OUR GOD IS THE SAVIOR & HIS SALVATION COMES BY BLOOD.
WRITTEN BY CHARISSA MROWKA
We see this theme as early as Genesis,
where the Lord covers Adam and Eve with animal skins.
We see this in Exodus in the Passover.
We see this in the sacrificial system in the Mosaic temple.
We now know that these things are foreshadows
and pictures of the covering, cleansing and saving blood of Jesus.
In this season, the Lord is inviting us into an even broader view of salvation,
that begins with and is rooted in - and yet goes beyond- His atoning work at the cross.
This view of salvation does not end at the cross, but stretches to the second coming of Jesus.
This salvation comes by blood -
& perhaps in more ways than we traditionally think
or talk about in modern day western church services.
This salvation by blood is two fold:
When Jesus wore his own blood
& when Jesus wears the blood of his enemies.
one:
Salvation of the saints FROM judgment
comes by the blood of Jesus.
Jesus endured His own wrath and judgment on sin on the cross.
He first subjected Himself to His own ultimate judgment on sin.
He who knew no sin became sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
Sin He became and death He endured.
He bore our griefs and carried our iniquities (Isaiah 53).
He showed us mercy in that He made a way in which we didn’t have to receive our own just and deserved punishment for our sin and iniquity.
He endured our repayment for our sin and thus made a way for us to become the righteousness He required; the righteousness that grants life eternal.
Jesus in His own blood brought us salvation from our own sin and the just punishment we were due for it.
His own blood granted us mercy that we might not endure His (just) wrath.
His perfect blood applied to us shall allow us to be passed over on the day of judgment to come.
We are covered by the blood & made right by the blood!
two:
Salvation of the saints IN judgment comes
by the blood of the wicked.
Jesus will come on the clouds in His great power and glory and wear a robe dipped in blood.
He shall strike down nations by the sword of His mouth, by the righteousness that comes from His mouth.
He is the Word or God and He alone shall trod the winepress and bring redemption (Isaiah 63, Daniel 7, Revelation 19).
He will surely bring justice to His elect.
He will surely avenge the blood of his saints that cries out from the ground and demands justice (Luke 18:7, Revelation 16:6).
He surely will deliver His people in His faithfulness.
Faithful and True will bring salvation to the saints, relieving them of the reign of the enemy,
of the beasts, and the kings of the earth empowered by them (Daniel 7:21, Revelation 13:7).
He shows us (the saints) mercy in that He will remove the wickedness and sin that still cripples creation.
He shows us mercy in that injustice and oppression shall not go on forever. There is relief for the saints that have faithfully endured!
Jesus wearing the blood of the wicked brings us salvation in that all our enemies, and the ultimate enemy, Death, shall be destroyed forever.
All creation will be liberated forever from that which destroys it.
We receive mercy in that every power will be overthrown by His power & every government will be overthrown by His government (1 Corinthians 15:23-23, 50-55). We receive mercy in that we are delivered from the present trials and suffering and enter into the hope of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Colossians 1:27).
We are delivered from death and into life eternal, where we get to reign with the Son forever.
He is the only one worthy to make judgments.
His judgments are true and just (Revelation 5, Revelation 19).
His judgments are so perfect, He humbled himself to be subject to them… even by death on a cross (Philippians 2:8-11).
He is worthy to wear red in His second coming because He wore red in His first.
He is worthy to wear the blood of the wicked, because He wore the blood of the Righteous.
He is worthy to wear the blood of nations in His second coming because He wore His own blood in His first coming.
The only Righteous One was bloodied.
The most unjust act known in history - the murder of the only righteous One by the hands of wicked men (Acts 2:22) -
is what delivered us from what was justly due to us and into unending mercy and outrageous grace.
The Righteous One received the punishment of the wicked… and made the way for the wicked to be made righteous!
We were given life instead of death because the One who is life faced death… and defeated death by death (Hebrews 2:14-15)!
But his work of salvation is not done! He must shake the heavens and the earth and deliver us from evil once and for all.
He must destroy sin, wickedness, rebellion, ruthlessness, heartlessness, oppression, slavery, murder, greed, abuse and death!
He must execute justice and he must bring vengeance against that which appalls him and keeps his creation in bondage.
He is a great deliverer. He is the arm of the Lord (Isaiah 40, 59, 63).
