“If you have accepted the forgiveness provided by the blood of Jesus, there is no point in history in which you will not be not covered.”
One of my most favourite pieces of Scripture reads, "so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." (Heb 9:28)
Christmas is when we remember the first time Jesus came to Earth. We not only believe that He came to fulfil the prophecies concerning His destiny, we also believe that He came to deal with the issue that brings death to all men, sin.
The journey one takes as a Christian often seems quite circular: You accept the forgiveness provided by the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross on your behalf and begin your walk with Him but then you mess up big time and feel you have taken so many steps backwards, you must be right back at the beginning of your journey. This leaves you feeling like a worthless and useless utensil in God's Kingdom; or you constantly find yourself turning back to the foot of the Cross seeking forgiveness for yet something else, while allowing yourself to believe in the grip of your sorrow that you must be beyond redemption, again.
I once had the pleasure of drawing a graph on a blackboard to illustrate how I understood the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. I drew a horizontal line to represent a timeline of history. I then drew a cross part way along it and asked those present to show me who and what was not covered by the blood of Jesus.
If you have accepted the forgiveness provided by the blood of Jesus, there is no point in history in which you will not be not covered. While it is most excellent to remember who has provided for you, and what has been provided for you and continues to cover you, it would appear from what is written in Hebrews 9:28, that it is an even more excellent thing to remember that the issue of sin has been dealt with permanently at all points in history and that when Jesus returns, He is most definitely not going to bear sin again, as it has already been borne away. No doubt we will all continue to have to deal with the effects of sin, but we ourselves are free from it and are now awaiting the return of our victorious Saviour.
I have heard it said that it takes great faith to believe what I have just written. And perhaps it does. Of course, many theological arguments exist to shout down such a stand, qualifying forgiveness on such-and-so conditions and how it may not apply to some people if they do such-and-so. There are in fact many things to keep us from believing in the total authority and power of the blood of Jesus shed on our behalf but I am not going to waste my efforts on defending something that it is so plainly presented. If we take a look at the clause, "to those who eagerly await Him," one can only come to the conclusion that unless one believed they were forgiven absolutely, one could not "eagerly await Him" at all.
This Christmas, when you remember Him who came into this world to live as one of us, please take the time to remember His ultimate purpose, which has been achieved, and then take a moment to check your "eagerness" thermometer.
Brothers and Sisters, we are free. Stand up and stand firm on this one sure thing and let us encourage one and others "eagerness" by remembering the truth of the Apostle Paul's discovery:
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8: 37-39)
And remember, ". . . He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Col 2: 13-14)
May this Christmas especially reveal to you the absolute truth of the freedom that the birth of Jesus heralded, that His life showed, that His death achieved, and that His resurrection proved.
Many blessings from my family to yours.
Madelaine is a wonderful friend and writer presently living in Toronto.