In Him Through His Blood

Redemption is a mystery. In the Colossian letter Paul relates it to 'the kingdom of his dear Son', into which we have been translated. He speaks of the Father's dear Son in whom we have redemption through His blood, and places all in context of creation, deliverance, firstborn, the Church. This array of familiar words connected here with such phrases as inheritance of the saints in light, kingdom of His dear Son, image of the invisible God, power of darkness, firstborn from the dead, has greater significance than may at first appear. In other settings these phrases would be very familiar, for each of them carries historical overtones. But leaving these, we will consider the great miracle of redemption itself.

It is not the fact and means of redemption that concerns us here, but Paul's assertion that we have redemption in the Son of His love. The fact that redemption is through His blood inspires us all with grateful love that He should have been so lovingly willing and unspeakably ready to suffer and die for us. Our souls need little stirring up to wonder at such love and grace. Redemption is through bloodshed. This is declared again and again throughout scripture, in the Old Testament by Moses and in the New Testament by Peter, Paul and John and the writer to the Hebrews. Each of these emphasises the importance of bloodshed, saying that apart from it there could have been no remission of sins.

In his first epistle Peter writes, 'ye were not redeemed with corruptible things ..... but with the precious blood of Christ'. The Hebrews letter states, 'almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission'. Both these writers also speak of the blood of sprinkling, the latter drawing our attention to what it accomplishes. John in turn tells of its amazing power to cleanse and loose, and the part it plays in overcoming satan. Should we be able to compile a list of the virtues, uses and accomplishments of the blood of the Lamb, it would surely be almost unending. Poets and prophets, preachers and teachers have left us such a legacy of sacred knowledge of the blood of Christ that no attempt to add to it need be made here. We are all sufficiently acquainted with this vast treasure to be able to quote many of the various authors verbatim; and so we should, for who would be redeemed except the blood had been shed, and who could have supplied blood so precious as His? We must never submit to any attempt to diminish the abundance of testimony to the redeeming power of the blood of Christ; instead we too must for ever testify to the efficacy of that blood and strongly assert its indispensable place in the whole scheme of redemption.

To do this properly we all need to be taught of the Spirit, especially with regard to the revelation given through Paul. This apostle claims to have been caught up to paradise to receive special revelation from God. He says also that there came a time in his life when he went up to Jerusalem in order to communicate to the apostles and elders the gospel he was preaching. They 'added nothing to me', he says, but there is no doubt he added to them. In certain matters the Lord through Paul greatly enlarged upon the things He had previously revealed to Peter and John. Through Paul, the Lord has been pleased to make known vast mysteries, taking him into His confidence and revealing to him the workings of many secrets not otherwise revealed. This precious knowledge of our oneness and identity with the Lord Jesus is of incalculable worth; it is also of utmost importance to us, for apart from this we should not have known the deepest secrets or redemption.

All the great amount of truth previously revealed on the subject would have been incomplete without Paul's vital contribution. The extensive scriptural literature on the subject, from Moses onwards into the Church age, makes much of it, but it is given to Paul alone to tell us 'in Him we have redemption'. Seldom is the little preposition 'in' emphasised, with the result that the immeasurable truth it opens up is largely unknown.

The word 'in' emphasises the person above His blood; it announces plainly that the shedding of His blood was a means to an end. The bloodshed was necessary and indispensable to our redemption. It was not the end of it, however, but only the foundation. Beyond the fact of redemption through bloodshed, that little word 'in' draws our attention to the Redeemer who shed it. Properly understood, it reveals redemption in an entirely new and greater light, for it draws attention to truth not otherwise made known. This new realm of truth may be best summed up in the word identity.

What glories await discovery by the awakened heart beginning to understand the fullest implications of this miracle wrought by God. No wonder the apostle prays for the Ephesians that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened. He had just told them they had been made acceptable in the Beloved 'in whom they had redemption through His blood.' Now he prays that they shall 'see' all he is writing to them. He wants all men to see and enter into the 'in-ness' of it all. Much has been made of the outwardness of redemption -- the cross, the tortures, the blood, the suffering, the death, and rightly so, but it is high time the churches entered with understanding into the 'in-ness' of it all.