Thought for the Week

1950

'Blood of the Lamb' Price of Redemption

In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, the Lamb of God is the dominant personality. The Lamb, standing as though he had been slain, opens the Seven-sealed Book, of human destiny. The Lamb makes war on the Beast and all the enemies of God. The terror of the judgment is the wrath of the Lamb. The followers of Christ overcame Satan through the Blood of the Lamb. The ten thousand times ten thousand in Heaven sing their praises to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The Redeemed are they whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Here in this passage from which we take the text the company of the saved are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.

Here, then, we have the sublime truth of the Atonement, what Christ did for us on the Cross, and how the Blood of the Lamb, that is Christ offered for our sins, is the ground for our pardon and forgiveness; how it redeems us from the bondage of sin, reconciles us to God, and cleanses our souls from the stain of sin.

The first salutation given to Christ by man, (was) "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." The Lamb of God as He always appears in the Bible is the Son of God, our Redeemer. This truth is the length, and the breadth and the depth and the height of the Christian faith.

What the blood does? I shall mention four things the blood does:

1. The Blood of the Lamb, Redeems us.
2. The Blood of the Lamb, Cleanses us.
3. The Blood of the Lamb, Justifies us.
4. The Blood of the Lamb, Reconciles us.

The precious Blood of Christ was the price paid for our redemption. Jesus said that He came to lay down His life a ransom, a redemption, for many; and the Apostle Peter said that "We have been redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot."

Every believer in Jesus has an obligation to Him and to His Church. We have no right to say no to the demands of Christian service; and the reason is that given by St. Paul, when he said, "Ye are not your own. Ye have been bought with a price."

Friends, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, if you are an unsaved person, allow me to point you to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. If we confess our sin, he is just and faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

And here in this great passage from the Apocalypse, the Redeemed who stand in the presence of God are described as those who have "washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."

By REV. B. E. JONES,
Grant Chapel, A. M. E. Church.
Written for the Call of the Church.

--Long Beach Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA, June 10, 1950, p. 8.