1 Peter 1:18-20:
18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Foreordained before the foundation of the world – Christ was ordained as our High Priest, as the one who would die for our sins, as the one to take our burdens upon Him, before the very foundations of our world. Long before we were even created, He was to be the Lamb upon the Cross.
He was to be our redeemer – the promised Messiah come from the seed of the woman. Peter says – He was manifest in these last times – for you! For us!
Christ is the promised Messiah, promised in Genesis 3, foreshadowed in Mosaic Law, and manifest in these last days – for us! The shadow took on form, and the prophecy became flesh, and hung on the cross to buy our freedom, our redemption – not by silver or gold – not by corruptible things, but by His blood.
Christ was without blemish and without spot, and offered Himself to cleanse and purify us.
In Romans 3:23: we read –
23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We all fall short of the magnificent glory of God, not because we’re failures, not because we – as ourselves – are despicable in any way, on the contrary, God loves us – no, we fall short because hearts have become filled with despicable things. Our own depravity has become the hindrance that keeps us from experiencing His glory, His might, power and love, in our everyday lives.
Romans 5:12:
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:
Through Adam’s silence, his compromising with sin – his disobedience – we find that the knowledge of evil has become so integrated into who we are that it is at the very core of human nature. Depravity is a part of who we are, and we are dead because of it.
Christ however – being born of the Spirit, a virgin birth, was free from the bondage of sin and depravity, for the sin is in the blood, and the seed of man had not been present in His conception (the conception of the flesh He had made His tabernacle, not the conception of God).
By coming in the likeness of our stumbling block, He became the cornerstone of our salvation, the foundation of our relationship with God.
Through His sacrifice – through the Fruit of Him who hung on the tree – we are restored to that position of righteousness before God, and not because of our own ways or actions, but because of God’s infinite grace and mercy.
The blood of bulls and goats could only cover the sin – but the blood of the pure and unblemished, spotless Lamb of God washes away all our sin!
Romans 5:21:
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through Christ’s righteousness grace reigns, leading to eternal life – an eternity with the eternal and unchanging one who is rich in mercy, who even when we were still dead in our trespasses, loved us and died for us, buying us with His pure and holy blood. Through His suffering and sorrow we are free to run and dance and proclaim the excellencies of Him who loved us – the spotless Lamb of God, the Lord Christ Jesus.