“Washing Our Robes in the Blood of the Lamb”

Revelation 7:13-17 (LGV) 13 Then one of the elders responded, saying to me: “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 And I said to him: “My master, you have observed.” And he said to me: “These are the ones who emerge out from the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His Temple. And He who sits on the throne will tabernacle over them. 16 ‘They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat;’ 17 (for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them) ‘and lead them to living fountains of waters.’ ¹“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In the previous blog post, we compared the sad state of modern Christianity versus the “Bride” which the Bible indicates Christ is returning to receive, who is “without spot or wrinkle, holy and flawless.” This condition stems from Christians washing their robes and purifying them in the blood of the Lamb. This self-purging cannot come from self-effort in sinless perfection, but comes through the blood of the Lamb, God’s mercy and forgiveness. This concept of justification by faith and not by works according to Paul vs. justification by faith demonstrated by works according to James, has led Christians into opposite errors because of the failure to fully grasp the teaching of the New Testament regarding what “faith” really is. One group tends to emphasize works and human effort, thus largely nullifying God’s grace and introducing condemnation, while the other tends to abuse God’s grace and excuse and normalize sin.

All true Christians struggle with sin. Those who claim they do not sin are lying and thus sinning by making this false claim. Those who try to give the impression that they do not struggle daily with sin are pretending out of pride, which is also a sin; they have a very warped idea of God and His holiness and a much too high opinion of themselves. Those who justify and normalize sin are kidding themselves.² The fact is that none of us has been “perfected” yet. Even James, the brother of Jesus and pastor of the Jerusalem church, wrote, “we all stumble in many things” (James 3:2). The “difficult path that leads to life” is difficult because it is a struggle. If it is not a struggle, we are not on the path that leads to life, but on the broad path that leads to destruction. The closer we get to the mind of Christ and thus keeping more of His commands consistently, the more our failures become evident to us and God’s righteousness seems out of reach. The Christian walk is not about perfect obedience in every detail through our own determination. It is about the gradual renewing of our minds so that we slowly begin to have the “mind of Christ,” that we begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates (even when things He hates are found within ourselves).

Rom. 12:1-2 (NKJV) 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This “renewing” of our minds is something that occurs gradually by the power and voice of God’s Spirit working in us, not by our own power. It needs to be renewed each morning without fail as we offer our bodies as a “living sacrifice” for that day. The transformation of the mind must occur first, after which our actions will begin to follow. Paul encourages us what to do — offer our bodies as a living sacrifice calling to mind the “daily sacrifices” at the Temple. He then commands us what not to allow — “Do not be conformed to this world.” Unfortunately, conforming to this world is precisely what many Christians and churches have and are doing, and it will not end well for them.

The first step for Christians to begin to gain victory over sin is to guard what we allow to enter our minds through our senses. We can choose what we expose ourselves to and allow to penetrate into our minds and hearts. It is virtually impossible to obey Paul’s command not to be “conformed to this world” if we are saturating our minds with the things of this world, allowing these to drown out the still small voice of the Spirit of God which is trying to bring to our remembrance what Jesus taught (John 14:26). Those interested in washing their garments must begin each day with the determination to block out the world’s influence through media, entertainment, news, music (all of which is indoctrination, conforming us to the world’s thinking) and replace it with daily Bible reading, prayer, and fellowship with like-minded believers. This must become a habit if we have any hope of overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must return to the Christianity found in Scripture: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42 NKJ).

Paul said that the Law of Moses was given to condemn all mankind, which is why God sent His Son to be the sacrifice for sin. Many Christians think that we are not under obligated to any Law now that the Law of Moses was abolished for believers. What they do not recognize is that the “Law of Christ” serves the same function for Christians as the Law of Moses served for Israel. It condemns us and shows us our failures as we struggle to keep it, keeping us humble. The difference is that the Law of Christ also comes with God’s grace and forgiveness as long as we continue on the difficult path that leads to life.

Christianity is not about being law-less and completely reliant on grace, as many churches teach. It is about a New Law tempered with grace – commandments with no condemnation. (No “condemnation” does not mean without “conviction of sin” by the Spirit but rather points to continual cleansing). Grace allows us to avoid the condemnation of the Law through Christ’s sacrifice, not to avoid the obligation to obey the commandments of Christ. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”³ The obligation to keep the commandments is not diminished in the slightest by God’s grace. It is just that the motivation for keeping Christ’s commandments is different, out of gratitude for God’s grace and love for Christ and His sacrifice. It removes all satisfaction from self-effort, self-righteousness, and self-merit. Our “love” for Christ is gauged by our level of drive in pursuing perfection by keeping His commandments. Jesus said to His own disciples: “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do'” (Luke 17:10 NKJ). The problem with modern Christianity is that many are not even interested in minimal obedience, never-mind anything above and beyond in seeking to be “profitable” servants. If we are going to be part of that “great multitude” that emerges from the Great Tribulation with spotless and unwrinkled robes, looking for the “minimum requirements” instead of maximally pleasing God isn’t going to do it. Those who are interested only in minimally following Christ are going to find themselves among the “foolish virgins” (Matt. 25:1-13).

