The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22, NIV)
It is as impossible for our salvation to be bought without blood as it is to play golf without a ball.
I know, that’s a cheesy analogy, appealing to our basest golfing minds. It threatens to downplay the holiness of Scripture. And it works. That is, it gets our attention because it speaks in one of the “languages” we know best.
More than that, it should secure for you the fact that Jesus stands alone as the exclusive Mediator and Savior, the One who makes a way between us and God.
It’s popular these days to suggest that God is broader than Jesus, that he is willing to allow for several avenues to salvation and eternity. A comment on an apologetics blog this week looked at it this way: “God is so much bigger than any of us—and has lovingly chosen to speak to different communities in different ways, and it seems ridiculous to claim that those who have been spoken to through Islam or Judaism are really needing to convert to Christianity to get it right. No way.” The comment was written by someone whose words represented, it was claimed, “many, many, many Christians like myself.”
The trouble with universalism, of course, is that it doesn’t jibe with the Bible.
The trouble with that idea (called universalism), of course, is that it doesn’t jibe with the Bible, where:
– Sin requires forgiveness
– Forgiveness requires atonement
– Atonement requires blood
– Only Jesus’ blood was perfect and fit for the work for all time.
Perhaps we cannot answer the tough question, What about those who never hear of Jesus?, apart from saying, “God will take care of that.” But what we can say is that no matter how he chooses to communicate with each person and what he requires as a response, he has in one grand way already taken care of it. He sent his Son to shed his blood and die for all who seek God’s forgiveness. Our salvation is bought through that blood, and without it we will not get to eternity with God. No way.
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Jeff Hopper
February 4, 2011
Copyright 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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