The Blood of Christ
Assurance of salvation is a main reason why Peter wrote to his fellow brothers who were suffering persecution as aliens among the Gentiles. They needed to hear why they could be secure in their faith in Jesus Christ, even though sin remained in them, they were weak in the flesh, and unsure of how they might react under the threat of martyrdom.
He began his letter by informing them of God’s choosing them according to His predetermined love, and not because of anything good in themselves but because of God’s great mercy. Peter then admonitions them to be holy, which hinges on the word “knowing.” “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” (1Peter 1:18-19)
What we are to know is in verse 18, our redemption or the price paid to buy us back from the fate of God’s holy wrath on sins. The price of our redemption was the precious blood of Christ, and because it is referred to as precious, it behooves each of us to consider carefully how precious it is. If we have lost a loved one, then we know something of the loss of life; we all know what it means to cling to life with all we are and ever hope to be. However, to consider the offering Christ made when He laid down His life, we must consider much more than a mere human that is finite and sinful but the Son of God who is infinite and sinless in every way.
He who is the essence of deity and sinless in perfection and infinite in His love for God the Father and Holy Spirit, and who is one with them in the Godhead, would incur the infinite wrath of an infinitely just God for sins not His own. We can understand the loss of human life, but we cannot comprehend the extent of Christ’s suffering under the weight of God’s hatred of all sin. However, we are not meant to comprehend it but to be humbled in our contemplation of it, which results in an increasingly holier life.
We are made holy and secure in our salvation as we come to accept that all forgiveness of our sins was accomplished by Christ in His death on the cross. We can contribute nothing to our salvation, and If martyrdom should be required of us it will be accomplished by God’s grace, but even at that it accomplishes nothing toward our salvation.
Rest assured if you are born again that you are secure in the love of God!
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