Believer, can I encourage you with a shocking truth? God doesn’t see you covered in anything – not even the blood of Jesus. He sees you – the real you – righteous and holy and blameless.
“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” (Colossians 1:22, NLT)
Let’s not drift away from the assurance we have in this truth.
There was a time in the Old Testament, though, that God’s people never had this peace of mind that we can have.
“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” (Hebrews 10:1)1
The priests of the Old Covenant would offer the blood of bulls and goats and lambs to God continually year by year to cover the sins of the people, but these offerings could never make the people perfect. Perfect in what sense? In Hebrews 9:9 we see what “perfect” means. In the context it means “perfect in regard to conscience.”
The atonement of the priestly sacrifices was just a covering – like sweeping the sins of the people under the rug. Each year more would be swept under the rug, but it was still there. The rug would get thicker and thicker, looking clean on the outside, but in reality it was dirty on the inside. Atone is the Hebrew word “kaphar” which means “to cover.”2 Sins were covered, but still there. The Day of Atonement was a annual reminder that the Lamb of God had not yet come.
“For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.” (Hebrews 10:2)
Because the sacrifices never worked, the worshippers were never “once purified.” This verb is in the perfect passive participle.3 Perfect means it’s one act that needs never be repeated. If the sinners had been ONCE purified then they would have had no reason to have sin on their conscience.
Hallelujah! The true Lamb came, lifted up the rug, and took away all of our sin by His blood. Now nothing is covered. Can I encourage you with a shocking truth? God doesn’t see you covered in anything. He sees you without a single fault.
Even as we begin to understand our righteousness as a new creation in Christ, often we still think of ourselves as being “sinners saved by grace.” We think of God looking at us through the “filter” of the blood of Jesus. When He looks at us, He sees what APPEARS to be holy. In other words, we are only “covered” in the blood of Jesus, and what He is looking at is Jesus, not us. But the truth is that He IS looking at us! The truth is that we – the REAL you and I – are perfect! Our true selves have been completely severed from the flesh. The more we realize this, the more we will behave accordingly! WE HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY GOD BECAUSE WE HAVE NO SIN IN US!!
(from pages 299-300 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
2H3722 (kaphar), Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, website: http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H3722&t=KJV, accessed 6-10-14
3Hebrews 10:2, Blue Letter Bible (interlinear tab), website: http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Heb&c=10&t=KJV#s=t_conc_1143002, accessed on 6-19-14
