“What can wash away my sins? Nothing but The Blood of Jesus.
What can make me
whole again? Nothing but The Blood of Jesus.
Oh precious
is the flow that makes me white as snow.
No other
fount I know, nothing but The Blood of Jesus.” 1
The Problem
There once was
a beautiful apple tree. It’s branches bore beautiful, lush green leaves and
juicy, red, sweet, crunch apples. But one day the branch said, “I don’t want to
depend on you tree. I want to make my own leaves and my own beautiful, tasty
red apples. The wise tree replied, “You cannot bear fruit apart from me. In
fact you cannot even live apart from me. If you try to separate from me you
will not survive, but you will die.”
The branch
laughed and said, “You fool! I’m tired of depending on you and I want to “branch
out” (pun fully intended) on my own.” So the branch broke off from the tree.
“Freedom at last” the branch thought. He imagined his apples would be even more
beautiful and juicy-sweet now that he was “free” from the trees “restrictions”.
He grunted and
strained but no apples appeared. He sweated, grunted, strained, moaned, and
strained some more but still no apples. He tried his hardest. He even said, “I
will use my will power and determination and I WILL grow apples.” But things
got worse. Not only did he not grow
apples but his lush, green leaves started turning brown and frail. As the
leaves got more and more brittle they cracked and big chunks of leaf would blow
away in the wind. The leaves withered up and the branch started to look dry, dull
and brittle himself.
You see the
branch did not realize that it was the sap that flowed from the tree to him
that was his life source. The tree fed him sap, life, nourishment, and not only
kept his leaves alive and produced apples; but the tree was his source of life.
No matter how hard he strained he could do nothing apart from the tree but die.
There is a point in this analogy. Just
like the branch we were made to be connected to God. He IS our source of life
and we were never meant to live life separated from Him. In fact in The Bible (in John Chapter 15)
Jesus says, “Jn 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a
man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can
do nothing.” He is talking about a grapevine in Israel
and saying that His followers (Christians) are the branches and that we must
abide in Him (stay connected to Him, rely on Him).
There is a
kernel of truth in this analogy. Mankind decided to try to live life apart from
God and instead of freedom and life; he suffered spiritual and physical death.
You see when Adam and Eve believed Satan instead of Believing God, they sinned
and began to die. Death in the Bible means “separation.” Adam and Eve’s sin
severed them from God and they began to experience, not liberation, but
bondage, sin, and death.
From that point on every man born into this world is
dysfunctional because he has inherited sin from Adam and Eve. Our sin keeps us
separated from God (God, Who is our source of Life). Let’s look at what The
Bible says about this. Some of you already know this but you can learn the
deeper meaning and apply it to your life. Trust me.
In Genesis (the first book of The Bible
found in The Old Testament) man could freely eat from the Tree of Life (the
represents abiding in Christ and just receiving His life rather than striving).
Everything was perfect and Adam and Even
walked in sweet fellowship with God. There was harmony and peace between God
and man. Notice what it says about man and woman, “Ge 2:25 The man and his wife were both
naked, and they felt no shame.” I believe the idea of being naked and unashamed
meant they could be completely open and vulnerable with God and with each
other. There was nothing to hide.
But God gave Adam one commandment, just
one prohibition. I believe this was a test to see if man would believe God and
love Him or choose to reject Him. God said in Genesis 2 “Ge 2:16 And
the LORD God commanded the man,
“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; Ge 2:17 but you
must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat
of it you will surely die.”” Notice it
says “tree of knowledge of GOOD and evil.” Many people misquote this and say it
was the “knowledge of evil.”
I believe the contrast is simple, man had a
choice. He could abide with God and eat of the “Tree of Life” spoken of in
Genesis (which is a symbol for Jesus Who is eternal life), or he could try to
get stuck with always trying to “perform.” Like a ledger man would always
suffer, trying to get his “good deeds” to outweigh his “bad deeds.” But this is
NOT what God intended for man. God’s plan was for man to simply abide with Him
and freely take of His life (which is the “Tree of Life” in Genesis). Genesis
says that Adam and Eve walked with God. They had an intimate relationship with
Him. Also notice the bottom line was faith. Will man believe God? It always
comes down to believing God for eternal life.
