Jesus in 1 Peter
March 21, 2025
There’s Power in the Blood
There is often a silence about the blood of Christ in our church circles. As long as the blood of the Lord coursed through His veins, it had no saving value for us; but when that precious blood was shed, Christ Jesus gave His life. He shed His blood so we might have life.
Peter is writing to Jews who had been brought up in Judaism. They knew the Old Testament and understood how the high priest on the Day of Atonement took blood with him into the Holy of Holies, and that he sprinkled the blood seven times on the mercy seat. When He died, the Lord Jesus Christ took His own blood to the throne of God (the throne at which we are judged as guilty sinners), and He sprinkled it there. He gave His life and paid the penalty for us. Now that throne of judgment is the throne of grace where we can come and receive salvation.
Until the meaning of the blood of Christ has been explained, the gospel has not been preached. Talking about blood may be aesthetically offensive, but the real offense of the Cross is that He shed His blood. Of course it is not pretty, but your sin isn’t either. Our ugly sin is what made it necessary for Christ to die for us. Today we have a living hope because of the blood of Christ shed for us. He died so we might live; He paid our penalty.
Simon Peter is not talking about something theoretical. He knows about grace and peace through the blood of Christ because Jesus Himself told him about it. He knows it because he watched Jesus die; he saw where He was buried, and he saw the resurrected Christ. The weak, fearful man has now become a rock-man. He could stand at the Day of Pentecost and preach about Christ’s death and resurrection. He could go to jail, be persecuted, write an epistle like this, and finally be crucified for the gospel.
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. -1 Peter 1:18-19
