The Blood of John Paul II or the Blood of Jesus?

Today in the Washington Post, MONIKA SCISLOWSKA reports that shortly before his death, some blood from the body of Pope John Paul II was collected in a vial and will be encased in crsytal before eventually being displayed as a religious relic in a Polish church. (Full story http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/17/AR2011011701299.html)

It is never my wish to offend people from any religious community, but personally I find the idea of keeping a vial of a dead man's blood to be in completely bad taste. I do not know why anyone would want to do such a thing, even for someone as highly regarded and well loved as Pope John Paul II. To mourn at his grave, or even (had he been cremated) to place his ashes in a place of honoured memory, I could understand; but I must confess that this blood relic goes beyond my own ideas of decency.

However, I wish to write about the blood of a person far more noble and sacred than any pope or priest. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, shed his precious blood and died on a cross approximately 2,000 years ago. No one collected his blood in a vial, nor encased it in crystal. It ran freely down the rugged wood of a Roman cross. Yet that blood is as powerful today in its effects as it was then, and evermore shall be. For the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son is the agent which washes all our sins away (1 John 1:7).

Let me be clear about this. It is not that God, in some mystical way, collected the blood of Jesus. It is not in display in a "spiritual" vial in heaven. Rather, it is what Christ has accomplished by shedding his blood which makes that sacrifice everlasting in its effect. For by his one sacrifice he has taken away our sins once and for all (Heb 10:14).

The Son of God became flesh when he was born at Bethlehem. He lived a perfect life without sin, but on the cross he became sin for us. There He tasted the wrath of God against sin, and endured the punishment which was rightly due to sinners. God had said the soul which sins shall die, and the wages of sin is death. But Christ took our death sentence for us, dying in our place that we might go free from sin's penalty. As he hung on the cross, he cried out "My God My God why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) being for a moment cut of from God, and for that moment (however long it lasted in time) he tasted the eternal misery and suffering of a damned soul, that we might not have to. It is what Jesus did on the cross, dying for you and me, that makes him able to cleanse us from sin. That is why we read "the blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7).

Jesus did not do this for a certain select group of people. He did it for the whole world. John the Baptist said "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29). The apostle John declares, "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2).

No one is left out. When Jesus died he died for you. He died for every man and women that has ever lived or shall live. Jesus said "Whosoever" (and that must include you, because it includes everyone) "believes on him shall not perish (suffer eternal punishment for sin) but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

Three days after Jesus died, God raised him from the dead and set Him at his own right hand in heaven. God's word concerning his son is now being proclaimed around the world, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.

Reader, have you personally trusted Jesus Christ to save you from your sin and its terrible consequences? If not, then why not? Trust him now, ask him to forgive you and come into your heart and life. The Bible assures us that "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Rom. 10:13).

Pray a simple prayer: "Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I thank you that Christ died for me on the cross that I might be forgiven. I put my trust in you now tat I might be saved. Come into my heart Lord Jesus and make me your child. Give me the gift of eternal life." Amen.

One day, the blood of John Paul will pass away, but the effects of Jesus shedding his blood on the cross will be experienced by millions throughout eternity.

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The Blood of John Paul II or the Blood of Jesus?

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