In Romans 7 Paul described his own “struggle” and frustration with keeping God’s commandments and the self-condemnation which comes from his own failures. He then gave the solution in Romans 8, “walking in the Spirit” which brings “no condemnation.” Christ’s Law in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) will continue to point out failures along our Christian walk as we struggle to keep it daily. In Rom. 4, Paul pointed out that both Abraham and David were “justified” by their faith in God and not by their perfect obedience. Both men were imperfect and failures in their obedience, but both understood and acknowledged their failure and God’s righteous standard, and both continued to strive for holiness in faith while relying on God’s grace. It is the same for us. Consider David’s humble and contrite attitude about his many failures, which is why Paul held him up as an example of justification by faith (Psalm 25:7-14; Psalm 32:3-5; Psalm 51).

1 John 1:5-10 (LGV) “5 And this is the message which we have heard from Him and report to you, that God is light, and no darkness is in Him, none. 6 If we should say that we have fellowship with Him, and should be walking in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. 7 But if we should be walking in the light, as He is in the light, we are having fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, the Anointed, His Son, is cleansing us from every sin. 8 If we should say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we should concede our sins, He is faithful and just so that He might forgive us the sins and might cleanse us from every injustice. 10 If we should say that we have not sinned, we are making Him a liar and His Logos is not among us.”

“Walking in the light” in this passage is not sinless perfection as many assume. “Light” throughout John’s writings is a metaphor for the TRUE and uncompromised KNOWLEDGE of God brought by His Son. “Walking in the light” means that we are constantly exposing ourselves to God’s standards, looking at ourselves in the mirror of God’s righteousness.

James 1:2-25 (NKJV) 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

This is the same thing which Paul described as “walking in the Spirit” in Romans 8. The Spirit’s job is “to convict the world of sin.” When we begin to see and acknowledge our sinfulness and unworthiness, and are repulsed by it and crave Jesus’ holiness, we are beginning to listen to the voice of the Spirit. When we begin attempting to act on this knowledge (in spite of our many stumbles), we “walk in the Spirit” which is the same as what John calls “walking in the light.” The frustration that comes from our struggle against sin is itself evidence that we are beginning to walk in the Spirit; our eyes are WIDE OPEN to God’s attitude towards our sin and our unworthiness. Those who say they have “fellowship with Him but walk in darkness” claim to be Christians in fellowship with God, but instead of acknowledging and grieving over their failures as they continue to be convicted by the Spirit, they close their eyes to the Truth (thus walk in darkness). The evidence is in their excusing, justifying, and normalizing their disobedience, thus quenching the voice of the Spirit. These are the ones who John says are “lying” when they claim fellowship with Christ. This is why in the previous blog-post I pointed out examples of modern Christianity justifying and normalizing sin, such as Christian worship-leaders flaunting their tattoos and piercings instead of being ashamed of them.

Modern Christianity tends to justify and explain away willful rebellion against the “light” God’s Word brings and the Spirit which makes specific application in our lives. These are manifest in Christian leaders boldly and proudly disobeying governing authorities when God commands us to obey, even leading their congregations to openly rebel. The same is true about churches that ordain women and homosexuals as pastors in open rebellion against God’s clear commands and the authority structures and guardrails He has established. The head-covering issue may seem like a small thing, but it is indicative of a much deeper heart-problem with God’s established order and willing submission to it.

When we acknowledge our failures and unworthiness, when they cause us grief as we struggle against sin, this shows that we are “walking in the light.” We are judging ourselves which then emphasizes the absolute necessity of “blood of Jesus Christ His Son is cleansing us from all sin” (compare Luke 18:10-14). In vs. 9 above, John wrote: “If we should concede our sins, He is faithful and just so that He might forgive us the sins and might cleanse us from every injustice.” This is the point – acknowledging and hating our sin, maintaining humility, constantly judging ourselves against God’s righteous standards, as James says, looking into the mirror of God’s Law and not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer. Christians who acknowledge the struggle against sin and their own failure to perfectly keep God’s commandments, who are not “forgetful hearers” and are trying to progress towards perfection with the help of the Spirit, THESE are the ones who are “walking in the light” and are continually being cleansed by the blood of Christ from all sins. They are far from perfect. But they are striving to know and understand God and what He desires from us and for us, and as they learn more and more from His Word they try to conform to God’s standards more. It is a life-long process of becoming perfected. On the other hand, those who deny that their disobedience is “sin,” but even find ways to justify and normalize it, these are walking in darkness and are not promised ongoing cleansing from their sins. They are walking in darkness because they are too PROUD to come into the Light and acknowledge their failures. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Apostasy is not the result of failing to keep all of God’s commandments perfectly. Apostasy is the eventual outcome of consistently lowering God’s standards to justify our sin, which in turn transforms God’s LIGHT into darkness within us. This is exactly what Romans 1:16-32 describes. It is willful rejection of God’s standards in order to shape God in our image rather than renewing our minds and hearts in His image through the light Christ has brought. This brings us back to the daily application of Romans 12:1-2 if we ever hope to succeed in being part of that great multitude which comes out of the Great Tribulation victorious, a bride who has prepared herself, holy, without spot or wrinkle.

Go To: Today is the most Solemn Day of the Year

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1 Isa. 49:10 LXX

2 Rom. 2:13; James 1:22

3 John 14:15; John 15:10