Thrust statement: Christ poured out His blood for the forgiveness of sins.

Scripture reading: Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20

INTRODUCTION

            Many Christians assemble on a weekly basis to celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, Christians are reminded of the blood of Christ “poured out” for the “forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).^[1] This participation in the eating of the bread and drinking of the wine is an act of faith on the part of the participants. In the Lord’s Supper, one witnesses what the gospel of God is all about. This activity of eating and drinking is an affirmation that believers are to go forth to spread the message of salvation that is “in” and “through” Jesus Christ. 

            As one drinks the Cup of Blessing, one demonstrates his/her utter dependence upon God. In the Lord’s Supper, one is ever conscious of the words of Jesus: “I am with you always” (28:20). All down the ages, the Lord’s Supper is a constant reminder of the blood of Christ “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (26:28). In the Lord’s Supper, God transformed the meaning of sacrifice, because it is God who offers the sacrifice for the sins of the world. (Acts 2:23). This sacrifice even puzzled the angelic host (1 Peter 1:10-12). Is it any wonder that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the throne singing: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God” (Revelation 5:9).

NEW COVENANT AND HIS BLOOD

            Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus announced a startling statement concerning the “new covenant” to His chosen twelve during His final Passover meal. The Jews were aware of the fact that Jeremiah had prophesied concerning the future establishment of a new agreement between God and Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34).  But Jesus, on this occasion, lets His disciple know that this prophecy is now having its fulfillment in the pouring out of His blood on Calvary. Surely, the disciples reflected back upon the words that Jeremiah had prophesied concerning the new covenant 600 years earlier. Jesus, as He took the third cup (Cup of Blessing) to represent His own blood, states empathically that the fruit of the vine (wine) represents His blood—“This is my blood of the covenant” (Matthew 26:28).

            This clause is pregnant and rich with historical background and meaning.  An understanding of Old Testament sacrifices is indispensable to a proper grasp of this phrase. It is through the blood of the covenant that Jesus is able to accomplish for humanity that which individuals cannot accomplish for themselves; namely, eternal redemption.  Is it any wonder that Christians still sing, There Is Power in the Blood? Deliverance from condemnation is brought about through the blood of the Son of God.  Paul sets forth the power of the blood in his epistle to the Ephesians:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ^8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ^9 And he ^b made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ^10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ (Ephesians 1:7-10).

            Redemption includes everything God does for the sinner.  In salvation two things stand out prominently in the mind of every believer; namely, the forgiveness of sins and redemption of the body from the grave.  Each believer is an illustration of the power of the blood of Christ.  It is through the virtue of the blood that God raised our Lord Jesus from the dead.  It is through the blood of Christ that Christians are raised from the dead.  The Hebrew writer forcefully anchored this truth in the hearts of the believers:

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,  ²¹ Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ^[2]

                There is power in the blood!  The blood makes one complete.  The blood enables everyone to every good work.  For all who believe in Jesus as God’s Messiah, the blood opens the way to heaven, the blood opens the grave.  In addition to these helps and benefits, the blood of Jesus destroys the power of death, the power of Satan, and the power of Hell. The author of Hebrews artfully captures the essence of Christ’s blood when he writes: “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).  His blood is the answer to man’s redemption.  Once more, the Holy Spirit, through this same writer, also gives a prominent place to the blood:

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ^23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ^24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (12:22-24).

            It is the blood of Jesus that keeps heaven open for sinners and sends the spiritual blessings from heaven upon sinful man.  The throne of grace owes its existence to the precious blood of the Lamb of God.  Christians must never forget that redemption is through the blood of God’s Anointed One.  Peter expresses it this way: 

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ^19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:18-19).

As long as heaven lasts, the praises of the blood will sound forth from heaven itself. John writes: “And they sang a new song, saying:  ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation’” (Revelation 5:9).

FORGIVENESS IS THE SUBJECT OF HEAVEN

            Forgiveness is the subject of heaven.  Forgiveness is the subject of earth.  Forgiveness is the subject of the church.  Forgiveness is the subject of both the Old and New Testament writings.  Forgiveness is not just a new covenant concept.  The Old Testament Scriptures also abound with illustrations setting forth the utter destruction of sin, God’s forgiveness, and rejoicing. The blood of Jesus flowed, as it were, backwards and forwards in man’s redemption. Forgiveness is something to sing about in heaven and on earth.  God reminds Israel of His forgiveness:

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”  ^23 Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel (Isaiah 44:22-23).

