Spurgeon: April AM
* 04/16/AM
"The precious blood of Christ."
--1 Peter 1:19
Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet,
and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It
is "precious" because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy .
By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are
redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made
one with Him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its
cleansing power ; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Through
Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no
wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which
makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and
permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding
the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The
blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving
power . We are safe from the destroying angel under the
sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which
is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us
when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same.
The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying
influence . The same blood which justifies by taking away sin,
does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it
onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God.
There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams
from the veins of Jesus. And "precious," unspeakably precious,
is this blood, because it has an overcoming power . It is
written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How
could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood
of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The
blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be
death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall
march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its
power!