Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sprinkled with Christ’s Blood Part 1



“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”~1 Peter 1:1-2

About a month ago, I had an opportunity to speak at the local assembly [1] I am a part of here in Helena. When studying for the message, I came across a couple of verses I had never thought about before. I don’t know how many times I have read this passage and never thought about what it was saying. The phrase I would like to look at “by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.”  Many times we think about Christ cleansing us with His blood. (1 John 1:7-8, Hebrews 9:14). When looking at this passage I have found that there are several other passages that we can look at to understand what Peter is saying more thoroughly.  Let us look at Exodus 24:6-8:

Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!" So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

The events that happen before this passage are the oral giving of the Law to Moses. God has given him the Ten Commandments, the judgments for the people if they do not keep the commandments, three Feasts, and the instructions and promises concerning the conquest of the Promise Land. In Exodus 23:32, we see that God commands them not to make any covenants with their neighbors or their neighbor’s gods and their neighbors should not live in their land.  Moses comes down the mountain and recounts to the people what the Lord told him on Mt. Sinai. In verse three of Exodus 24, the people say “All the LORD has spoken we will do!”  Moses writes everything down and the men offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then Moses takes half of the blood and sets it aside and the other half he sprinkles on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, which he had just written and read it to all the people. Notice they say the same thing again, but add a phrase to the end. “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” Moses takes the blood that was set aside and sprinkled it on the people and said “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” The sprinkling of the blood indicated the covenant God made with Israel.

When God made the new covenant with us, Christ’s blood was sprinkled on us. The sprinkling indicates sanctification. This means to make holy, or to set apart for God.  That is what the Holy Spirit has done for us. We are chosen to obey Christ, to be sprinkled with His blood and as a result of being sprinkled with His blood the Holy Spirit Sanctifies us. We also can say “All the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

We can be thankful that Christ has made the new covenant with both Jews and Gentiles. What a wonderful Savior we have that we have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit because Christ has sprinkled us with His blood.





[1] For those of you who do not understand this term. It is the local church I am a part of. The assembling together of my brothers and sisters in Christ on Sunday morning. I am not by any means referring to the denomination of the “Assembly of God”. It is another name of the local church that one attends.