To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father,
to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1:5-6
Coming in at fourteen words, this is the longest title of Christ in the Bible. It’s a mouthful, so most books on the names of God don’t mention it. I include it because the apostle John uses it in his doxology in the first chapter of Revelation and I can’t find any way to condense it.
It all begins with love, Christ’s love for us. To really understand the Savior, we must understand His motivation. He wanted to save Adam’s fallen race because He Loved Us and gave Himself for us.
Sinners are unable to go to heaven because they’re sinners. It’s not so much what they’ve done, but who they are. A homeless guy wouldn’t be allowed to dine in a five-star restaurant dressed in rags and smelling like manure, even if he had the money to pay the bill. At the very least, he’d need a bath. In the same way, we’re not fit for heaven. If we go to heaven, it’s because Christ cleaned us up and Washed Us from our Sins.
This love that saves and cleans up a sinner is Calvary love. Sin doesn’t come out with soap and water; it comes out with blood, Christ’s blood. Some forms of lymphoma are flushed out with more than one hundred blood transfusions. In the same way, sin is in our blood, and unless a donor with sinless blood can clean us from the inside out, we’re doomed. But Jesus died on the cross to wash away our sins in His Own Blood.
June 20
