As we continue our look at the power of the blood of Christ, this week we see its power manifest in salvation. The Greek word for “salvation” is “sõtēria,” “to deliver, to preserve, to make safe.” “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Cor 1:10)
As medical science has provided medicine to fight inflection in the body, so the blood of Christ alone provides for the inflection of sin in the soul. As aspirin or some home remedy would not avail against cancer, so religion is powerless for the need of the soul. In addition good works cannot cure one of the blight and curse of sin. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5).
Surely, mankind will be grateful always to Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) for his discovery of penicillin on mold on an orange in 1928, used around the world to fight and relieve the body of infection. Likewise, the believer will ever sing praise unto the Lord for the blood of Christ which is Heaven's provision for the inflection of sin which brings sorrow and endless separation from God if left to run its course unhindered.
Thank God there is provision in the blood of Calvary's Lamb for all men everywhere, as the benefits of salvation are as wide as the scope of sin. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).
And again: “And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2).
Man needs the Lord's salvation because he is a sinner by birth. “Behold, I was formed in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Pas. 51:5). Man is a sinner by practice. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Man is a sinner by the indictment of God. “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Rom 3:19) Those verses establish the dire need of man for the justifying, cleansing blood of Christ.
Christ shed His blood vicariously upon the cross, enabling God to judicially and righteously put away our sinful guilt and stain. The blood of Christ opened up the fountain of God's redemptive grace and mercy. “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
In thinking of a cure for sin, the hymn writer, A.M. Toplady, focused attention upon the blood of Christ as he penned: “Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure.” The “double cure” emphasizes justifying grace, as well as sanctifying grace.
Salvation is a deliverance which is secured for the believing sinner through the blood of Christ, not a frustrating afterthought but rather a determined forethought of the Lord. “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” (Acts 2:23). God has never been caught unawares on the baffling horns of a dilemma, nor has He ever been bewildered by an emergency in view of the truth that the Lord Jesus is “...The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
Salvation, then, is a work of God for man, not a work of man for God. Through Christ's blood God loves us, lifts us and looses us from the binding tentacles of sin. “And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev 1:5-6)
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