Chapter Seven

A Scarlet Thread

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11).

THE sun was riding high in a Mexican sky. Hundreds of people were gathered at the foot of the ancient pyramid. It was 1300 A.D. Since early morning they had been waiting anxiously for the great event. By the sundial it was almost time! Suddenly a great shout arose; for as they gazed as far as they could see across the lake, they saw a little boat coming their way. As the boat approached they could discern the figure of a young Indian, handsome, athletic, in the prime of life. As this young Indian slowly paddled his boat to the sandy beach, the jewels on his magnificent garment glistened in the sunlight. Slowly and deliberately, with a dead-pan expression, he made his way through a path which the crowd gladly made for him, toward the pyramid, while garlands of tropical flowers were thrown for his path. Scores knelt and cried, "Take

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my sins . . . Take my sins . . . Take my sins" or "Remember me . . . Remember me . . . Remember me."

   Just as he reached the stone steps leading to the summit, priests came and quickly stripped him of all his garments. Blue, white, red and yellow paint was put on his body. After preparation and more prayers, alone he slowly climbed the hundred pyramid steps. The crowd waited anxiously, breathlessly, excitedly. At last he reached the top. Out of nowhere stepped six priests. Quickly four gripped each limb of his body and quickly bent him over a convex stone. A fifth held his head. A sixth priest had a long, curved, jeweled knife, sharp as a razor's edge. Looking toward the small temple erected on the top of the pyramid and gazing at the face of the stone-carved god, the Indian chanted a few syllables. Like a flash the knife pierced the heart of the young man. A skillful twist and the heart was out.

   Each priest reached madly into the place where the heart had been and sprinkled his face with the warm blood. The heart, still palpitating, was rubbed over the face of the image. The twitching body was thrown, head first, over the side of the pyramid. A mad scramble followed. Knives flashed. Each person scrambled to get a piece of flesh to take home for use in a communion service which would bring added blessing.

   The sun was sinking over the western horizon when the crowd melted in the distance. Each felt that his sins were forgiven and that the evils that had come upon himself or his family were now atoned for. This was not an unusual scene to the ancient Aztecs, for it happened somewhere in their domain every day. They had eighteen months of twenty days each on their calendar, and each day there were many gods and goddesses to receive sacrifices. Thus twenty thousand human beings a year were slaughtered on the altars of ancient Mexico.

   These ancient people engaged in constant warfare to get their

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sacrificial victims from neighboring tribes and nations, for the victim sacrificed must be innocent of the particular sins and evils that were to be atoned for. Thus he must come from outside the realm. He must be young and without physical blemish. For many months before the sacrifice he was carefully trained and was treated in many respects as a god. He was the substitute bearing the sins of the people.

   In Athens, the cultural center of the ancient world, when a plague struck the city, usually a man of the poorer class offered himself as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. After prayer and confession was made he was taken outside the city and stoned to death. The people thought that as his blood oozed from his wounds, atonement was made for their sins.

   In Thrace, several men were sacrificed every year to purify the city.

   In Saxony, as late as 785 it was necessary to prohibit human sacrifice.

   The Persians always sacrificed the first captive in their battle, thinking that it brought them good luck with their god.

   In ancient Egypt, at the City of the Sun, three men, after being scrutinized to see if they were free from blemishes, were stripped and sacrificed every day of the year.

   The Scythians cut out the heart of one out of every hundred captives. The blood was caught in a vessel and poured over the altar, and the flowing blood was thought to appease their gods.

   In Dahomey, Africa, between Nigeria and the Gold Coast, a royal execution takes place each year. A platform of branches is built. While thousands of people are clamoring and working themselves into hysteria, priests cut the throats of goats, cattle and chickens and throw them down; those below smear themselves with the blood. To climax the slaughter, scores of innocent human beings taken in

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battle with neighboring tribes are slaughtered in a similar manner. This is done to appease the gods.

   We could give you example after example, such as the sacrifice of the morning star by the Pawnee Indians, or we could tell you that only a few years ago the United States Government had to send troops into New Mexico to prevent the constant shedding of blood in religious ceremonies.

