no matter what was coming down through the ages, that I'm going to be with you, that we read to know that we're not alone. And notice what it says in John 1, verse 4. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you, favor and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. It's as if the first declaration out of revelation is, get this, understand this and be found it, be girded on this. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, and to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

How often do we read the book of Revelation with the undergirding and the understanding and of the faith of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God? When it says washed, that is actually used in later translations. It's not a bad term. It can also may be, it can normally is translated, who has loved us, made us free, and or released us from our sins in his own blood. There are multiple thoughts on this word. Most likely it's normally about freedom. It's normally about release. It's normally about being redeemed. But washed, not a bad term. You know, when you're cleansed, when you're washed, you're cleansed. You're free. That's why every night, hopefully, we all go into the bathroom and take a shower, take a bath, because we're washed, at least on the outside, but this is better because we're washed on the inside. God takes our sins, and as it says in the Psalms, as far as east is from the west, God removes our sins. He removes the judgment.

He removes that judgment that was on that sin, and sends it into outer space, never to be found again. He chooses not to bring it up. Other people might bring it up, but if you have repented of your sins, God will not bring it up. Check me if you would in Revelation 5. In Revelation 5. In Revelation 5 and verse 1, and I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals, and then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals.

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So in those words, John says, I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll of what's yet to occur, or to even look at it. But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.

And I looked and behold, and in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, the power, the completeness of the holy, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And then he came and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him, who sat on the throne. And now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are are the players of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scrolls and to open its seals, for you were slain, and you have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nations, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.

Have you ever considered that, as we move from the New Testament Passover through the spring festivals into the fall festivals, which often point towards God's future and God's intervention, that we study the book of Revelation in the framework of the lamb and what he and the Father have done for us, rather than thinking we're all here alone? We can get so overly fascinated in prophecy, and I've been involved with prophecy since I was a young boy of 11 or 12.

But we can kind of be looking for the spooks that are in Revelation that are going to be real. But we read, and our reading needs to be focused, that the book of Revelation is framed in the story of the lamb and what God the Father has done, and that we are not alone. I mean, this is glorious when you read it. It's just incredible. The Lamb that is in spain. Let's go to Revelation 7.13 for a second.

Revelation 7 verse 13. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes? This is during the 144,000 the innumerable multitude, all of that going on. Who are these that are arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him, Sir, you know. So he said to me, These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation, and noticed, and washed their robes, and made them white, in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve Him daily, and night, in His temple, and He who sits on that throne will dwell among them. Join me, if you would, in Revelation 12.

Speaking of a time in the future, which humanly is going to be scary. Satan's time is going to be short. He's going to come down, and He's going to... We talk about wrath of an individual being administered right now in a country over in Europe, and it's very sad and traumatic.

Imagine when the adversary comes to this earth, and he doesn't deal with borders, either. And he doesn't deal with your borders. He doesn't deal with my borders. He invades he trespasses. He wants to destroy like a lion. But notice what it says here.

Verse 10, Revelation 12. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren, and who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And now notice this. The brethren, the body of Christ that has been since Jesus ascended down through the ages and will continue. Notice what it says. And they, speaking of brethren, speaking of the body of Christ, they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives unto death. We find something fascinating here. Are you with me? That we not only see the blood of the Lamb being a sanctifying or uniting element that allows us to come before God, whether it be back with Cain, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Israelites. But now we see that you might want to jot this down. Think about it. We not only see it as a spiritual entrance into the throne room of God, but we also see the blood brings power. The blood of the Lamb brings power. It's very interesting when you think of John 17, the prayer of Jesus at the end on that last evening of His human life. And he said, Father, thank you for these. Thank you for these that have believed that you sent me. Thank you for their faith. Thank you for their understanding. He actually says that two or three times in that prayer, that they got it. They understood. I really am Messiah. I am the anointed. I am the chosen one. I am the answer to Israel at this point and to the Israel of God in the future, all of humanity, that will accept the will of the Father, that Jesus of Nazareth was His Son, that as Jesus said in John 6, that my blood, when you partake of it and when you understand my body, real bread, real ingredients, real heart, real fluidity, going out to every extreme of your body, that you have become a total living sacrifice to God.

Jesus said, thank you for these people and those also that will hear their words later on, read their writings and be like them. And I'm talking to them right to all of you today because you're in that prayer in John 17. There is not only union with God, but then we have power with God. And if Jesus sacrificed Himself, we will be called upon to sacrifice ourselves. Oh, maybe not with our life like going to the stake or going to the lions, but we are to sacrifice ourselves every day in every way before every person and to treat others as Jesus would. So what have we learned? I'm just going to go down through a few things here for us to think about in conclusion. This will go very quickly. In summation, let's appreciate that a red thread runs throughout Scripture and binds it together. It's from the very beginning to the very end because, you know, when you go to the very end in Revelation 22, it talks about the throne of the Lamb being right by the throne of God. Number one, we've come to see it's the only means of dealing with sin. The slaying of innocent animals paved the way for God Himself, becoming flesh and blood for us, and voluntarily shutting it. Number two, blood must have the same place in our hearts as it does God.

Blood must have the same place in our hearts as it does God. That's very important. When we understand that, we will come to understand the importance of blood throughout the Scripture. Join me if you would. Last verse here. Let's go to Ephesians 3. Ephesians 1. Paul comments on the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 1.

Let's just allow these words to not only fall on our hearts, but allow them to sink in about the graciousness of our Heavenly Father and His Christ. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And just as He chose us and Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved. In Him we have redemption. We are cleaned. We are freed. We are made right with our Heavenly Father through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence as to how we appreciate that. Act upon it and live it out.