WRITTEN INDELIBLY IN BLOOD
WRITTEN INDELIBLY IN BLOOD – On January 26, 2005, at 6:03AM PST, a southbound commuter train collided with a sport utility vehicle that had been abandoned on the tracks. The train derailed and stuck another train, causing eleven deaths and over 200 injuries. There was one story coming out of that accident that gripped Southern California. It involved a man who was on that train. Normally, he later said, he would not have taken the train, but he was called in early to work at an aerospace plant in Burbank. He was sitting upstairs in the double-decker car, asleep, when the wreck occurred. He recalled waking up to find himself trapped under the debris and covered with blood. He realized he had been badly injured, and with the blood oozing from his own body, he used his finger to write a note to his family, telling them that he loved them. That is what Christ did for us. Using His “precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1Pe 1:19–note), He wrote a message of love in the “blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins,” the “blood of Jesus, God’s Son, (which) cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7–note) Sin can paralyze us, but Jesus “pardons all our sins” (Ps 103:3–note), having “released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev 1:5–note) and having “made peace through the blood of His Cross.” (Col 1:20–note) “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8–note). Like the man in the story, Jesus did not need to “take the train,” so to speak, (alluding to the Cross), but chose to do so out of love for us (Jn 3:16, Titus 3:4–note) and obedience to His Father’s will (Isa 53:10, 1Jn 4:10), declaring “not My will, but Thine be done” (Lk 22:42)
May this illustration of Christ’s love for each of us stir our hearts to ponder deeply “how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” (1 John 3:1–note)
Listen to the words of the great modern hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love” sung by Fernando Ortega.
preceptaustin 