COME AND SEE

August 1978

Volume 5 – Issue 1

WE HAVE THE PROPHETIC WORD

— L. R. Hagan

The message contained in the Old Testament Scriptures and that in the New Testament are inseparable interrelated. The first is God's preparatory forerunner of the second; the second is the perfect and final culmination of the first. The Old Testament is the Book in which inviolable promises are made; the New Testament is the Book in which those promises are faithfully and perfectly fulfilled.

If the appearance of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in this world is not the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and promises, there are but two valid choices open to any one of us. One is to return to Judaism to await the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of a rejected, suffering Messiah. The other is to abandon any idea of a divinely revealed religion by adopting either the various perverted and conflicting notions of the heathen about God or outright atheism.

However, if the message of the Old Testament and the one of the New Testament constitute one Divine focus on the Person and redemptive sufferings and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, as evangelical Christians have always been convinced it does, believers have manifold confirmation for faith in the validity and reliability of the statement made in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness."

There are literally hundreds of prophetic scriptures surrounding the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and the circumstances of His life and death to be found in the Old Testament. Each of these was fulfilled in the minutest detail. Moreover, the Old Testament abounds with promises describing the details in which He would glorify God in His holy Manhood here in the world, and of His unfailing love and compassion towards men. Besides the fulfilled promises and prophecies, there are almost numberless typical foreshadowings of His life, death, resurrection, and His ascension whereby He filled the heavenly sanctuary with His blessed presence and with His life so fragrant to God, His Father.

The saints of God living on the earth at this crucial time in man's history have every reason to be assured that just as fully as these prophecies, promises and divine foreshadowings have been literally filled, so will the prophecies, promises and foreshadowings of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, to "have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Yea, all kings shall bow down before Him; all nations shall serve Him. For He will deliver the needy who crieth and the afflicted who hath no helper. He will redeem their souls from oppression and violence and precious shall their blood be in His sight. His name shall endure forever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall bless themselves in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, Who alone doeth wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name for ever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen, and Amen" (Psalm 72:8,11-12, 14,17-19).

THE OFFERINGS (7)

—H. L. Heijkoop

Exodus 29:38-46; Leviticus 6:1-6; 7:8; 16:25.

We have seen what the sin-offering represents, and that thereby God was fully satisfied regarding our sins. On the basis of this offering He is now able to invite everyone to come to Him. All who have part in the Lord Jesus no longer have to fear judgment.

What would our position be if this was all there was? Well, we would simply live on earth for eternity, safeguarded against the judgment. Neither God's love nor the Lord Jesus would have satisfied. But we have received infinitely more. How could God give us these greater blessings? It was in His heart to do so, as clearly shown in Ephesians 1:3-5 we have been blessed according to His purpose "with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ." But God always acts in righteousness. His love will never do anything that is contrary to His righteousness. God required a righteous basis on which He could act this way. For even though God is sovereign, He never acts contradictory to His righteousness. The righteous justification for giving us these blessings, we can also see in the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

So we must be able to see something more than what we have found in the sin-offering, and this is shown in the burnt- offering. There is no doubt that all the bloody offerings show us the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, but each one of them shows a special side. The burnt-offering shows us the most important side.

On the basis of the burnt-offering God can dwell in the midst of His people, speak with them, separate them to be His people and take the sons of Aaron as priests. We also saw that the priest who brought the offering was allowed to keep the skin for himself. This is important when we connect it with Genesis 3. God Himself had slain the animals whose skins He used to clothe Adam and Eve. In this we clearly see why the priest received the skin. Don't our thoughts go to Ephesians 1:6, "He has made us accepted in the Beloved." This means more than the forgiveness of sins which implies that God no longer holds anything against us. To be accepted means that there is something good in us, that God finds something in us that is acceptable to Him. But it goes beyond even this: it says: accepted in the Beloved, in the Son of His Love. It is in Him that we have been made accepted. Now when we are in Him, God looking at us sees the Lord Jesus alone. In this way we can also understand John 17:23 which tells us that the Father loved us as He loved the Lord Jesus. We could not understand this verse in any other way. He sees in me the glory of the Lord Jesus.