   In his book The Golden Bough, Frazer makes  the startling revelation that 90 percent of the world's population have practiced human sacrifice in religious ceremonies at some stage in their history.

   Dr. Alexander Grigolia, the great Christian anthropologist, states that the percentage is more like 95 percent.

   "Where do these beliefs and practices originate?" you ask?

   Dr. Grigolia tells us that his research reveals that it is innate in man to believe that he has wronged or sinned against his god or gods, and that the only way of appeasement or atonement is by the blood sacrifice of some sort. Did these practices originate in some mythological unknown past? Were these superstitions something that "just happened"? Or was there a basis at the dawn of history for such practices that have later corrupted into the orgies that we have described? The answer is found in the Bible!

BIBLICAL ATONEMENT

   "Without shedding of blood is no remission," declares the Word of God. There is a scarlet thread of blood from Genesis to Revelation, for God taught man from the very beginning that the only approach to God was by the blood.

   A young person said to me some time ago in London, "How repulsive! You don't mean to tell us that your religion is a slaughterhouse religion?" Another young man said to me in Stockholm, Sweden, one night after a message by Charles Templeton, "I cannot understand why God

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demands blood." A young lawyer in Manchester came to the inquiry room, and his first statement was: "I would accept your Christ if I could understand the meaning of the shed blood." A young United States Marine said to me one day on a plane from Los Angeles to San Francisco, "I cannot understand why Christ had to die for me." These questions are common and natural among the young people of today. They demand explanations and answers.

   Some months ago after I had given a message at a large southern resort on "The Meaning of the Cross," a former professor at Cornell University came to me and said, "Young man, I enjoyed your message, but if you want to be a successful preacher you will have to leave out that 'Blood Stuff.' It is out of date. No enlightened man of the twentieth century will swallow that."

   However, any man who accepts the Bible as the Word of God must come to the conclusion that Christianity is a religion of atonement. Its redemption feature distinguishes Christianity from any and all other religions. If you separate this distinctive religious doctrine from its creed, this supreme religion is brought down to the level of many other prevailing religious systems. Christianity is not merely a system of ethics. It is the story of redemption through Jesus Christ.

   Let us make a hasty sketch of this doctrine of blood which is taught in the Word of God. Even in the Garden of Eden we see it. Adam and Eve had sinned. God had said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." They believed Satan's lie rather than God's truth. They ate. Thus they died. Immediately they saw themselves naked. They were afraid. Instead of becoming gods as Satan had told them, they found that in actuality they had broken God's law and were now naked, alone and fearful. They ran into the bushes to hide, but they were still afraid. They gathered huge fig leaves, sewed them together,

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and made themselves aprons to cover their nakedness.

   Often in the cool of the day God would come to walk with Adam and Eve. This time they hid from His presence. God called to Adam and said to him, "Where art thou?" and Adam said, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." Immediately the earth, the serpent, the man and the woman were cursed.

   God is a holy God! He is purer than to behold evil and cannot behold iniquity (Hab. 1:13). He went into the forest and the Scripture says in Genesis 3:21, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. Thus blood was shed for the first time. God was teaching man in the very beginning that the only way he could possibly approach a holy God was through shed blood.

   Adam and Eve were sinners; thus they begat sinners: Cain and Abel. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).

   Cain and Abel were reared together; they lived together; they had the same advantage, the same environment, the same heredity. Cain decided to be a farmer. Abel became a rancher. The time of the year came when they were to bring their firstfruits to God. Cain had worked hard to make the firstfruits of his crop as attractive as possible. Abel went out into the herd, slew a lamb and brought it to God as a sacrifice. God had already taught them that the only way they could approach Him was by blood. Cain had ignored it. He came in his own way. He brought the fruit of the ground. Though he had labored long and hard, yet his righteousness was counted as filthy rags. It must be God's way or not at all. God rejected it! Abel's sacrifice was accepted. He probably did not work

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as hard as Cain, but his sacrifice was blood. He had come in obedience and God accepted his sacrifice.

   There are thousands of people today that are coming to God on the merits of their own works. Either they are sewing on fig leaves or bringing the fruits of their own labors. But God sees through the fig leaves and denounces their works. Salvation is by blood, and by blood alone! Man has no merit or work that God can accept.

