Do Not Neglect the Blood

Around the blogosphere recently there has been much talk of blood. Not the blood of goats or lambs, but of The Lamb – Jesus Christ. Most of the conversations stems from Rob Bell’s release of a recent work, Love Wins.

Does ‘Love Win’? Absolutely. God is love. God wins. But it’s not going to happen like Rob Bell thinks it will. I understand his desire for compassion, but I abhor his conclusion.

“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Hebrews 9:22

In our western, civilized world we do not have animal sacrifice ceremonies constantly in our thoughts or before our eyes. This idea is distant to us, yet we all can understand the weight of the appearance and discussion of ‘blood’. Dr. Russell Moore, in his recent episode of The Cross and the Jukebox discusses just this idea: that though we’re separated from animal sacrifice to ‘gods’, we are well aware of the seriousness of blood. I highly recommend the podcast to you.

Why the connection of blood discussion to Rob Bell? It seems he leaves the discussion of the necessity of Jesus’ blood to cover my sins in order for me to have right standing before God. If you’ve not read Kevin DeYoung’s review of Rob Bell’s latest publication, it’s worth your time to read through the entire 20 pages. I would also recommend the book he and Ted Kluck wrote, Why We’re Not Emergent for a more thorough read of Bell and some of his colleagues.

As Dr. Moore states in the podcast, the churches who understand the necessity of Jesus’ blood for the remission of the sins of the church and keep that central to their lives, live on: from generation to generation to generation. The need for a substitute of Jesus in my place on the cross, is as beautiful as I’m sure the original sight was horrific. I’m thankful for His blood, thankful for my church heritage which understood and passed on the centrality of Jesus’ substitution on my part, and will ever sing about the Power in His Blood.

There is Power in the Blood
by Lew­is E. Jones

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow.
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

After all, when it’s all you have, it’s all you’ll ever need.

Not in the Wind

While watching The Nativity Story during the Christmas season this year, I saw the connection between the story in this clip and Jesus’ birth story. Have you made this connection before? Watch the clip:

For Elijah, the voice of the Lord was not in the wind, it was not in the earthquake, nor was it in the fire: it was in a still, small voice.

Creation displays mighty acts of God. Strong winds can remove roofs from homes and wrap a pickup truck around a utility pole. Earthquakes reduce once beautiful structures to piles of rubble in seconds. The evidences of God’s power are evident in creation.

This was the son of God, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He could have come into our world with a resounding boom: born in a palace on a hill, laid in a luxurious bed, surrounded by scores of attendants caring for his every need, taught by the best of teachers, fed the finest foods, and given every luxury and advantage our world could offer.

But the Lord was not in the wind… but in a still, small voice.

Oh, he still came as the Lord of lords and King of all kings, but “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7 KJV), born in the lowliest of places, laid in a feeding trough, wrapped with simple cloths, attended to not by servants or noblemen, but by dirty, tired, and stinky shepherds.

I’m thankful this season that Jesus came and that he came humbly; for all men from shepherds to kings.

Failure: Underestimating Jesus

RT @TGC: “One of the great failures into which even believers sometimes fall is the tendency to underestimate Jesus” (D.A. Carson).