Why is the Lord called the Beloved. The Father always loved Him; from eternity He was in the bosom of the Father, but 1 Timothy 2:5 speaks of "the Man Christ Jesus," and as such He could only be the Beloved when He had become man. When the Lord Jesus walked on earth God could say, "In Him have I found My delight." But the Lord Jesus as Man has given His Father a very special reason to love Him, which reason we find in John 10:17. There the Lord Jesus says that He will lay down His life and that therefore the Father loved Him. No one could take it from Him: He gave it Himself and therefore the Father loved Him. This is the burnt-offering aspect of His work.

In Philippians 2:8 we read that the Lord Jesus became obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross. As Son, the Lord did not need to become obedient; He had to do that as Man. He did not have to become Man: Philippians 2 tells us that He did so voluntarily. He was equal to God, being God the Son, but He voluntarily humbled Himself and became Man and as Man He went in obedience to God to the cross and died under the most terrible circumstances; as we have already considered under the sin-offering.

The burnt-offering aspect of the work of the Lord Jesus shows us everything that He has done over and above what was required for our sins. All that concerns our sins and the fact that the Lord had to return to God what we had robbed from God is displayed in the sin-offering. However, the Lord Jesus is much more and we see this in the burnt-offering, and not only that, the way in which He did it is infinitely glorious as well!

Exodus 21:1-5 refers to the Hebrew slave who after six years of service was allowed to go out free. But if his lord had given him a wife, this slave could say. "I love my lord, my wife and my children; I will remain a slave for ever." And from Psalm 40:6 and Hebrews 10:5, we know that that Hebrew slave is a type of the Lord Jesus.

It is remarkable that it says, "I love my lord, my wife and my children." In the New Testament we read that Christ loved the Assembly and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25). There we find, "I love my wife." Concerning the children, we read in Ephesians 5:2 Christ loved us and gave Himself for us," and in Galatians 2:20, "The Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

But, in Exodus 21:5 we have first, "I love my Lord." This shows us that the burnt-offering was for God. We are always inclined to first think of ourselves when we think of the work of the Lord Jesus — to think only of what that work means for us. Certainly He loved us and His love for us made Him go to the cross. However, there was a much nobler reason: He loved His Lord, He loved His Father and as Man He loved His God. This was the first thing to Him: to glorify God and to obey Him, so that God's heart would find satisfaction and rest; this is the burnt-offering aspect. It is not the side of the work of the Lord Jesus for us, but the side He has done for God, whereby He has glorified God to the utmost.

Later, when we come to the sacrifices which we bring, we will see that the burnt-offering was for God alone. They who sacrificed did not eat of it, whereas the sons of Aaron ate of the meal-offering, and all the people ate of the peace-offering. But the burnt-offering had to be brought in its entirety on the altar as a sweet smelling savour for God. This clearly shows the character of the burnt-offering. God saw a Man Who was not disobedient, but obedient. He became Man to obey; that was His whole life. In Hebrews 10:7 we read, "I come to do Thy will O God"; in John 4:34, "My meat is to do the will of Him Who has sent Me"; and John 8:29, "I always do what is pleasing to Him," and as I already mentioned from John 10, He voluntarily laid down His life.

In John 13:31-32 we find a very beautiful thought: "Now is the Son of man glorified, if God be glorified in Him, God also shall glorify Him in Himself and shall glorify Him immediately." We must understand these verses well. When the Lord says, "Now is the Son of man glorified," He does not have the resurrection or ascension in view, but rather the cross. On the cross the Son of man has been glorified. An unconverted man cannot understand this. How was the Lord glorified on the cross? There he was beaten, people spit in His face, His clothes were removed and God hid His face from Him. There He took our sins upon Himself and on account of this He was smitten of God. No, all of this was no glory for Him. And yet He says, "Now is the Son of man glorified."

