Charles Stanley Daily Devotional (March 5, 2025) The Precious Blood of Jesus.
Jesus sacrificed His life to give us a relationship with the heavenly Father.
1 Peter 1:17-21 - If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
The shedding of blood is essential to the Christian faith—without a sacrifice, no one can have a relationship with the Father. For that reason, God wove the story of death, renewal, and reconciliation throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
The Lord designed redemption in a way that demonstrated the connection between shed blood and freedom from sin. In the Old Testament, He gave instructions about offering only perfect animal sacrifices so that His holiness would be satisfied. God also wanted His followers to understand that sin brought terrible consequences and resulted in death. The first fatality in Scripture was the animal whose skin became Adam and Eve’s covering after they had sinned (Genesis 3:11-13; Genesis 3:21 - The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them). Later, the Israelites regularly had to make sacrifices to absolve them of their sins; every time they brought a lamb or a pair of doves to the priest, they recognized that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord). But God, out of His lovingkindness, sent His Son to pay the price for our sins once and for all. (We’ll look at this more tomorrow.)
Today’s passage says that we weren’t “redeemed with perishable things … but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (vv. 18-19). May we always be thankful for His sacrificial gift.
Bible in One Year: Joshua 1-3
