18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
We finished the last lesson with these questions:
Do you love God, and do you fear God? Will you embrace Him as your Eternal Father? Will you live holy and in reverential fear before Him by the power of His Holy Spirit as a son or daughter of the Living God?
If your answer is yes to these questions, you KNOW what verses 18-19 are declaring, and you then underscore and consider the VALUE of what Christ has done for you above all else.
It is essential for every believer to fully understand and know God’s word regarding the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus.
The law of sacrifice, “the innocent dying for the guilty,” began in Genesis 3. It started when God took two innocent animals, sacrificed them to cover Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience. He took the skins of those innocent animals and made clothes to cover up their nakedness, which was the outward evidence of their innocence being removed and shame taking its place. They stood guilty before God and heaven’s citizenship.
From that moment to this, a blood sacrifice was necessary for man to approach God. Jehovah used this law of sacrifice when He required Israel to kill the “Passover lamb” and put the blood over their doorpost using a hyssop branch so that the death angel would pass over the house and not kill the firstborn son of the family. Jehovah declared in Leviticus 17:11-12,
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’ 12 Therefore, I said to the children of Israel, ‘No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.’
The Blood Covenant is one of the most important covenants in the entire Word of God. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin” (Hebrews 9:22). Let’s read Moses and see this in context,
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” 21 Then, likewise, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
All the precepts that Moses had spoken to the children of Israel were sealed by blood. He also sprinkled the Tabernacle and all the vessels used in the Tabernacle service. It took a lot of blood to purify everything involved with service before God.
It is hard to comprehend the number of innocent animals that lost their lives so that the people of God could do business with this Holy God. The Old Testament is indeed covered with blood. Sin demanded a great and awful price so that it could be defeated, and death itself stopped. All this leads to the New Covenant, one sacrifice for the sin of the world.
Let’s turn our attention to the Hyssop branch for a moment. We first hear about the Hyssop branch in Exodus 12:22. This is the passage where Moses is instructing the Israelites to our lamb’s blood on the door to save them from the 10th and final plague. I believe this particular plant was used because it acted like a sponge or paintbrush. The hyssop branch is introduced to us in one of the most iconic Old Testament bible scenes.
We then read about the hyssop branch in Leviticus and in Numbers. It is used for ceremonial cleansing of sin. Leviticus 14:6, Numbers 19:6, and 19:8. What seems like an insignificant detail of using a hyssop branch is symbolic to the Israelites as it points back to their great Exodus from Egypt and slavery.
Then jump ahead to John 19:29, where the culmination of the hyssop branch is pictured. The soldiers dip a hyssop branch into the sour wine for Jesus Christ, who now hangs on the cross. The blood of the lamb on the doorpost saves the Israelites from the death of the firstborn. It was a sacrifice. The apostle John calling upon the hyssop branch detail when writing about the crucifixion of Jesus would take the Jewish people back to that time in Exodus, the saving blood of the Passover lamb. This kept the firstborn from being killed. The Israelites can now see this as a symbolic moment, the fulfillment of scripture. Just as the hyssop branch was used in the first Passover to provide the saving grace for the Israelites from the death of the firstborn, where they see the ultimate sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God providing them the everlasting saving grace that comes by the blood of the Lamb of God.
It is so very important that we do not just know about the “precious blood of Christ,” but that we bask in its great redemptive value. Always remembering the sacrificial cost that the Father paid in giving His Son and the suffering the Son endured for every human being as He hung on Calvary’s Cross.
Jesus told His disciples at His Last Supper, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). Matthew expressed what he heard, “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28).
Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself 6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore, that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day (Matthew 27:3-5). I mentioned this scripture because it reveals how callous and cold-hearted these religious leaders were. They actually were evil. Our Lord was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, silver that was used against “innocent blood.” It was innocent blood that paid the price of yours and my sin.
This high lights our scripture verses in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23-26).
Definition of propitiation: the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of someone or something, the act of propitiating, appeasement, a sacrifice in propitiation of the gods. Appease is another word for propitiating.
The Old Testament used the word “atonement” or “to cover” the sins. In the New Testament, our sin condition has been completely “appeased” for by the “precious blood of Christ.” The Father has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. That is pretty far. We close today with this beautiful truth found in 1 John 1:5-7,
This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.