   The first thing Noah did after leaving the ark was to offer a sacrifice: "Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Genesis 8:20). Noah, too, walked the highway of blood.

   The story of the Passover is well known to us all. In every house of Egypt the first-born was smitten by the destroying angel who, at midnight, passed through the land. God said, "The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." The Egyptians and the Israelites in many cases dwelt near each other, and so a sign must be set on the door of every Israelitish house that the destroying angel might not enter there to slay.

   The sign was the blood of a lamb slain by the father of the family. It was to be sprinkled on the doorpost. It was to be an assurance by which the Israelite might have entire confidence concerning the safety of his family. The blood was to be a token of redemption. The death of the lamb was to be considered as taking the place of the death which each man had deserved by sin. That night in Egypt they were busy buying and selling, eating and drinking, living delicately and boasting about their power and wisdom. The devil has lulled thousands to sleep by the business and enjoyment of the day. Hundreds had not believed the Word of God. They were not prepared. The

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blood was not sprinkled! God had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you," not "when I see your good works," not "when I see your good intentions or motives." The only thing that counted that night was whether the blood was sprinkled on the doorpost or not!

   It is recorded that on the Passover night there was an old gray-haired man who lived in the house of his first-born son, and he himself was the first-born son of his father. His son also had a first-born son. Thus there were three first-born sons in the house, all of whom must die if the destroying angel entered the house. The old man lying on his bed, sick, but he heard with interest everything his son told him about God's command to Moses. Toward evening he was often restless as he thought of their danger, and he said, "My son, are you sure that you have done everything that has been prescribed?" His answer was: "Yes, Father, everything." For a moment he was satisfied. Then he asked again, "Are you sure? Has the blood been sprinkled on the door?" Again the answer was "Yes, Father, everything has been done according to the command." The nearer it came to midnight, the more restless he became. Finally he cried, "My son, carry me out if you please, that I may see it, and then I can rest." The son carried his father to a place where he could see the blood on the doorpost and the lintel. "Now I am satisfied," he cried. "Thank God! Now I know that I am safe!"

   In the awful day of judgment when you stand alone before God, the only thing that will count is the blood of the Crucified One. Has it been sprinkled by faith on your heart's door? Soon the death angel will be passing by. Be sure the blood is there.

   All through the Old Testament God taught His people by type, by symbol, by illustration, that their only approach to Him was by shed blood.

   To Moses he said, "Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head

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of the ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about the altar" (Exodus 29:15-16).

   In it all God was teaching man how He hates sin. The holiness of God is the message of the entire Old Testament. To the prophets God was absolutely the Holy One, the One with eyes too pure to behold evil, the One swift to punish iniquity. It is His holiness by which God desires to be remembered, as that is the attribute that glorifies Him. It is this vision of God that we so desperately need today when the tendency to deny the reality and the prevalence of sin is so evident. Superficial views of God and His holiness will produce superficial views of sin and atonement. God hates sin. It is His uncompromising foe. Sin is vile and detestable in the sight of God. Abraham's sin had raised a partition wall. The infinite difference between the sinner and God is caused by sin. The sinner and God are at opposite poles of the moral universe.

   Again, God was teaching by the shedding of blood on Jewish altars the tremendous fact of substitution. Innocent blood must be shed if the sinner is to be justified and God remain just and holy.

   But all these Old Testament sacrifices were only types and symbols of the Great Sacrifice: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10:1-4).

   These Old Testament sacrifices were good only in that they were made good by Christ, who was slain before the foundation of the world. They were not the very image

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of the things, for shadows are only outlines. Shadows do not give details or colors and perspective. Old Testament believers looked forward to the death of Christ and were justified thereby. New Testament saints looked back to Calvary and were at peace with God.

WHY DOES GOD DEMAND BLOOD?

   Young people ask this question perhaps more than any other. Let's see if we can find an answer.

