The Spotless Lamb || 1 Peter 1:18-19 || Manna for the Mind #204

1 Peter 1:18-19

NASB	NLT	VOICE
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,	18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.	18 You know that a price was paid to redeem you from following the empty ways handed on to you by your ancestors; it was not paid with things that perish (like silver and gold),
19 but with precious blood, as a of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.	19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.	19 but with the precious blood of the Anointed, who was like a perfect and unblemished sacrificial lamb.

A slave was ransomed when someone paid money to buy his or her freedom. God paid for our freedom from the enslavement of sin. He didn’t use a resource that lost value. The payment was throughout the death of his son, and the spilt blood from his crucifixion. The imagery is gross when we put it in a modern context, but to Peter’s original audience, this would have hit hard. They were used to the old sacrificial system that’s written in Leviticus. They knew that the death of a sacrificial animal allowed the sin to transfer from one being to another and the pleasing aroma would represent the sacrifice being “accepted” and “complete.” This was different, though. The Jewish people were continuing to mess up and stray far away from God. The sacrificial system of old would not cut in anymore because the amount of time it was needed, the more it lost its meaning. God needed to send us the ultimate sacrifice, the true sinless animal, the unblemished lamb, in order for us to have humanity’s forgiveness of sin truly accepted.

This is not something we escape from on our own. Through Jesus sacrifice, and us being made new and perfect through it, are we able to have a right relationship with God. This doesn’t mean that we’ll never sin again or that you will never have consequences for your sin. This means that there’s no sin bad enough to get in between you and God. We still need to own our sins and ask for forgiveness. We will constantly be working towards the true perfection of Christ, and our work with it will always be happening. For this is how a relationship with God truly forms.

 Hebrews 9:14

NASB	NLT	VOICE
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?	14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.	14 then how much more powerful is the blood of the Anointed One, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself as a spotless sacrifice to God, purifying your conscience from the dead things of the world to the service of the living God?

Sinful deeds are more than just wrong actions. They can also be different things we can do to be good enough for God. God doesn’t require us to be perfect. Our perfection is found through the sacrifice of Jesus that washed us clean of our sin so that we could have a right relationship with God. God does want us to strive for perfection but overdoing it can also cause us some trouble. Our culture focuses on self-effort and personal achievement. We celebrate financial security, health and fitness, and the respect of other people. None of these are wrong things. However, we must be mindful that we give the credit of those things to God instead of ourselves. If we take the credit, then we feed our pride and ego both intentionally and unintentionally. If we give God the credit, we’re both showing a true understanding of who God is and how we can build our trust and relationship with him.

The Bible gives us different picture of successful living:

• Accepting that Jesus died for our sins.
• Abandon the temptation of sinful actions.
• Allow the blood of Christ to purify our consciences.

Let these facets of our Christian Walk get through all parts of our lives.

Next slice of manna: Manna for the Mind #205