(Revelation 1:4-6)…..4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him beglory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
One has to love the way the book of Revelation begins, after God telling us who it is written about and who it is given to. Like many of the Pauline epistles (Romans 1:7) (1 Corinthians 1:3) (2 Corinthians 1:2), John the apostle begins his “Revelation of Jesus Christ” with a greeting from God to His church. Here He begins by saying, “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come.” This is amazing because God’s grace is descriptive of His favor (Genesis 6:8), His forgiving mercy (Romans 11:6), and His gospel (John 1:17). His grace is also the source of our salvation (Acts 15:11), our calling from God (Galatians 1:15), our justification (Romans 3:24), and our forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7). Because of His grace towards His church, we now have peace with the God of all glory, the “High and Lofty One,” (John 16:33) (Romans 5:1) (Ephesians 2:14) (Colossians 1:20).
Now how does that strike you this morning? You see there is much to say in just a few words of an introduction of this book. The One from whom “grace” and “peace” comes, is the One who was, who is, and who is to come. He is the “Eternal One,” a term for the name of Jehovah who is the “Self Existing One, the unchangeable God. It is Him that is the faithful witness of all that God has ordained, the firstborn from the dead (that is the first to enter into heaven), and who has been and always will be the ruler over the kings of the earth (Psalm 2). What a wonderful truth! Our God is the “Eternal God!” What a mighty God we serve.
It is He that has loved us and has washed us from our sins in His own blood (Hebrews 9:12-14) (1 John 1:7). What the function and significance of our Lord’s shed blood:
1.) The Blood Of Christ Brings Redemption – (1 Peter 1:19)
In 1 Peter 1:1-25, we see the inspired apostle speaking to the persecuted (1 Peter 1:6-7), purified (1 Peter 1:13-16), and obedient people of God (1 Peter 1:21-23). In (John 3:16), Jesus foretells the act of redemption. With His divine foreknowledge, Christ understood that the gift of the Father’s only begotten Son (Himself) meant the shedding of His blood at Calvary (John 10:17-18) (Hebrews 2:9). The purpose of that shed blood, He knew, was to “redeem” the lost race of man from the power and hopelessness of sin. Regarding this loving act, Paul states, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). By inspiration, Paul reinforces this idea in (Titus 2:14).
2.) The Blood Of Christ Brings Removal – (Hebrews 9:14)
In (Hebrews 9:14), the King James Version uses the word “purge” in translating the effect of the blood of Christ upon the conscience of one to whom that blood is applied. This term means “to cleanse of guilt, sin, or ceremonial defilement” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1996). The Greek word translated “purge” in this verse means “free from the guilt of sin”. Clearly, the writer of Hebrews speaks of the effect of the applied blood of the Savior. The audience of Hebrews, of which modern man is a part, needs some agent to remove the guilt of sin (dead works) from their lives. The blood of Christ is that agent.
Oh, thank the Lord this morning because He has shed His blood for you that you too might be washed in it, that your sins would be gone forever.