To understand this, we should return to Genesis 3. The serpent had said, God does not speak the truth, He does not love you. Adam and Eve believed that. But then the Lord Jesus came and went as Son of man to the cross. What a proof He gave on the cross that the serpent had lied! He gave proof that the word of God was true, that God was righteous and holy. But above all, the Lord Jesus proved that God is love, that God loves men. He proved much more than Adam and Eve had denied. Has the truth of God's Word ever been established more perfectly then when the Lord Jesus died? Could God's righteousness ever have been so completely demonstrated as when He was punished in our stead? And had God's holiness ever been so clearly brought to the light as when the Lord Jesus had to cry out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Could the love of God have been verified in a more majestic way than when He gave His Son on the cross, and that for lost sinners, for His enemies? (Romans 5:8).

Yes, at the moment that man revealed all his is wickedness, when he with guilty hands abused his creator, spitting in His face, smiting Him, nailing Him to the cross and as it were, telling Him, "Return to where Thou didst come from," and who in this manner chased away His creator Who had come to His creature; when man could not manifest his wickedness any stronger, then, at that very moment, God gave His only begotten Son to save man. What a testimony we have in this of the love of God! There we see God fully revealed, and when God is revealed He is always glorified, for all of Him is glorious.

God has now been much more glorified than would have been possible if sin had not entered into the world. The Lord has died to take sin away. But first He used the matter of sin to glorify God. This most beautiful deed has taken place on the cross and has been accomplished by a Man! God had never been glorified in this way and He will never be glorified to the same extent as He was at the occasion of the cross. A Man did that work, not an angel. Is that not a glory for that Man? This is the meaning of John 13:31-32. The Son of man has glorified God in such a way that I (reverently spoken) dare to say, God is His Debtor, for the Lord Jesus has done infinitely more than what a man was obligated to do. Of course, the Lord was perfect; as Man He was entirely what a man had to be.

Since the Lord did so much on the cross, God has been glorified in Him and therefore God will glorify Him. God has raised Him from among the dead and given Him a place at His right hand, and has subjected all things under His feet. John 17:4-5 shows how far this goes: "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have completed the work which Thou gavest Me that I should do it; and now glorify Me, Thou Father, along with Thyself with the glory which I had along with Thee before the world was." "I have completed the work" does not only refer to the work of the cross, it refers to the revelation of God upon the earth. We read this in John 1:18, "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." Everything in the entire life of the Lord Jesus was a revelation of God. But the highest point in this revelation was the cross, and the Lord could say, "I have completed the work." Then He asked for a reward: "Give Me that glory that I had with Thee before the world was." He never lost that glory. It was not possible for Him to cease being God. And so He could not loose His glory as God. But now He asks for it for a second time as Son of man on the basis of the finished work, and God has given it to Him. The Son of man has received the glory that He possessed as Son of God from all eternity.

In John 17:22 the Lord says something beautiful concerning us. The glory Thou hast given Me I have given them. Here we see how we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenlies in Christ. Such blessings previously had only been the portion of the Father and the Son. The angels did not possess all these heavenly blessings. But now Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we possess them. So we have found the key: The Lord has given us that which was His portion. He could not give it to us as God the Son: the creature cannot be introduced into the Godhead. The creature cannot possess that glory! But as Man the Lord has now received that glory and as such He can give it to us and share it with us. How great is His work!

We read this in John 10. The Lord has given His life out of love for God. As we see in Philippians 2, He has become obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross. He did that out of love. It was an obedience which flowed from love. And in all those circumstances, when He was hanging upon the cross and bearing our sins while the sword of God's righteousness came down upon Him, His only thought was to glorify God. When He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He immediately added to it, "But Thou art holy" (Psalm 22:1,3). Even then He glorified God in His words. That is something really beautiful in this part of the work of the Lord Jesus. Certainly, God had to smite the Lord when He bore our sins, for God hates sins, even when they lie upon the Lord; therefore God had to hide His face from Him. God could not then look with pleasure on Him. And yet the Father has never looked upon His Son with more satisfaction then at that very moment. Then He saw all the glory of the Son. At the moment that God had to smite Him because He bore our sins the Father saw how the Lord Jesus acted out of love to Him, how every deed, every word out of His mouth, every thought of His heart, glorified Him. So the Father could never look with more pleasure upon Him than just then.

