Redemption in His Blood

Eph 1:7-8a NASB In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace [8] which He lavished on us.

This verse makes it clear that our redemption does not come from within ourselves. We cannot pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, dust ourselves off and present ourselves to God as worthy of entering Heaven. No, our redemption is "In Him."

More specifically, our redemption is "through His blood." While it may offend our modern, sanitized sensibilities, the process of bringing forth life is a messy business. That is true whether we speak of our physical birth into this world, or our spiritual re-birth into the family of God through Jesus.

As we push through the spiritual birth canal, the indescribable power of the blood of Christ completely surrounds and covers us. We are immersed in it. There is no part of our being that is not touched by His blood, so when we come out of the birth canal, we appear spotless and blameless before a holy God.

There are two significant differences between the two births. First, physical birth is a long process that can take many hours. But since Jesus lives in eternity, our spiritual birth happens in the instant that we acknowledge our sin, recognize our need for a Savior, and accept the gift of salvation that only Jesus is qualified to offer. Second, on the physical level, we had no input into whether or not we would be conceived or born. But on the spiritual level, every person must make that choice.

Imagine the pains of childbirth. Now multiply that pain billions of times for every person, from the beginning to the end of human history who has ever been conceived and concentrate it down to a period of hours. In a very real sense, this is precisely what Jesus went through in His scourging, crucifixion and death. He was going through the pains of childbirth for the entire human race, to give us all the opportunity for new life.

Since Jesus paid the price for the sins for ALL of humanity, EVERY person will pass through this birth canal. Tragically, there are many who will needlessly arrive stillborn into the Second Death. This will be by their own choice of spitting in the face of Jesus, by spurning the gift that it cost Him everything to provide. But not one person suffering an eternity in hell will be paying for their sin. They will be suffering the consequence of this one decision to spurn Jesus' gift.

If Jesus was willing to go through that agony for us, then those of us who know Jesus as our Savior must we must be willing to step out of our comfort zones to passionately, urgently, gently, genuinely and lovingly share the Truth of this gift with everyone we meet.

Kevin E. Ness

#TheTruthJustIs