THE WORD AND THE BLOOD

³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. – John 15:3 NIV

Source: Google Images

The Lord spoke these words to His disciples after He had washed their feet and told them that they were clean but not all of them (John 13:10-11) for He knew what Judas was up to.

According to Luke 22:3-6, Judas Iscariot had already conspired with the Jewish religious leaders to betray Jesus, he was now looking for an opportune time, so he was the only one who wasn't clean even though he too had heard the message of Christ, just as much as the other disciples.

If we have set our hearts on our own ways, we may hear God’s Word but it won’t profit us, Judas Iscariot demonstrates this fact very well. Sadly, even after coming to his senses instead of repenting and asking God to forgive him, he allows his guilt to drive him to suicide. Regardless of how much we think we've messed up, let’s not wallow in guilt, shame or condemnation, Jesus took our sins, all of them on His body on the cross once and for all, let’s turn to Him, to His Word and His cleansing Blood.

The thing is, Holy Spirit will not override our will, He’ll gently nudge us, He’ll quietly tug at our hearts, He’ll use multiple ways and means to get us to hear Him but He won’t beat us into submission and obedience. If God were to intervene every time we decided to do our own thing, He would've done so in Eden just before Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He didn't intervene then, He is not going to intervene now.

Jesus is the Word of God that became flesh (John 1:1), He is also the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). He is also the Light of the World, God calls Himself Light too… (1 John 5-7) The Psalmist was inspired to see the Word of God as a lamp and a light (Psalm 119:105) and rightly so.

As we continue to live according to the revelation and understanding we receive from the Word of God, we are being cleansed by blood of Jesus. The more we order our lives according to the light of the Word that we have, the more we are being cleansed and since we are in Christ – the Light, we can confidently expect His blood to continually cleanse us.

Source: Google Images

The Word of God is Truth and Truth is what sanctifies us. Jesus who is both the Word and the Truth, while praying for His disciples and for all of us who would believe in Him later, said:

         ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. – John 17:17 NIV

Since we are sanctified by God’s Word, we’d do well to acquaint ourselves with it; the Holy Spirit will speak to us, quickening the Word in our spirits. That’s how the Lord leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.     

Beloved, rest assured, you hear and know His voice because you are His, and He knows you (John 10:27). His voice conveys His Word to us, it is never condemning nor is it accusing, on the contrary it always affirms our identity and our acceptance in and by Him, even when He is rebuking or correcting us. He loves us eternally, oh yes, He does!