The book of Romans 8:1-2 declares some wonderful truths, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” These verses speak of a change of status. A change from being enslaved to sin to being free in Christ. At the same time God rescues us from our former slave lord, sin, he also cancels all of our debts against him. This is called forgiveness of sin. That is what ‘now no condemnation’ means. It carries the idea of being before a judge who lists every fair and just accusation against us and then declares, “not guilty, you may go free.”
The reason
for this debt cancellation is the blood of Jesus. It is a powerful theme
throughout the whole Bible that bloodshed begets bloodshed (Genesis 9:6;
Deuteronomy 19:1-13; Revelation 6:9-11). In the Old Testament, God established
a sacrificial system where the priests offered the blood of bulls and sheep to
atone (make right) for the sins of the people. In Hebrews it is explained the blood
of bulls and sheep never truly atoned for sin because they had to be offered
continuously year after year. However, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world! When he was killed on the cross, his blood was able to do
what the blood of animals never could. In the book of Revelation, John sees a
vision of a multitude of people from every people group worshiping God
together. John asks his angel tour guide who this multitude of people are. The
angel tells him, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”
(Revelation 7:14).
I wonder
sometimes whether people decide to abort their babies because of guilt
surrounding their situation. Maybe there is shame connected to how, or when,
the baby was conceived. Maybe shame is placed on them by the baby’s father or
their own family. Or maybe there is guilt related to the life-circumstances the
baby might be brought into. If you are considering getting an abortion, you
need to know, getting an abortion will not take care of the guilt. However, the
blood of Jesus does take care of guilt! Jesus’ blood can wash away the shame. The
blood of Jesus is more powerful than the blood of babies. People may also feel
guilty because of having had abortions. Because of Jesus’ blood, you can
receive God’s forgiveness. Jesus freely gave his blood to wash away our sins so
we could freely receive his forgiveness. Consider this mystery, perhaps you are
one of those from among the multitude that John saw before the throne of God
worshiping him in white robes!
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