Book 2 of Musings Applying the Blood
It is not true that the blood of Christ covers us so God cannot see our sin.
It is true, rather, that the blood of Christ serves as a compensating righteousness, making up the difference between what God expects of us and what now is true of us. Compensating righteousness is applied only to those who are following the Holy Spirit each day.
In my opinion, there is no greater error in Christian thinking than that which has to do with the way in which the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is applied to our life.
The word atonement is interesting. It has many shades of meaning, I understand, including covering, mercy, propitiation, cancellation of debt, and reconciliation. After reviewing the several meanings, I lean toward the term reconciliation as being the most inclusive.
The blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross makes an atonement for our sin. It reconciles us to God.
The blood of sacrificed animals was applied in several different manners, as outlined in the Book of Leviticus. Probably the two most important applications of the sacrificial blood were the Passover blood, and the blood of the sin offering. However, every type of sacrifice, and the ordinances of the priesthood, were solemnized and validated by the sprinkling of blood.
The blood of the Passover lamb was the blood of protection. As far as I can tell from the account in Exodus, the purpose of the Passover blood was to distinguish between the Israelite families and the Egyptian families. Nothing is said in the text, as far as I can tell, about the Passover blood covering sin. The Passover blood protected the Israelites when God executed judgment on the gods of Egypt.
"When I see the blood I will pass over you."
Under the new covenant, the eating of the flesh of Christ, our Passover Lamb, and the drinking of His blood bring the very Life of God into our inward nature in preparation for the Day of Resurrection.
The blood of the sin offering had a different application from the blood of the Passover. You may notice that the sin offering was not made available until the Jews had reached Mount Sinai. The sin offering was never observed in Egypt.
The purpose of the Passover blood was to protect the Israelite families, not to cover sin. The purpose of the blood of the sin offering was to forgive sin, not to cover sin. This is my understanding at the present time.
The Passover blood and the sin offering-two different applications!
Today we say our sin is "under the blood" or "covered by the blood." I don't believe either of these expressions is found in the Scriptures, at least not according to my computer search program. Perhaps we should cease expressing ourselves in unscriptural terminology, at least until we understand what we are claiming.
However, I do believe that when we accept Christ we and our family are covered by the Passover blood of Christ so we are not condemned along with the world.
As far as I can see, God protects us from judgment with the Passover blood, and forgives our sins, when we confess them, with the blood of the sin offering, the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ. However, the central work of the new covenant, which is the removal of the power of sin, is just beginning today.
Matthew 13:41 states that sin will be removed from the Kingdom of God at the end of the age.
As we look around us in the church, and at our own behavior, we can see that God needs to remove the power of sin from His Kingdom. The guilt was forgiven on the cross. Now we need to be delivered from the power of sin.
The great error of our day is the thought that God cannot see our sin because we are "covered by the blood." As we said, it is not the purpose of the blood to prevent God from seeing our sin. Could God see the sins of the Israelites when they were covered with the Passover blood, as they traveled through the wilderness, and later in their history?
We are more true to the Word when we claim that God forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sins.
The Bible says that when we do not judge ourselves, God brings judgment on us so we will not be condemned with the world.
We have not understood these things in time past, it appears, but now God is commanding us to confess our sins and turn away from them.
The common teaching that God cannot see our sin because we have accepted Christ and the blood covers our sin is a destructive doctrine. It has destroyed the moral strength of the Christian people.
When I tell a lie, does God see the lie or does He see the truthfulness of Christ? It is taught commonly that God does not see our lie. Therefore it is not unusual for Christians to tell lies. Christian leaders often tell lies, it appears.
Now, study your New Testament carefully and find even one passage that tells us God does not see our sinning.
Have we not been terribly deceived?
The blood of Christ does not hide sin from God's eyes. The blood of Christ covers us and our families when God brings judgment on the gods of this world. The blood of Christ forgives us when we confess our sins and turn away from them. Isn't this so? But to say God cannot see our behavior is an unscriptural idea.
The Apostle Paul told us that if we would obey the law of the Spirit of Life, that is, if we would follow the Holy Spirit in putting to death the actions of our sinful nature, God would ascribe to us the righteousness that would have been ours had we kept the Law of Moses perfectly (Romans 8:1-4)
This means the blood of Christ is a compensating righteousness, or a protection of us from judgment, during the time that the Holy Spirit is delivering us from the power of the sinful nature.
The misunderstanding today is that the blood of Christ is a new covenant that prevents God from seeing our sinful actions, whether or not we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit in putting to death the actions of our sinful nature (Romans 8:13).
Anyone could predict the results of today's teaching concerning the covering of the blood: millions of professing Christians who are continuing in sin under the belief that they are excused because of their profession of faith in Christ.
The new covenant is seen as an alternative to our becoming a new righteous creation in Christ. Thus the purpose of the new covenant, which is to produce sons of God in the image of Christ, is effectively aborted by today's teaching.
When we accept Christ, we and our families come under the protection of the Passover blood.
It is a lamb for a house.
When we accept Christ our sins of the past are forgiven.
When we accept Christ our sins of the present and the future are forgiven, as we confess and turn away from them (put them to death through the Spirit).
When we accept Christ, the judgment of our sins is delayed while we follow the Spirit. In the meanwhile the righteousness of the Law of Moses is imputed to us so we can continue without condemnation before God.
When we accept Christ, the legal foundation is laid so the Holy Spirit can proceed to remove the sinful nature from us. This requires our cooperation as we obey the Spirit in every particular. The Spirit gives us the power to overcome the passions of sin.
In no instance, however, can it be maintained scripturally that God overlooks our sin because we have accepted Christ, and we can continue in our old way of life without fear of judgment. This is the current lie. The result of this lie is a multitude of Christian churches that are not bearing a true witness of God because of the unrighteous, immoral behavior of their members.
It is directly because of the unrighteous, immoral behavior of the Christian people in America, England, and other so-called "Christian" nations that God is permitting Satan to incite other countries to hate us and want to murder us, even though the record will reveal that America has been active in humanitarian efforts.
It is our turning away from God and our worship of the material world, of entertainment, and of the lusts of our flesh, that is bringing us on such hatred. This is the way it happened, and is still happening, to Israel, and this is the way it is happening to us.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)