This week is Holy Week – the commemoration of the Lord’s final week in mortality before He redeemed all mankind who believe in Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross of Calvary. We all have need of being cleansed, redeemed, saved, and perfected by the Savior. All of us have “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and have deviated at times from His “way of holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). Only Satan, however, wants us to define ourselves by our sins and shortcomings. The Lord wants us to define ourselves by our acceptance of Him, by our sincere striving to follow Him, and by the redemption He freely offers us.

I repeat, we all “have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Because of that basic fact and our inability to save ourselves because we have violated divine law and removed ourselves from God, we have need of a Redeemer to satisfy the demands of justice against us, to pay our debt and set us free, and to reconcile us to our Father in Heaven. Paul taught that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” (Romans 3:23-25).

During His final Passover seder, known as the Last Supper, the Lord gave us symbols of His redemption, bread and water (or wine). The bread represented “my body which is given for you” and the cup which “is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20). Matthew’s account of these words adds that the Lord’s blood, which symbolizes the “new testament,” “is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The word testament means covenant. The Lord’s blood is the supreme covenant – that by which we are cleansed, redeemed, and saved from sin.

The Apostle Paul explained that we have been “purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). He also taught of Jesus “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Yes, we are saved by “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.” It is “for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament” that they who receive Him “might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:14-15).

The practice of animal sacrifice was given to Adam and Eve, was practiced by the patriarchs such as Noah and Abraham, and was later codified under the Law of Moses given to Israel. This practice, though barbaric to some, was intended to point men’s souls to Christ. It was a foreshadowing of the final sacrifice to be made by the Son of God for mankind’s sins. It was a most hopeful act. Perhaps the gory nature of the blood and burning of animal flesh was intended to impress upon the practitioners the extreme suffering the Savior would endure for them.

John the Baptist identified Jesus as the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Peter also identified Him as the Lamb of God, stating that we were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). It is through “obeying the truth” and having faith that we are “born again” and “purified” by the blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:21-23).

The ancient Israelite prophet Amulek testified boldly of the redemption of Christ and how it is absolutely imperative for our salvation. Here is his witness:

“I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

“For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else mall mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.

“For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of best, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. . . .

“And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.

“And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.

“And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.

“Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you;

“Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save” (Alma 34:8-10, 14-18).

Jesus is the Lamb of God who atoned for our sins, ransomed us by His blood, and gave His life for those who believe on His name. He was the last great sacrifice. He fulfilled the law of sacrifice by voluntarily spilling His blood to save us vicariously. His redemptive act placed Him in the position of Mediator. As the Mediator, He sets the terms and conditions by which His blood and grace may save us. At their core, these conditions are faith and repentance. When we exercise faith enough to sincerely repent, which means abandoning bad behaviors and striving to follow the Lord, we are encircled in “the arms of safety” by the One who is “mighty to save.”

Knowledge of the Lord’s sacrifice was given to Adam and Eve. Adam was commanded to teach his children this doctrine:

“Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.

“Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:

“That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as y e were born in to the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;

“For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified. . . .

“And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time” (Moses 6:57-60, 62).

I hope you see how incomparably important the blood of Jesus Christ is in the Plan of Salvation. It is the element which cleanses and sanctifies us. Without the blood of Christ, we would be forever lost and without the possibility of salvation. His blood reconciles us with God, redeems us from sin by answering the demands of a broken law and by purifying us and purging away our sins, and is the supreme token that we are His. The blood token was key in the ancient Israelite Passover ritual precisely because it foretold the Lord’s Atonement in Gethsemane and His sacrifice on the Cross. It is to Christ and Him alone that we must look for redemption.

I witness with all my soul that Jesus is the Lamb of God and that during Holy Week He fulfilled the Plan by which we may become holier. From the cleansing of the temple to the washing of the apostles’ feet to the administration of the sacrament to the final acts of Atonement, death on the Cross, and rising from the tomb, everything about Holy Week implies cleansing, purifying, and redemption. The Lord wishes us to be holier than we are, better than we have been, and more than we have imagined. We do it through His blood freely given for us. We access His blood through faith, repentance, and sincere striving to follow our Master, the King of Israel, the Lamb of God. This week, and forever, let us rely upon our Savior and with His cleansing grace become a little holier.

Zack Strong,
March 25, 2024