I discovered “precious blood” only occurred once in the Holy Bible when searching the KJV. So I decided to split the words apart and to search to see where they occurred together in any verse. I was surprised to find that the only other occurrence was in Psalm 72:14. Even more than that, I saw that 1 Peter 1:19 described why we should feel the blood of Christ is precious, while Psalm 72:14 brings out the fact that God considers our blood precious! This looks to me like a call to mutual love.
From these facts I felt led of God to work on a message (sermon) titled, Precious Blood. Let us first go to Psalm 72, look briefly at its content then take verse 14 from a special aspect in relation to 1 Peter 1:19.
Almost all of Psalm 72 is clearly prophetic, pointing to a time yet to come, the Millennial Reign of Christ. It could be said that verse 1 (”Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.”) is present and ongoing, although there were will be an application for it in the Millennial Reign. Christ is the King and anyone truly born of His Spirit is His child. In order to be His Spirit born child we must surrender to His redemption that He has provided for us.
Part of that redemption is where Christ shed His blood for us, which will be addressed in the second and final point. Let us now consider how God views our blood.
I. God’s Valuation Of Our Blood Psalm 72:14
“He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence:
and precious shall their blood be in his sight.”
Our blood is precious to God for His King provides redemption for us. God, Who is most holy, clearly states in Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son:”
We clearly see that each individual bears their responsibility for their sin. However, beginning with Genesis 3:15 and going to The Revelation it is also clearly seen that God provided our redemption in His Son. One aspect is that Christ experienced one of the worst forms of execution of His earthly time, crucifixion. Therein is redemption from sin.
Yielding to sin is a general form of oppression (There is a more acute state of spiritual oppression.). Romans 7 expresses the oppression of sin as entrapment. Verse 14 of Psalm 72 speaks of violence. When one sins, even though the sin seems pleasurable, they do spiritual violence to themselves. Different degrees of spiritual violence is also done to others.
Prophetically this portion looks ahead when all oppression and violence will cease. But, for now, each of us can enjoy a spiritual aspect of it. Entering into the redemption by Christ breaks the cycle of sin and death and causes us to stop spiritually harming ourselves and others.
Only the redemption offered by Christ can truly and completely free us from entrapment to sin. Being a true child of God, having been born again, we escape the wrath of God. Ephesians 5:6 and Colossians 3:6 state that the wrath of God is coming upon the children of disobedience.
While the wrath of God partly comes during the Great Tribulation, there is the eternal wrath of God where death and hell are cast into the Lake Of Fire (Revelation 20:15). God hates sin. I do not want to go through eternity that way and I hope you do not either.
So, thank God He has provided for our redemption. Indeed, God’s redemptive act mentioned in Psalm 72 stems from His merciful holy love. This is a main reason why our blood is precious to God.
II. Our Valuation Of Christ’s Blood 1 Peter 1:19
“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
Anyone truly born again esteems Christ’s blood as precious. While the application of His blood in one’s life is certainly a main element for loving appreciation, there are a whole host of aspects that also cause us to refer to Christ’s blood as precious.
The term “of Christ” speaks to the point that God in His mercy veiled Himself with our flesh. Hebrews 2:16 states, “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” Just a few years back the sentence “Christ is the salvation side of God” popped into my head to express to some that the limitations of Christ they read in the Gospels are not a contradiction to His deity, but a confirmation of the saving fact that all the righteous acts we need to please God are found in Christ. The very fact that God, Who is most holy, would even provide redemption for us who deserve only hell from Him is precious, and quite humbling.
We also read in Philippians 2:6-7 (Williams), “Though He was existing in the nature of God, He did not think His being on an equality with God a thing to be selfishly grasped, 7 but He laid it aside, as He took on the nature of a slave and became like other men.” This fact that Christ, though very God, chose not to act from His Godhood but instead by the Holy Spirit also makes His blood precious. No other religious figure ever did this.
Thus, laying aside His prerogatives as God He resigned Himself to the omnipotent Father and was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, as every true disciple is to be. His continual resignation to the Father’s will is seen in the word “lamb.” Again, from Philippians 2 (verse 8, Williams), “Because He was recognized as a man, in reality as well as in outward form, He finally humiliated Himself in obedience so as to die, even to die on a cross.
Naturally and basically the phrase “as of a lamb” speaks of His sacrificial work for us upon the cross. Being all man, He was also all God and therefore was able to provide redemption not just for one person, but for all who would accept it.
His sacrificial work satisfied the Father’s demands that sin had to be punished and wrath had to be poured out upon sin. May we let 2 Corinthians 5:21 find a special place in our hearts: “For He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, and reflecting “Him…Who knew no sin,” is the fact that Christ went to the cross for us like an approved sacrificial lamb, one “without blemish and without spot.” Christ was what Adam had been before Adam sinned
May each of us consider the blood of Christ very precious, for God considered our blood precious enough to provide redemption for us. If you have not already done so, will you surrender to Christ the King, fully trusting in His blood to cleanse you from your sin?
Notes:
This article was in the form of a sermon (message) outline with comments. God willing by September 9, 2013 (hopefully much sooner), you should be able to hear the actual message (sermon) by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M261 .
Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the 1769 Authorized Version with spelling of some words updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHWH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates.
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