Did man listen? Did he trust and obey
God? The Bible says that, “Ge 3:1 The serpent
was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in
the garden’?” Ge 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the
garden, Ge 3:3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the
tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you
will die.’ ” Ge 3:4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to
the woman. Ge 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Ge 3:6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to
the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She
also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Ge 3:7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”
Notice
a few observations from the text:
1. Satan (the serpent) directly denies The Word of God
“You shall surely not die”.
That is what
it boils down to. That is the real battle. Will we believe God by believing His Word? The world and Satan
constantly try to pull us away from trusting
God’s Word and therefore rejecting Him.
2. Satan tries to convince man that he can be independent
from God. That is not freedom but
bondage. God is the fuel we were meant to run on, He is our Life, our Purpose, our Meaning. The serpent says,
“’For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be
like God, knowing good and evil.’” In other
words, “You can be God! You can be a god and you can be your own boss.”
And that is why
we struggle. Only God has all the answers. We need His wisdom, His guidance, and His intervention in
our lives. We are not God and when we try to be, we only make things
worse. There is only ONE God.
3. They now “covered themselves” with leaves. Up until now
they were open and unashamed. Now they
are ashamed of themselves because they have sinned against God Almighty. For the first time man feels guilt and is
hiding from God. And man has been
hiding from God ever since.
4. Sin (disobeying God) is not what it’s cracked up to be.
There is a great price and disobeying
God comes with great cost. Man thought God was wrong and he knew best. If he did things his way it would
be great. Man could be God. Wrong!! Man did
not become God but became a sinful, dying, decaying creature. Much like the illustration of the branch and the tree,
man found himself, not bearing fruit, but withering
and dying. But wait!! There’s GOOD NEWS! The good news is God immediately
pursues man. In fact the entire Bible is about God pursuing man and wanting to repair the broken relationship.
Notice what happens, “Ge 3:8 Then
the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD
God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid
from the LORD God among the trees
of the garden. Ge 3:9 But the LORD
God called to the man, “Where are you?” Ge 3:10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden,
and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Ge 3:11 And he said, “Who told you
that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to
eat from? ” Ge 3:12
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the
tree, and I ate it.” Ge 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the
woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,
and I ate.” Ge 3:14
So the LORD God said to the
serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above
all the livestock
and all the wild
animals!
You will crawl on your
belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your
life.
Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity
between you and the
woman,
and between your
offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and
you will strike his heel.”
I would like
to point out just a few things.
1) When God says, “Where are you” it
does NOT mean God doesn’t know where
Adam is. God is all knowing (omniscient). It means , “Adam look where you’re at,
look what you’re doing.” Adam had never hidden from God. God knew that Adam had eaten
the forbidden fruit.
2) The consequence of man’s sin was not only physical death but
also spiritual
death. The literal Hebrew says, “In dying you shall die.” I’ve heard it said that
it is like a leaf that falls off of a tree. At first it is still green and appears
to be alive, but it is slowly dying, and will eventually turn
brown and brittle; lifeless and will disintegrate in the wind. Romans puts it like this, “Ro 5:12 Therefore,
just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through
sin, and in this way death came to all men. ” Remember I talked
about that movie “The Matrix.” Well a very real Matrix came on the scene
and enslaved you and me. Just like
Morpheus told Neo, we too are “a slave, like everyone else we were born into
bondage.”
3) What is the first thing God does
when man sins? He goes after Him. God
never wants to let go of us. He wants to save us and restore the relationship. His desire
is that we be reconciled to Him because He loves us and desires to have a relationship
with us once again.
4) God promises a redeemer will come.