            Once more, Isaiah aptly remarks:

You have put all my sins behind your back (38:17).

            Micah, too, addresses the forgiveness of sins in very glowing terms:

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

            It is in this same vein that God discloses to Jeremiah His prophet the forgiveness of sins:

I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me (Jeremiah 33:8).

God Remembers Sin No More

            Again, God in revealing to Jeremiah the coming of a new covenant announces that sin would be done away with once and for all:

^ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ^32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to ^e them, ^f” declares the LORD. ^33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ^34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (31:31-34).

            This forgiveness of sins is what Paul details in the Book of Romans.  Jeremiah tells the “fact,” but Paul details the “how.”  As Paul writes about this matchless love, this unfathomable mercy, this perfect holiness of God, one must stand in awe.  In Romans 3: 23-26, Paul burst forth with rapturous language in describing the method God employs to justify man and yet at the same time exonerate His holiness in His actions. 

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ^23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 and are justified freely (dwreaVn, dwreaVn) by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ^25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement (iJlasthvrion, Jilasthvrion), ^a through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ^26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:22-26).

            This word “freely” (Romans 3:24) is also translated (NIV) “without reason” in John 15:25: “But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason (dwreaVn).’”  The KJV reads: “But [this] [happened] that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause (dwreaVn).’”  Since God is holy, God has to deal with sin in a way that His holiness is not questioned.  God’s righteous wrath against sin is an outward manifestation of His holiness.  God cannot allow rebellion to go unpunished.  Justice demands retribution.  Thus, God devises a way to demonstrate His holiness, and yet at the same time justify sinful man.  God’s solution is “propitiation (iJlasthvrion, Jilasthvrion) by His blood, through faith” (Romans 3:25).  

JESUS IS GOD’S MERCY SEAT

            In the Hebrew Old Testament, the Jilasthvrion is called tr\P)K^ (k^pp)r#t, “mercy seat,” “throne of mercy,” “atonement”).^[3] This word refers to the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony where the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement (Numbers 7:89). Also, the author of Hebrews speaks of the covering on the Ark of the Covenant as a “mercy Seat” (KJV) or “atonement cover” (NIV).  He writes:

Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, ^4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ^5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover (iJlasthvrion). ^a But we cannot discuss these things in detail now (Hebrews 9:3-5).

            Jesus, in the words of Paul, is God’s “mercy seat” or “atonement cover” (iJlasthvrion) [Romans 3:25] for sinful man.  In other words, Christ is the site at which atonement takes place.  In the Old Testament the atonement was looked upon by God alone, but in the New Testament the atonement is open for all to see, for the entire universe.  John also speaks of Jesus as a propitiation: “He is the atoning sacrifice (iJlasmov", Jilasmos, “propitiation”) for our sins, and not only for ours but also for ^b the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).

                This emancipation from God’s righteous wrath, this freedom from the dominion of sin, this deliverance from the curse of law, and this redemption from condemnation is so complete and so perfect that the sinner is looked upon as absolutely justified and righteous before God.   Since Jesus is our “wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption,” then, writes Paul, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord,” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). The law is now fulfilled in us since we are in Christ (Romans 8:3-5). 

Complete Forgiveness in and Through Jesus

            It is to this view of complete forgiveness of sins that the penman of Hebrews writes that there is nothing to prevent man approaching the throne of grace with the greatest of freedom; he says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  How is this access accomplished?  Again, the same author tells us that it is through the blood.  He senses the glory of the blood of Christ when he writes:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ^20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ^21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ^22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water (10:19-22).

            One’s right to draw near is affirmed by the blood of Jesus; He is the High Priest.  Since every believer is a priest of God redeemed by the blood, the Holy Spirit encourages all believers to approach God’s throne of grace.   In the Book of Revelation,  Jesus rolls back the curtain of heaven and, through John, declares with transported joy: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ^6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 1:5b-6).

CONCLUSION

            There is power in the blood of Christ. The heavenly host sings about the blood of Christ. It is through the shed blood of Jesus that one experiences the forgiveness of sins. The Lord’s Supper is a constant reminder of God’s new agreement with humanity brought about through the pouring out of the blood of Jesus. God says in essence, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). Yes, when God sees the blood of Christ, He no longer remembers the sins of individuals that are covered by the blood of His Son. Has your robe been washed in the blood of the Lamb? When one of the elders asked John to identify the ones he saw in white robes, He answered, “Sir, you know” (Revelation 7:14). Immediately John heard the words: “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14).