I woke up this morning with a question ringing in my ears - what can wash away my sin?  It won't go away, the question, it is with me like a nagging headache.  Even as I sit in my rocking chair with some Anthony Burger playing softly in the background, it won't go away.

Soooo, what is it that can wash away my sin?  I asked Google and Google says it is the Blood of Jesus.  It returned 356,000 pages in 2 seconds.  Pretty good odds there may be something here.

What is blood and how can it cleanse?  You've seen it, blood that is.  Probably some of your own.  It's sticky, gooey and drys to a crusty scabby kind of mess.  It gives us life.  It restores our bodies from the beatings we give them every day.  It stains!  It is hard to remove.  It leaves a residue on every thing it touches.  Just watch NCIS or one of the other cop shows on TV.  They have this really cool light and colored glasses that show where the blood is/was even after it has been cleaned up.  I should ask my nephew about this.  He works in the Crime Scene Unit for the Washington State Patrol.  He probably would know.  

Ok, if it cannot be cleaned up, if bleach won't remove it, if water only dilutes it, somehow, I'm thinking, it is not blood that does the cleansing.  It must be something else.  What?

But Google is usually pretty reliable in answering my questions.  Jessie Stone (Tom Sellick, TV cop) says to always go back to the beginning when you come to an end.   I'm going back to the beginning.

The first page Google returned in answer to my question says, 'Nothing but the blood of Jesus;  What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. ...'  Ah!  Now we have it, here it is, right in the first listing.  It takes a special type of blood!  Not just any blood.  Yours or mine won't work.  There is no cleansing power in our blood, its gooey and stains.  In fact it will only make things worse.  But Jesus' blood...now that's a whole other thing.

Jesus, the one who died on a cross and rose from the dead.  It is His blood that cleanses our sin.  Well, that is what Google says.  And, it's also what the Bible says.  Imagine that.  Google and the Bible giving the same answer.  It must be right!  

Jesus took our sins, yours and mine, and in a remarkable event, became sin in the face of God.  And, God had to look away from Him.  Ouch.  What's that all about?  That's another post some day.  

God could not look on Jesus because He became sin (for you and me).  This is the supreme act of selflessness throughout all history.  One son, God's son, gave up the only thing he wanted most in life, to shine in his fathers eyes, for you and for me.  He gave it up by dying on a cross with nails driven in his hands and a sword piercing his side.  He died in disgrace and dispair.  He died bleeding, physically and emotionally.  A broken body and a broken heart.

A magical moment happend that day.  At the exact moment when he died, God tore the curtain (seven very heavy curtains hung as one) that seperated the holy place in his dwelling place (the temple) in two, allowing the common person access into the Holy of Holies.  In other words, he made a way for you and me to gain direct access to Himself.  We didn't have to go to God through the priest any more.  And we didn't have to sacrifice another living thing (that blood thing again). But it only happened because God's son, Jesus, became sin and died on a cross, for you and me.  Jesus was heart-wrenchingly seperated from his father for a brief moment.  

Because of that selfless act, the blood that was spilt that day, Jesus' own blood, now has special powers that no other has.  It cleanses sin.  Your sin, and my sin, it cleanses it all, it takes it away, it destroys it, it is forever removed - gone for eternity!  Wow!

Thank you Jesus!  Thank you.