Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer's neck. The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man." And the bloodshed will be atoned for. So you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 21:1-9
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Deuteronomy, Chapter 21 opens, we see where the subject is the shedding of innocent blood. Specifically, it uses the following scenario:
“If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,,,”
In this instance, there was a series of steps that involved the elders, judges, and priests carrying out certain functions…from measuring the distance from the discovered body to the neighboring towns to taking a heifer that had never been worked and or worn a yoke to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley, the heifer was to be slain and the elders from the town nearest the body (the reason why the earlier measurements happened) were to “wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley” and declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man." By doing this, Israel was to “purge from (themselves) the guilt of shedding innocent blood”.
Too bad that this would not be the case years later for Israel as a man who came as their Messiah was instead brutally crucified on a cross outside of Jerusalem on a hill called Golgotha (fittingly translated as the place of the skull). There were no measurements taken, no heifer selected and slain, no hands washed with the exception of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea…who examined Jesus and found Him not guilty of any crime, yet Israel still demanded Jesus crucified. Given this, scripture tells us that Pilate “took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd” saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood,...It is your responsibility!" The people of Israel present proclaimed, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!" And so it was…and remains today.
For we can’t wash our hands of Jesus anymore than the people of Israel. None of us are innocent because none of us are free from sin. And it was your sin and my sin and all sin of all mankind that were nailed into the innocent, unblemished, sacrificial Lamb of God. And as His blood streamed down the cross from His thorn-pierced head and nail pierced hands and feet, we were washed clean of the very sins that He died for. What a blessed washing this was…but at such a great cost.
Friends, as we live every second of every minute of every hour of every day, let us not forget the cross where the innocent Son of God was slain…not accidentally but intentionally…and He allowed His death to happen willingly so that we might be saved and cleansed from our sins. Truly, the words of one of my favorite hymns bears true:
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Glory! Glory! This I sing—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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