   Go back with me in your imagination to Eden for a moment. God said, "In the day that thou eatest of this particular tree, thou shalt surely die." Man ate it. He died. Suppose that God had said, "Adam you just made a mistake! That was a slight error on your part! You are forgiven, but please don't do it again." Reverently speaking, I say that God would have been a liar. He would have not been holy; neither would He have been just. He was forced by His very nature to keep His word. God's justice was at stake. Men had to die spiritually and physically. His iniquities had separated between him and his God. Thus man had to suffer. He had to pay for his own sins. Each of his children's children had to pay for their own sins.

   The question is: How can God be just and still justify the sinner? It must be remembered that the word "justify" means the clearance of the soul from guilt. Justification is infinitely more than forgiveness. Sin must be put away and made as though it had not been! For justification the soul must be put into a place of purity, so restored that there shall be no spot or blemish or stain.

   How can God be "just," that is, true to Himself in nature and true to Himself in holiness and yet justify the sinner that is to receive Him upon the basis of freedom from sin? Each man had to bear his own sins! Life must be extracted from each individual Let us go back to our text: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." When the blood is extracted life disappears and death follows.

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   The only solution to the problem was for an innocent party voluntarily to give his blood, an act which would be followed by death, as a substitution before God for the death that was ever man's due. Where was such an individual? Alas, there was none on earth, for "all have sinned." There was only one possibility! God's own Son was the only personality in the universe who had the capacity to bear in His own body the sins of the world.

   But would He? If He did, He would have to come to earth, live as a man, be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He would have to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. Then He would have to be smitten of God and separated from God, be wounded for our transgressions, be bruised for our iniquities, receive stripes that we might be healed, be oppressed and afflicted. Then, in a dark moment, God would lay on Him the iniquity of us all. He would have to make Himself of no reputation. He would have to take the form of a servant. He would have to be made in the likeness of men. He would have to humble Himself and become obedient unto death. He would have to grapple with sin. In the form of sinful flesh he would have to meet and overcome Satan, the enemy of man's soul. He would have to buy sinners out of the slave market of sin. He would have to loose the bonds and set the prisoners free by paying a price. That price would be his own blood. He would have to be a propitiation, a covering, as the mercy seat covered by the ark. He would have to reconcile, by the blood, man to God. He would have to be a substitute. He would have to die in the place of sinful man. All this would have to be done not by force, but willingly!

   Hallelujah! That is exactly what happened!

   Looking down over the battlements of heaven, He saw this planet swing into space, doomed, damned, crushed and bound for hell. He saw you and me struggling beneath our load of sin and bound in the chains and ropes of sin.

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He made His decision in the council halls of God. The angelic hosts bowed in humility and awe as heaven's Prince of princes and Lord of lords, who could speak worlds into space, got into His jeweled chariot, went through pearly gates, across the steep of the skies, and on a black Judean night, while the stars sang together and the escorting angels chanted His praises, stepped out of the chariot, threw off His robes and became sinful flesh. Jesus Christ partook of flesh and blood in order that He might die (Hebrews 2:14). "He was manifested to take away our sins" (1 John 3:5). Christ came into this world to give His life for many (Matthew 20:28). The very purpose of the coming of Christ into the world in all its aspects was that by assuming a nature like our own He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. He came to have His blood extracted. The shadow of His death hung like a pall over His entire thirty-three years. He suffered as no man had ever suffered: the night watches in Gethsemane; the light of the torches as they flashed upon the darkness of the night; the kiss of the traitor; the arrest; the trial before the high priest; the hour of waiting; the palace of the Roman governor; the journey to the palace of Herod; the rough handling by Herod's brutal soldiery; the awful scenes through which Pilot strove to save Him while priests and people clamored for His blood; the scourging; the howling multitudes; the path from Jerusalem to Golgotha; the nails in His hands; the spikes through His feet; the crown of thorns upon His brow; the sarcastic and mocking cry, "You have saved others. Now save Yourself."

   Through these awful hours, into which eternities were compressed, in silence He endured the Cross, despising the shame. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He underwent physical suffering, died physically that men might some day be clothed with bodies of immortality.

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He voiced neither complaint nor appeal but simply a statement by which he let us know in two words something of the physical pain He suffered when He said, "I thirst." The blood was being extracted! God demanded death, either for the sinner or a substitute! Christ was the substitute!

