Today's encouragement comes from Leviticus 17:11b, where we read these words:
" . . . for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."This doctrine of blood atonement is central to the True Religion. If any sinner is to be redeemed at all, it will not be via works, law, supererogation of saints, angels, being good, paying one's taxes, or not killing other people. If anyone is to have sins remitted, it must be through *blood* atonement.
. . . But not just *any* blood will do: it must be the blood of a perfect, sinless, righteous *human* Savior. Only Jesus Christ meets this requirement. He is both God and man; and He is the *only* "Mediator between God and men," (as per 1 Tim. 2:5). The faith of regenerated churchmen is a gruesomely bloody faith. There is no "sterile" salvation in God's church. Let all the true saints rejoice, that the "Lamb of God" (Jesus) has borne away our iniquities, on His bloody cross.
[Puritan quote of the day: "To read the Bible is a duty, but Satan sometimes puts men upon it when it is unseasonable. To read it at home when God's word is being preached, or the sacrament administered, is unseasonable, yea, sinful . . . “ —Thomas Watson, in, "The Lord's Prayer"]
