Innocent of All Charges

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES

Rom 3:21-26

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

NIV

There is no question that we have been justified and redeemed because of faith in Jesus Christ. However, we have often heard questions about all those people who lived before God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement. The answer is given to us as plain as it can be. God presented Jesus at the time he did, but he demonstrated his forbearance and so he left all those sins committed, before Jesus was presented, unpunished. Although we do not know how all that works out for those people on the day of judgment, we are confident about what will happen for and to us because we have faith in the blood of the lamb, for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin.  There is power in the blood. Would you be free from your burden of sin there’s power in the blood power in the blood, there is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the lamb. It seems there is not a lot of talk within the body of Christ, or at least within some local churches, about the blood of the lamb. We hear talk about the grace of God, the peace of God, and the forgiveness of God because of Jesus. It also seems that only once a year do we hear talk about the passion week of Christ, with many churches making a solemn service on Good Friday. We never understood how if it is Good Friday why we do not celebrate that cross, rather than the usual gloominess that is associated with that church service. It is through the cross that his blood was shed, and that is how our sins are cleansed. Sure, we celebrate his resurrection for it means we too will be resurrected into a glorified body. But the resurrection does not cleanse us of our sins, the cross does. The shedding of blood by Jesus is in fact his justice demonstrated to all mankind and showing his grace freely to all who have sinned. For we have been rendered innocent or justified because we have faith in Jesus. We are innocent of all charges because we have faith in Jesus.