In Touch Devotional 5th March 2025 By Charles Stanley, Wednesday Message
TOPIC: The Precious Blood of Jesus
SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 1:17-21
The shedding of blood is essential to the Christian faith—without a sacrifice, no one can have a relationship with the Father. For that reason, God wove the story of death, renewal, and reconciliation throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
The Lord designed redemption in a way that demonstrated the connection between shed blood and freedom from sin. In the Old Testament, He gave instructions about offering only perfect animal sacrifices so that His holiness would be satisfied. God also wanted His followers to understand that sin brought terrible consequences and resulted in death. The first fatality in Scripture was the animal whose skin became Adam and Eve’s covering after they had sinned (Genesis 3:11-13; Genesis 3:21).
Later, the Israelites regularly had to make sacrifices to absolve them of their sins; every time they brought a lamb or a pair of doves to the priest, they recognized that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But God, out of His lovingkindness, sent His Son to pay the price for our sins once and for all. (We’ll look at this more tomorrow.)
Today’s passage says that we weren’t “redeemed with perishable things … but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (vv. 18-19). May we always be thankful for His sacrificial gift.
Bible in One Year: Joshua 1-3
Dr. Charles F. Stanley was the founder of In Touch Ministries and a New York Times best-selling author. Throughout his ministry, he demonstrated a keen awareness of people’s needs and provided Christ-centered biblically based principles for everyday life