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Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we have been cleansed from sin forever.
Wouldn’t it be nice to clean something once and then never have to clean it again? I would love to deep clean the whole house, slam down my broom, yell “It is finished!” and get to live in a perfectly tidy home forever. No more dirty oven. No more unvacuumed carpets. No more dust building up. No more mess—just a peacefully clean house for all eternity.
It’s a fantasy but also a reality. That’s what Jesus did for me!
Cleaning my house day in and day out is a bit like the priests of the Old Testament offering sacrifices at the temple day in and day out to wash the Israelites clean from their sins through their faith in the Messiah. No matter how many bulls and doves and lambs were slaughtered and burned, the next day the people would have sinned again—and would therefore need to be cleansed with another sacrifice that pointed to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. Day after day, year after year, the sins and the sacrifices and the priests and the people would go around and around in a seemingly never-ending dance of sin, repentance, and forgiveness.
That is until Jesus stepped onto the scene. Jesus was a new kind of priest, the only being to be both God and man, both eternal and finite. He stepped out of eternity and into earth’s time line to live the perfect life we never could as our substitute. He sacrificed himself—not over and over again, but once for everyone for all time. “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27).
Jesus lived his whole life perfectly, was crucified on a cross, yelled “It is finished!” and died for our sins. He rose again three days later to prove his victory. And just like that, the whole human race was cleansed from sin—a cleansing that is enjoyed, though, only through faith in Jesus. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
We can have confidence in our cleanliness in God’s eyes. “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Blood isn’t a good cleaning agent for my house, but Jesus’ blood was the perfect cleaning agent for my sins and yours. Because we stand clean in his eyes, heaven is ours when we die!
Despite my best efforts, my house is going to get dirty again. Try as we all might to avoid it, every day we are going to dirty our souls with sin. Thanks be to our loving Savior who cleaned house once and for all to bring us into eternal joy with him and all believers in heaven. I can’t wait to see how tidy it is there, in the light of God’s love—and to never have to clean, literally or metaphorically, again!
Author: Katie Augustine
Volume 110, Number 03
Issue: March 2023