   Gabriel and ten legions of angels hovered on the rim of the universe, their swords unsheathed. One look from His blessed face and they would have swept the angry, shouting multitudes into hell. The spikes never held Him. It was the cords of love that bound tighter than any nails that men could mold. But the physical suffering of Jesus Christ was not the real suffering. Many men before Him had died. Many men had become martyrs, but the awful suffering of Jesus Christ was the dying spiritually. It was when He had reached the final issue of sin, had fathomed the deepest sorrow, it was when God turned His back and hid His face, that He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Alone in the supreme hour of the history of mankind, Christ uttered these words. Light blazed forth and gave us a glimpse of what He was enduring, but the light was so blinding that no eye could bear to gaze. The words were uttered, as someone has said, "That man may know, and that man may know how much there is that may not be known."

   He who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. On the Cross He was made sin. He was God-forsaken. Because He knew no sin there is a value in the penalty which He bore that He does not need for Himself. If in bearing sin in His own body he created a value that he did not need for Himself, for whom is the value? For me! For you! He bore my sins in His body upon the tree!

   As another has said, "Behold Him on the Cross, bending His sacred head and gathering unto His heart in the awful isolation of separation from God the issue of the sin of the

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world, and see how out of that acceptance of the issue of sin He creates that which He doesn't require for Himself that He may distribute to those whose place He has taken."

   Standing overwhelmed in the presence of this of this suffering, feeling my own inability to understand or explain, and with a great sense of might and majesty overwhelming me, I hear the next words that passed His lips: "It is finished."

   Hallelujah! Thanks be to God! How in the depth of the darkness it was accomplished, man will never know. I know only one thing: He bore my sins in His body upon the tree. He stood where I should have stood. The pains of hell that were my portion were heaped on Him, and I am able to pass through the pearly gates into heaven and merit that which is not my own but is His by every right.

   All the types, the offerings, the shadows and the symbols of the Old Testament were now fulfilled. No longer do the priests have to enter once a year into the holiest place. The sacrifice was penal, substitutional, redemptive, propitiatory, reconciliatory, efficacious and revelatory and as "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:27-28). "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12), and God says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." We now should exercise a boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the vale. Old Testament saints looked forward to this grand and glorious event by faith. Every time the priest put his hand upon the head of the lamb he was giving evidence of his faith that one day the Lamb of God would come to take away the sins of the world.

THE RESULTS OF THE BLOOD ATONEMENT

   First: It redeems — 1 Peter 1:18-19: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,

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as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

   Not only are we redeemed from the hands of the devil but, hallelujah, from the hands of the law. The law condemned me, but Christ satisfied every claim. All the gold, the silver and the precious stones of earth could never have bought me. What they could not do, the blood of Christ did. Redemption means "buying back." We had sold ourselves for nothing, and Christ redeemed and bought us back.

   Second: It brings us nigh — Ephesians 2:13: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

   When we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, Jesus Christ brought us nigh unto God. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."

   Third: It makes peace — Colossians 1:20: "And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."

   The world will never know peace until it finds it in the Cross of Jesus Christ.

   Dwight L. Moody used to tell this story about the American Civil War.

   "When many men were deserting from the South, Secretary Stanton sent out a notice from the War Department that no more refugees be taken into the Union army. A Southern soldier hadn't seen that, and he came into the Union lines. They read the order to him, and he didn't know what to do. If he went back into the Southern army, he would be shot as a deserter, and the Northern army wouldn't have him. So he went into the woods between

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the armies and stayed until he got starved out. He saw an officer going by, and he rushed out of the woods and told this officer that if he wouldn't help him he would have to take his own life. The officer asked what was the trouble. He told him. The officer said, 'Haven't you heard the news'?

   "No, what news?"

   "Why, the war is over. Lee has surrendered. Peace is declared. Go to the first town, and get all the food you want."

   "The man waved his hat and went to the town as quickly as he could.

   (Moody continued) "I want to say that peace is declared, and the war is over! Be ye reconciled to God, and the whole thing will be settled. The trouble is on your side. The blood is on the mercy seat, and as long as it is there, the vilest sinner can enter and be saved for time and eternity."

