DEVOTIONAL | SHANNON MILLER.
I have a weak stomach for medical matters, and as a new believer the concept of being washed or covered in the blood of Jesus made me a bit squeamish. What does it mean to be washed in the blood, and where does this phrase come from?
We find it in chapter 7 of John’s vision of heaven and the end times:
“Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, ‘Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?’
And I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one who knows.’
Then he said to me, ‘These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
‘That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes,’” (Revelation 7:13-17, NLT).
Wow. If being washed is the prerequisite for those blessings, count me in! The analogy here is that a person’s robe is their character – their words and actions which display their inward nature to the world. The blood of Jesus, shed for us at the cross, is the only cleansing agent with the power to remove the stains of sin, and to continually change us so that we inwardly become more and more holy, like Him. In the words of Alexander Maclaren, “Christ by His death has brought to us forgiveness, and Christ by His imparted life brings to each of us, if we will, the cleansing which shall purify us altogether.”
“If we will”… We must daily choose to be washed, to let His enabling grace change us. Will you? All you stand to lose is your sins, your unfulfilled needs, your pain, and your sorrow.
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