For many Christians, the blood of the Lamb or the blood of Jesus Christ refers to a magic blood bank sucking from Christ’s body in Heaven and gets poured out at their request to make them clean. They completely ignore the true meaning of it, which is completely our responsibility. Asking God to cleanse us with the blood of His Son Jesus is not only deceptive but hypocritical. In this post, we will explore what the blood of Jesus truly means, and what does it mean by being cleansed by His blood.
Drinking the blood of Jesus
Jesus is not teaching His disciples to cannibalise Him.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. | John 5:38,40 “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. … But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. |
John 6:54 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. | John 6:40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” |
John 6:55-56 “For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. | John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. |
Jesus is teaching us that eating His flesh and drinking His blood is compared to His words abiding in us, believing in Him and bearing much fruit. We touched upon this subject on an earlier post related to communion but here we will focus on what it means by being cleansed by His blood.
Cleansed by the blood of Jesus
The blood of Jesus is compared to His words which we feed upon and it abides in us. It is compared to believing in what he says and obeying
1 John 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Is John speaking about God pouring our His Son’s blood to clean us from all our sins? No. Is John in anyway suggesting that God will clean us from our sins? No. Christ’s blood is available to all who are part of His covenant. Is it we need to get cleansed in His blood by abiding in His word and obeying Him.
Ps 119:9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
As Psalmist sings, you can only be cleansed from your sins if you listen to what the Father spoke through Jesus and abide in His words.
Rev 7:14 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
As we see in revelation, it is our responsibility to wash our robes to make them white by obeying the words of Jesus.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. (NKJV)
Rev 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. (NIV)
Interestingly enough, Alexandrian Manuscripts (NIV) translates Revelation 22:14 as “to wash the robes” in the blood of Jesus but Textus Receptus (NKJV) translates the same passage as “doing His commandments”, implying both are synonymous to each other. Hence, do not ask God to cleanse us with the blood of His Son Jesus which is deceptive and hypocritical because Jesus already give His own blood two millennium ago and it is not God’s responsibility to clean you. While the blood of Jesus can cleanse us, He is not going to spoon feed us with His blood to force us to abide in Him but rather, it is our responsibility to obey His words and keep His commandments to get cleansed.