He says in verse 15 that a redeemer
will come from the woman. This is a prophecy of the virgin birth. In The Bible it
ALWAYS talks about the offspring being of man. It literally says
“the woman’s seed.” And He “will crush your head, and you will strike (or bruise) his heel.”
On the cross
Jesus crushed Satan’s
head but he was bruised as He was beaten and whipped. Other verses in The
Bible clarify this promise of a coming Messiah, Isaiah “Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself
will give you a sign: The virgin will be with
child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (Immanuel
means God with us).” Also Isaiah 9 speaks of this “Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born (i.e. born of
Mary) , to us a son is given
(i.e. Given to us from Heaven from God – remember “God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”, and the
government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God (This child to
be born will be God Almighty in human flesh), Everlasting Father (The literal
Hebrew is “father of eternity”), Prince of Peace.” Finally in His resurrection Jesus
crushed the serpent’s head. He crushed Satan. The Epistle of Colossians says He, “disarmed
the powers and authorities, he
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossian 2:15) Jesus humiliated Satan, defeated
Him, made a public mockery of him, and “disarmed him”;
that is Jesus took away His power.
Jesus kicked Satan’s butt!!
5) Also notice the foreshadowing of Jesus. “Ge 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin
for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
God sacrificed
an animal, shed it’s blood, and then used the skins to clothe Adam and Eve.
This is a vision of Jesus. Jesus later was killed and took our
death; our punishment. He also clothed us with His righteousness, “We are clothed with
Christ.” Galatians 3:27. I personally believe that animal was lamb. I can’t prove it but all
through the Old Testament lambs were
sacrificed to foreshadow, to be a symbol of Jesus. The Passover lamb,
Abel first sacrificed a lamb and God was please with Him, and the many lambs that
were sacrificed in the Old Testament ceremonies, etc. The New Testament calls Jesus, “The Lamb
of God Who takes away the sin
of the world.” (John 1:29) Innocent blood had to be spilled to keep God,
in His holy justice, from striking Adam and Eve dead (although they did spiritually
begin to die as we read in Ephesians chapter 2 earlier “dead in transgressions, and
they would slowly die. Just so you know God’s warning
in the Hebrew literally says, “In dying you will die.” Hebrews 9:22 says, “and without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness.” It’s like Azlan in “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”
Azlan had to die in Edmonds place. 2
Now the solution to The Problem will be
spelled out clearly in the next chapter. But if you’re ready to make the
commitment and 1)have your sins forgiven and 2) let Jesus be The Lord / Master
of your life these verses are for you.
Acts
16 “Ac 16:30 He
(the prison guard) then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I
do to be saved?” Ac 16:31
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”
Acts
10 “Ac 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that
everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.””
Romans
10 “Ro 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus
is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.”
You may say, “How do I do that?” You
can say the simple prayer that I prayed, “Lord into your hands I commit my
spirit. Please forgive me of my sins and make me Yours.” From that moment
believe! Trust that He has saved you because He promised it.
This
next verses is straight from the lips of Jesus Himself spoken to you, “Jn 6:47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” Now trust He will do as He promised and
that right now He lives inside of you and your sins are all washed away. In
fact Ephesians 5:1 says, “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a
fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Jesus’ sacrifice makes you pleasing to
God! Let Him be the Master of your life,
let Him be the boss. Follow Him and experience the abundant life! I end the
chapter with a precious hymn to me. It says it all:
“Nothing can for
sin atone, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my
hope and peace, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is
the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” 3
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” 3
His blood makes you white as snow!! No go claim the
grace of God in Jesus for yourself!!!!
1. Lowry, Robert. Nothing But The Blood of Jesus.
(New
York
2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe. Dir. Andrew Adamson and Andrew Adamson. Prod. Douglas
Gresham. By C.S. Lewish. Screenplay by Ann Peacock. Perf. Tilda Swinton,
Georgie Henley, William Moseley. Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, 2005.
Film.
3. Lowry, Robert. Nothing But The Blood of Jesus.
(New
York
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