but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Truth to Learn
The price of our salvation is exceedingly great!
Behind the Words
The word translated “precious” is the Greek word timiō, meaning “costly,” “honored,” or “of great value.”
“Without blemish” is translated from amōmos, a compound word made up of the privative a, meaning “not” or “without” and mōmos, meaning “a spot” or “a blemish.”
Meaning Explained
Remember the previous verse, ‘…you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, like silver or gold …” As much as we might like to think of these as having lasting value, as I said several days ago, these will pass away, they will wear out, they will disappear because they are corruptible things. We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. To a Christian there can be nothing more valuable and precious than the blood of Christ. It is with this blood that complete and sufficient payment was made for all our sins. Hallelujah!
The reason that this blood was sufficient is because He perfectly fulfilled the requirement of the law that the paschal lamb was to be without blemish and without spot. He was (and is) sinless and perfect. His was the only sacrifice that could satisfy God’s righteous judgment, and it was applied to your sins and mine!
When Moses was about to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, God told him to instruct the Israelites about the Passover. On the tenth day of the month, they were to select a year-old lamb that was without defect. The word translated “without defect” is the Hebrew word tamiym, which means “completely whole, not lacking anything, completely righteous, pure, or perfect.” They were to watch this lamb for four days, and on the fourteenth day of the month, they were to sacrifice the lamb and sprinkle its blood on the sides and top of the doorway leading into their homes. The presence of this blood would indicate to the death angel to “pass over” the house and not kill the firstborn within that house.
Years later, after the children of Israel had built a temple in the Promised Land; they observed this “Passover” celebration every year. On the tenth day of the first month, a Passover lamb was selected and was lead through the sheep gate on its way to the temple. When it entered the temple, the people waved palm branches in all four directions and sang “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” and then laid the palm branches before the lamb. The lamb was kept under close observation for four days to determine its purity. Then, on the 14th of Nisan, the lamb was declared to be pure. It was to be placed on the altar from the third hour until the ninth hour when the high priest would kill it and declare, “It is finished.”
These Passover observations were a picture of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ was to make to pay the penalty for our sins.
Application
Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law and met all the requirements for the Passover Lamb. The Son of God was sacrificed for your sins and mine. Do you realize how valuable that makes your salvation?
How are you showing your appreciation to God for this priceless gift?
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2016 Will Krause. All rights reserved