This is the thought we have in Leviticus 16:25 where we read that the sin-offering was burned outside the camp (v.27). All that spoke of sin had to be done away from before God's face. The fat was an exception to this; it was burned upon the altar of burnt-offering as the only thing not to be burned outside the camp. The fat speaks of the energy of the will. When the Lord Jesus was the sin-bearer, the power of His will was precious before God. His will was to do the will of God. It was the will of the Father that the Lord Jesus finishes the work as the Son of man. His Father was His God, and His deepest motive was, "I love My Lord." All the energy of His will was expended to glorify the Father. Actually this fat was a part of the burnt-offering, so we see here the connection between the burnt-offering and the sin-offering.

For 4000 years, God had looked for a man who sought Him, a man who did good, and He had found no one. But now there

was this Man, One Who in a perfect way answered to all that man ought to be, — in fact, a Man Who was willing to be obedient even unto death, and that out of love; a Man Who, with all the power of His will, glorified God. That gave rest to the heart of God. It was a sweet odor (literally, an odour of rest) for Him. And we see the result. So far God had only seen sinners, but now He looked at another Man and only saw His glory. And so we arrive at Exodus 29.

Israel was in type the people of God. Certainly, in themselves they were lost children of man, but they had been placed behind the blood of the lamb and made one with the slain Passover lamb. And thus, God saw them in that lamb and could dwell in their midst. Why? On the basis of what they were in themselves? No! Even before the law had been given them, they had made the golden calf. And in Numbers we continually notice how they murmured. How could God dwell in their midst under such circumstances? God looked forward to this one Man Who would make Himself one with them, Who would come as their representative and Who would complete the marvelous work. He alone was the basis on which God could dwell in their midst.

Just let us consider what we are. How little are our bodies used for the honour of God! How then can God be in our midst? Yet, we know that He dwells in the Assembly. God the Holy Spirit is in our midst (the Lord Jesus also, when we gather unto His name), only because He sees us in the Lord Jesus. When the flesh reveals itself, God looks at the cross where the Lord has borne our judgment, and in bearing that judgment He has glorified God. This we find here.

Without interruption the type that spoke of Christ had to be before God's face. Every morning and evening a lamb had to be slain (Exodus 29:39). The fire never went out; day and night the odour of the sacrifice had to rise up to God, that odour of rest. If that odour had not been there God would never have had rest in the midst of the people of Israel. But because that odour gave rest to Him, He could dwell in the midst of His people. On the basis of that odour the sons of Aaron could be priests; not on the basis of the sin-offering. On the basis of the latter they were protected from the judgment. But on the basis of the burnt-offering they could approach to God and appear in His presence. We have been made accepted in the Beloved, so that God, when we come to Him, receives us so to say with open arms. I do not make reference here to sinners, although this holds also true for sinners, but as believers He sees us in the Lord Jesus, clothed with all the glory of Him Who is the Son of His love. So God can dwell in our midst.

Leviticus 7:8 tells us that the priest who brought the offering should keep the skin of it. What did God see when He looked at the priest? Not a defiled man who was underneath the skin, who in himself was a lost sinner and in whom again and again the flesh was active. God only saw the perfection of the sacrifice. The burnt-offering was perfect and the priest was marked by this perfection.

In this way each of us stands before God, made accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6) and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:12). Now we can understand how God loves us as He loves His Son. On the basis of that love, on the basis of the aspect of the work on the cross shown us in the burnt-offering, God has made us to be His children and caused us to share in the glory of the Lord Jesus and the heavenly blessings. He has opened the Father's house to us, and soon we will enter it. God is the Father, we are His sons, His children, and the Lord is "the First-born among many brethren" (Romans 8:24). God has given us a more exalted place then the angels. The angels have never been in the Father's house and they will never be God's children. The Lord Jesus has brought us into the presence of God. He has completed the work. When He died for me, He made Himself one with me. He has borne my sins in His body upon the tree in such a way that God puts the value of His work to the account of the Lord Jesus, but when the Lord Jesus completed the work, He made Himself one with me and He gave me part in the results of His work. And when we look at the blessings that are the result of it — and eternity is needed to learn to know them — how immeasurably great must they be! They are beyond measure, just as is the work of the Lord. Only because He has completed the work on the cross, only because He has glorified God in this manner, has God been able to execute His purpose in grace. Now God can accept sinners, who flee to the Lord Jesus; He can do that and He can make them to be His children and receive them in glory on the basis of the work of the Lord Jesus. God remains righteous when He acts this way.