   Fourth: It justifies — Romans 5:9: "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

   It changes men's standing before God. It is a change from guilt and condemnation to pardon and forgiveness. The forgiven sinner is not like the discharged prisoner who has served out his term and is discharged from every punishment, but with no rights of citizenship. The repentant sinner receives back under His pardon, through the blood of Jesus Christ, the full rights of citizenship. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Romans 8:33-34).

   Fifth: It cleanses — 1 John 1:7: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

   The key word in this verse is all — not part of our sins,

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but all of them. Every lie you ever told, every mean, lowdown, dirty thing you ever did, your hypocrisy, your lustful thoughts — all are cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.

   Dr. Oswald J. Smith has thus described the picture of Barabbas on the day of the Crucifixion:

   It was night. Another day had gone, and all was still. But what matter? It was always night in the cold, clammy dungeon where Barabbas lay. The sun now and then did manage to penetrate the inky blackness that ever reigned beneath the surface of the ground. But even then it could not be called light; it was only less dark.

   And yet there was a difference, for this particular night it was the night of doom for the murderer who awaited the execution of his awful sentence. It was the last night on earth for him, and well he knew it. His career was ended; his last crime committed.

   Back in the darkest corner he crouched, deep in thought. A few more hours and all would be over. Ah, but would it? In the morning he would hear the footfall of the death warden as he came along the corridor. Then for a moment it would cease as he paused before the door of his dungeon. The great key would clank in the lock, the bolt fly back, and the heavy door swing slowly open. And then he would be dragged out, led to the fatal spot, and nailed to a cross. And there for hours, it might be, he would suffer the most excruciating agony that Roman ingenuity could devise, exposed to the public gaze of an indifferent populace; for he must pay the penalty of his crimes.

   In the morning he did hear the steps of the jailer coming along the corridor. The key was placed in the lock. The bolt did fly back, and in another moment the great door was opened. And Barabbas still crouched in the darkest corner as before. But that was as far as his surmises of the night were realized.

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   "Barabbas, have you heard the Good News?" It was the warden's voice, jubilant and strong.

   "What Good News?" retorted the condemned man in a bitter tone. "All I know is that this is the day of my execution, and that you have come to lead me out to be crucified for my crimes." And he shrank farther back against the cold, wet wall.

   "Ah! but you don't know," replied the warden in the same triumphant tone. "Listen, Barabbas: Somebody died for you!"

   "Somebody died for me! What do you mean?"

   "Come with me, and I will show you, Barabbas."

   "Through the door, along the corridor, past numerous cells, into the street, and beyond the wall of Jerusalem, they made their way, the jailer forging ahead, hurrying his dazed prisoner along. At last they paused.

   "Do you see yonder cross?" he inquired, placing his hand on the shoulder of the other, and pointing to a hill some distance away.

   The condemned man looked, but it was a few moments before he could comprehend the scene before him, so unaccustomed were his eyes to the light of day. But at last he saw and spoke.

   "Yes, I see. There are three, are there not?"

   "But do you see the center one?"

   "Yes."

   "Well, Barabbas, that center cross was made for you, and you were to have died on it this morning."

   "Slowly the light dawned and broke on his beclouded mind.

   "Then, then that Man hanging on it is dying is my place, for me!"

   "Yes, Barabbas, for you. Did I not tell you that Somebody died for you?"

   "Can it be possible! For me, dying for me; taking my place! But, yes, that cross was made for me, and I should

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have been hanging there now. And yet He is dying in my stead. He has taken my place. I can't understand it. I don't know why He did it. But He did, and I can't help but believe it. He is really and truly dying for me."

   "Yes, Barabbas, for you."

   "And for you, too, sinner friend. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung there that day for you as well as for Barabbas. He took your place, died in your stead, became your Substitute, bore your sins, gave His life that you, a poor, lost and guilty sinner, might live."

   Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can cleanse from the vilest sin and make you whole this very moment. Believe it! Receive it! Accept it! Sprinkle it by faith! Plunge in the fountain!

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Emmanuel's veins

And sinners plunged beneath the flood

Lose all their guilty stains.

Chapter Eight  ||  Table of Contents