1 Peter 1:19
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
–NKJ
How does salvation come? “with the precious blood of Christ,” Salvation isn’t so much being saved from something, as it is being saved to something. It might better be thought of as being set apart, or reserved for a future purpose. All of us are made in the image of God. We all have souls that will go on into an after life. Being saved means that we are being reserved to be in God’s kingdom of life, not experiencing an eternal death.
Salvation means to have a reservation. God’s heaven is akingdom that can only be entered into if we have a reserved seat. Our reservation into that kingdom of eternal life is through the blood of Jesus. It is the price that is set for the new covenant that allows us to be included. .
A covenant is a serious agreement. So serious that to seal the deal, and show how much it means to each party, something valuable is broken or killed. The idea is that, “i agree so much, and am so committed in keeping this agreement that I’m willing to sacrifice and kill my best sheep, for example.” An echo of this can be seen in modern Jewish marriages, where a glass is broken to seal the vows. Something worthy, something valuable, and pure is sacrificed to show the extent of the commitment, and the high price that is paid.
There will be many people who won’t be there in God’s heaven. The price of the reservation is too high. Contrary to popular belief, there is no big scorecard in the sky. Even if there was, it isn’t a matter of having enough good points to outweigh the bad points. To get in, there can be no bad points at all. In simple terms, only those who are good can enter in. Under the legalistic idea, if a person had 50 bad marks, and 51 good marks, he might get in. All that proves is that the person is half bad. Not good enough.
In reality, no person is good enough. The smallest of bad mars is all it takes to keep a person out of God’s kingdom. From the time of the first sin, God had a plan, and a price to pay. The plan was Jesus. The price was blood, and only the blood of Jesus.
Jesus is standing by to wash everything away and take all the bad parts out, he washes us clean. We can enjoy all the perks of being included in God’s heaven because of him.
So, how do we get this cleansing? It takes just a little effort on our parts. Believe that God is really real, and that sin separates us, and keeps us away from knowing God as well as we should. Believe that there is a real penalty for sin, that God has a plan to pay that price. Believe that Jesus is that price. That’s really it. Now that you believe in that, you’ll want to express your gratitude andobedience to him and live life according to his ways.
Start to know God better. Use the words of the Bible to grow in a relationship with him. His rules for life are more liberating than burdensome, and the rewards are more than anybody can imagine.