1 Peter 2:24 AMPC
[24] He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.
The writer of this letter, Peter the apostle, would know what he was talking about here. He was one of the early disciples, one with a unique experience of a call to follow Jesus. He went through several encounters, both bad and good, and eventually got the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and we know the exploits God used him for. He was writing to people who were also in the same shoes with him, the elected exiles who were now scattered all over the world at the time. In the midst of such depressing times, it may be easier to focus on the negatives, but Peter laid out the foundation for joy for these people by referring to the benefits and blessings they had from God: chosen and foreknown by God the Father; consecrated by the Holy Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ; and sprinkled with the blood. You have to be in Him to know these things.
As part of his message to these exiles who were all over the world at the time, Peter made it clear that persecution was a part of the walk with God that we all must endure. If you swim against the tide, expect resistance. If you go against everything that is usual and expected by the world's system, expect a lot of opposition. The world system is not built to handle resistance, and it will fight to uphold that which is its own. However, for those who are in the Word, there is an assurance of help and support that will make the experience worth it. We have a hope that is based on someone that the world cannot understand. How do you explain the benefits of the blood of Jesus to someone who is comfortable in sin? How do you get a man to change a pattern of sin that seems to bring in some profits, unless you can show such a person a better outcome by personal experience?
That is part of the message in the verse above: we know by personal experience the power of the blood. We stand where we are today by virtue of the work of the blood. We can look forward to all that is ahead because the blood has paved the way for us, and has awakened hope for the future. What makes this even more special is the fact that Jesus did not contract this work out to someone else; He did it Himself. He knew no sin, yet He became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God. One thing the verse above makes clear is that, in appreciation of what Jesus has done, we must die to sin and live to righteousness. The blood has also secured healing for us. What other life issue is left unattended to by the blood? If Jesus has taken them all, the best I can do is to live in daily appreciation of His grace upon my life. He has done His best; what would I give Him in return? God’s time of favour is here.
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