To be cont'd

THE HISTORY OF MAN'S EFFORT

—Adapted—

— By the grace of God many a work is begun in the purpose of God.

— Then man brings in some principle or line of conduct inferior to the excellence of the work.

— As long as the power of God is working all remains well, outwardly.

— However, because of man's unfaithfulness the divine blessing diminishes.

— Now bitter fruits start to appear: spiritual declension, weakness, sadness of heart, divisions and even direct subjection to the evil power.

All this flows from the impossibility to reconcile that which is spiritual with that which is carnal, from the impossibility to maintain a spiritual testimony while conforming to the ways of the world.

PHILIPPIANS

—G. W. Steidl

Chapter 1

The book of Philippians seems to be a book of soul experience. Of course, there is doctrine and teaching, but the highest longings and aspirations of the redeemed heart find expression here. For example, in chapter 1 Paul expresses his great longing in the bowels of Jesus Christ for the Philippians; this is coupled with his earnest prayer that their love may increasingly abound in knowledge and in all judgment, that they may discern and approve the things that are excellent, that they may be sincere and without offense, that they may be filled with the fruits of righteousness for God's glory.

Then there is the heart attitude of a true servant of Christ toward the preaching of the Gospel. Man may preach from many motives, but Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached. His own life, though in prison, was in the hands of the Lord. He apprehended this and it gave him a "sanctified carefreeness." To live is Christ and to die gain. What more could anyone want?

Yet he realized that God had left him in the flesh for blessing to souls, for their furtherance and joy of faith. So he exhorts them to live becoming to the Gospel, to stand fast together, with one spirit, one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel, not to be terrified by opposition but rather to suffer for Christ.

Joy (or rejoicing), a characteristic word of the epistle is mentioned five times in chapter 1, and 18 times in the entire book.

Chapter 2

But soul exercise is not only for the individual believer. There is the joy that flows from being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, with other saints. Such flows from a heart that knows its own nothingness, and consequently esteems others, and other's activities, above self. Our blessed Saviour is the example in ail this. Oneness of mind among saints is achieved only as we have the mind of Christ.

Oh, to ponder more Christ's self-humbling (leading to God's exalting Him), that the Spirit of God would produce His mind in us. The Lord Jesus did not give up His Divinity (He never could) but He did give up His reputation, His rights, even as man.

And He gave Himself!

What will be the results of having His mind? There will be obedience, not to man but to God; there will be the doing of all things without murmurings and disputing; there will be a blameless and harmless walk through a wretched and wicked world; and there will be a holding forth of the Word of Life.

All this would cause the apostle to rejoice in the Day of Christ. Even then, he rejoices in sacrificing his life for them. Timotheus and Epaphroditus are mentioned as sharers with him in this sacrifice. The first as one who shared his care for their spiritual welfare; the other as a companion and fellow- soldier of such a caliber that he was nigh unto death for the work of Christ and sorrowed only at the thought of others sorrowing about his illness. God give us more such men!

Chapter 3

The one all-consuming object of the Apostle's heart here is Christ. Other subjects are mentioned, but only in relation to Christ. He might warn them of whom to beware, but only because such would turn their hearts from Christ. He might speak of his past life and advantages in the Jewish religion (indeed he was as perfect a follower of religion according to the flesh as one might ever find), but only to show that he counted them to be loss for Christ. He might speak of righteousness, but only to show how the righteousness of God in Christ was so perfectly complete and satisfying in contrast to man's feeble, yea wretched, righteousness. But his desire is to know Christ and to be found in Him.

So Paul is led on to the consideration of resurrection as the only ground on which he could know Him. He could not know Christ after the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16). It must be the resurrected Man in glory. Paul presses on with the goal before him, not having yet attained that for which he longed, but confident that Christ Jesus has laid hold upon him for this very thing. What singleness of heart and detachment from the world must result from such an attitude.

