Nothing but the Blood

I was sitting here tonight listening to some music and this song came on and I just sang along quietly
for a moment in a wonderful place of worship. Then I just felt like I had to write this. It happens
sometimes. In both the original hymn and the newer song by Matt Redman, this line:

What can wash away my sins

Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

I don't know of many songs with more beautiful lyrics. When I think of the sins I've committed in my
life. For so long, I was dark, ugly and hollow. I thought I was lost. It was like, even though I didn't
believe, I didn't believe because I didn't think I could be saved. Does anyone remember a song a few
years ago by the group Smashing Pumpkins? They had a song I used to listen to called Bullet With
Butterfly Wings. Here is some of the lyrics to that song.

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage

Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved

and

And I still believe that I cannot be saved

And I still believe that I cannot be saved
And I still believe that I cannot be saved

I truly felt that I could not be saved. I'm sure some of you have felt that way too. That you were out of
reach. That you were living in a pit, rolling around in the mud with the pigs. I know I sure was. Sure,
I had some fun times in the mud, but deep down it was cold, dark and lonely. Then something
happened. I made a discovery. I discovered Jesus and his precious blood.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood
Eph 2:13

of Christ.

I read that verse and I see myself. I was once far away, too far away I thought. Yet Jesus' blood
brought me near. Only his blood could do this. I know many non-Christians think that we're some
violent, blood-thirsty religion for our fascination with blood. Yet it is the shedding of Jesus' blood that
was the perfect sacrifice so we might have eternal life, and live for him here on earth.

Heb 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus

Back in the first century, Israel still had the Temple. In that temple was the Holiest of Holies. Only the
high priest could enter there on Yom Kippur. No everyday person could enter, not until Jesus. When
he died on the cross, that veil was torn, both spiritually and literally. We can now enter the presence of
God. We have the kind of access to speak to God that not even Elijah, Abraham, or even John the
Baptist had. They were preparing the way for the promise, yet they themselves never received that
promise. They never received the blood (Hebrews 11).

1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Once again, we see that only the blood of Jesus' purifies our hearts from sin. Our best offerings can't
cleanse us. Neither can our good deeds. It doesn't matter if you've taught Sunday school for 20 years,
or fed the homeless last winter. You could be the pastor of a large church, or a Big Brother or Big
Sister on weekends. None of those things can cleanse us.

All of us have become like one who is unclean,and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all
Isa 64:6

shrivel up like a leaf,and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Our best efforts don't even come close. God's grace is not dependent on what we do for him. It's all
about what he has done for us. While that is not a license to play in the mud, it tells us that we it's not
about what we can do. There is a difference between stepping in a mud puddle, and rolling around in
the mud. Once we have been cleansed, we will want nothing to do with the mud, only his blood.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Tim Miller 2007