And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. (Revelation 1:5)

Washed

The human body is a frail organism. It requires care and nurturing allowing it to grow with a prosperity of health and wholeness. Disease is an enemy of the body as it destroys the cellular design of creation leading to death. The world is filled with many agents of infection that without proper care will bring harm to the body. One of the most important tools for keeping a healthy life is cleanliness. The Black Death or Bubonic plague in the 1300s killed millions of people largely due to unsanitary conditions allowing the spread of the disease throughout Eurasia and North Africa. So-called “filth diseases” are responsible for numerous conditions leading to multiple medical conditions and death. Keeping a clean and healthy environment is paramount to maintaining a quality of life free from disease. Children are taught early to wash their hands, take baths, and keep clean as much as possible. In every society, the need for washing is understood as necessary for a good life. This is especially true in the spiritual world.

Sin is the filth of the world that invades the pure soul of man. Every person is born with a clean heart that will become corrupted with the disease of sin. Children are innocent from the burden of sin because their hearts are pure. As the heart of accountability becomes aware of sin the spirit of man becomes defiled, filthy, and filled with the darkness of sin. There is nothing man can do to rid himself of this filth. The blood of bulls and goats could not wash away the stain of sin. There were millions of animals sacrificed for the sins of men but to no avail. Men sought to use their own wisdom to remove their sinful nature but failed. They sought to live good lives but this could not remove the ugly stain. Sin had a stranglehold on mankind.

Jesus was made in the fashion of humanity to bear the frailties of the flesh and to show His life a pattern of purity. What is remarkable about the life of Jesus is He lived for more than thirty years and never once soiled His life with sin. No one can live long without becoming dirty in one form or another and this is abundantly clear in the spiritual life of every human. No man (with no exception) has lived a perfect, sinless, and pure life without the ugly stain of sin. Jesus Christ is the only human to fulfill His life without one speck of dirt upon His soul. All men are dirty – all men sin. The question for eternity is this: what can wash away sin?

The dirt of the physical world can bring disease and death but this does not compare to the dirt of sin that will remove a soul from the presence of God. Sin is the ultimate dirt factor with the ultimate consequence. This required the ultimate sacrifice so that all men could find a way to remove the stain of sin and become clean. Jesus provided that way when He died on the cross and rose the third day to overcome the power of sin. The victory of the cross is the means to remove the dirt of sin. When the devout Jews assembled in Jerusalem heard the first gospel sermon and pleaded with the apostles what to do to be saved, they were told to be washed. Peter told them to be baptized for the remission of their sins. Throughout the Acts of the apostles, untold multitudes were washed in the blood of Jesus with their sins removed in the waters of baptism. In the Revelation, John declared the Son of God as the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. John writes that Jesus loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. This is the joy of God’s grace to know that we are clean. There is no dirt.

Washed in the blood of Jesus is where salvation is granted by the grace and mercy of God. Without the blood of Jesus, a man remains in his filthy state. Salvation becomes a question of if a man has bathed in the blood of Jesus. Belief alone is not washing. Grace alone will not clean the body. Doing good works cannot remove the ugly disease of sin. Washed in the blood is the only place sins can be removed. Ananias told Saul to arise and wash away his sins. He did. So can you. Let the blood of Jesus wash your sins away.