There were some who were not thus-minded, and they were to walk according to how far they had attained. The Apostle would not despise such. Only there were also those who walked as enemies of the cross of Christ; they caused much grief. The discriminating love of chapter one is needed to distinguish between these two classes.

The Saviour will soon come from heaven to change these vile bodies and fashion them for Himself.

Chapter 4

Perhaps one could detect in this chapter the practical manifestation of a life truly occupied with Christ. Paul has told them his desire was to know Christ and to lay hold of that for which he had been apprehended by Christ. Then he had told them to follow him in this. And now, lest his exhortation lack the practical touch, he fills in the details.

They are to stand fast in the Lord as dearly beloved saints. Euodias and Syntyche are to be of one mind in the Lord. Perhaps they are singled out as representing others also who were at odds, They are to help those who laboured with him in the Gospel. They are to be full of the joy of the Lord. They are to show forth meekness to all; inwardly to bring everything into the Lord's presence as a condition for His perfect peace to garrison their hearts and minds. Their thought life is to be consciously regulated and fixed upon things which are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and worthy of virtue or praise. Such things they had seen in Paul's life and so they are called upon to imitate them; and at what result: "The God of peace shall be with you."

The epistle closes with Paul's expression of gratitude for practical fellowship, coupled with a concise summary of what he had learned as to material needs. God would provide, so he was content. The epistle ends on a triumphant note of joy and fullness in Christ.

GETHSEMANE AND GOLGOTHA

—A. de Jager

Christ has been tempted on earth in all things like ourselves, sin apart (Hebrews 4:15). Satan in particular tempted Him in the wilderness and in Gethsemane and he was also behind Peter's rebuke to the Lord in Matthew 16:22-23. All these temptations brought to light that with Him, Who had not sinned (1 Peter 2:22), there was not even one single point of contact for sin. He could say, "The ruler of the world comes, and in Me he has nothing" (John 14:30). Thus there was proof that Christ was "that Holy Thing" so that He could be the true burnt-offering, a sweet smelling savour to God. Besides this He was the oblation, for we read of Him that He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).

In addition to the temptations which came directly from Satan, guilty man has done to Him all that they desired (Matthew 17:12). Thus it was fully revealed what man is in his wrath against God, and Who Christ was in His perfect obedience to God, and Who God is in His love to guilty man.

Christ conquered Satan during His life and annulled him in His death (Hebrews 2:14-15). But neither the victory in the wilderness nor the one in Gethsemane brought salvation to us. We only obtained that through His death and resurrection. We must hold to the teaching of Scripture without any further reasoning. His death was God's judgment upon sin (Romans 8:3). "On the tree" He bore our sins (1 Peter 2:24); not: up to the tree. He was not our substitute in His life but on the cross. During the hours of darkness He was forsaken of God. In this we see the difference with Gethsemane: there the Father sent an angel to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). But in being forsaken of God He bore the punishment for our sins (Isaiah 53:4-10). In His righteousness, God found a way whereby He could punish the evil and yet save sinners. Therefore, the Son of man "had to" be lifted up (John 3:14-15). To redeem us from the power of Satan, to make us God's own, He had to give His blood as the price of redemption. He didn't shed His blood in Gethsemane. The fight was most heavy there: the fear as to the judgment on the cross was so great that His sweat became like great drops of blood failing upon the earth. But in Colossians 1:20 we read that He made peace through the blood of His cross. There He shed His blood whereby He wrought redemption; with it He paid our debt and justified us before God (Romans 5:9).

Through faith in His blood we know Him now as the mercy-seat (Romans 3:25). Notice that God requires this faith in Christ's blood. Without this faith there is no salvation although there may be talk about resurrection and His ascension to heaven. To hold this truth of the need of faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is very important, especially in our days. The gospel is the message of the value of the blood of the Christ. If this is omitted, then a gospel-of-men is brought and we know what the Scriptures say about that (Galatians 1:6-10). Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Only His blood cleanses from all sin. Throughout Scripture we find a blood-coloured thread, and throughout all eternity the song of the Church will be about the wonderful power of the blood (Revelation 1:5-6).