“To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;”

Revelation 1:5

Sin cannot be washed away with water. The water fo Baptism does not save anyone. Baptism is an outward confession of the faith that the person has put in Christ. Baptism does nothing to make us holier or better than another person, it is an outward sign of an inward change…

Sin can only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.

“According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Hebrews 9:22

The Old Testament law stated many rituals had to be carried out to make sure the items and utensils and the people who approached the holy God were ceremonially clean. This was to teach the people that God is holy and we approach Him only, in holiness of life. We are not holy, and therefore require cleansing. The Old Testament sacrifices were all about cleaning for sin and making the participant suitable to approach God and worship God.

An animal had to die for the blood to be shed. This was a bloody and gory scenario that people were required to go through to become ceremonially clean. There were many rules surrounding this, and God required complete obedience to His commands. This is the requirement of a holy God. We cannot come into His presence unclean and unforgiven.

All the blood that was spilt over the millennia, was to teach us that simple fact that blood must be shed for the forgiveness of sin. Death is the result of sin, and these pictures of animals dying to pay for sin, were the picture of the coming death of the Messiah. His death was the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, and through His sacrifice, we can be forgiven and gain access into the presence of God. Only through the death of Christ can anyone be forgiven. The death of animals does not atone for sin, but only the death of Christ who is our only Saviour.

“For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins. Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Hebrews 10:1-4

Because our Saviour, Jesus has died for us, we can be cleansed from sin, through His shed blood. His blood is able to cleanse anyone who comes to Him in faith and repentance. He is able to save anyone who comes to Him, because of who He is and what He has done.

“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.”

1 John 1:7

So when we feel the guilt and weight of our sin, we come to Jesus and seek forgiveness and a new life. He can deal with or sin and cause so to walk in fellowship with Him, because we are now clean. The guilt of our sin is atoned for by the blood of Christ and we are washed clean from the moral disease of sin that holds us away from God. We are now brought near. We are clean and so can relate to God and approach Him as daughters and sons in His family. Jesus has paid the price for our salvation and we are now free from the taint of sin. We are not yet made perfect, but God regards us as clean and holy, because of what Jesus has done for us.

We can come into the presence of God and worshipHim acceptably and pray and make our requests. God will hear us, because of what Jesus has done for us. This is the power of the blood of Christ. He makes peace between God and people and is able to save us to the very end.

“… through him (Jesus) to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.”

Colossians 1:20

“Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

Galatians 5:1