But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter 1:19
Seventh Day Adventists hold to a strange heresy that they call investigative judgment. According to investigative judgment, as taught by the SDA founder Ellen G. White, Jesus entered into the Holy of Holies in Heaven in the year 1843 to begin the process of determining who among earth’s inhabitants are worthy to be saved. White was depending on her own hallucinations (she was noted for claiming to have visions in which God revealed things to her) or her own inventions for that nonsense, because such foolishness certainly isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. In fact, the entire Bible contains the record of man’s total depravity, the truth that 100 percent of mankind is zero percent deserving of God’s grace. ‘For by grace are ye saved by faith, and that not of yourselves’ (Ephesians 2:8). It is because our lost condition was so absolute that God requires the purchase price for our salvation must be infinite. That is why He calls the blood of His Son precious.
One of the greatest tragedies to ever befall ancient Egypt was the death of the firstborn on the night of the first Passover. As the death angel swept through the land, he entered every home and claimed the firstborn in every family. That terrible hand of judgment stopped for only one thing, the sight of blood properly applied to the lintel and doorposts of a house. As the wail of grief and loss rose from the Egyptians, as the Israelites opened those doors and began their march to freedom, they would look back at that applied blood with overwhelming appreciation. To them, that was precious blood. In the same way, as we look back to the day when we first trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the blood that He shed to pay for our sins on the cross is precious. The death angel at the time of the Passover did not check to see if anybody worthy was in the houses; he checked only for blood applied. God’s salvation is the same; He doesn’t check our worthiness for salvation, only whether we are depending on the blood of Christ.
The Israelites would not be protected from the death angel if the blood on the lintel and doorposts was not from a lamb that had been inspected and prepared exactly as God had commanded. The lamb, and the blood, had to meet God’s specifications. And that is why the blood of Christ is so precious: it meets all of God’s specifications. The Lamb of God was without blemish and without spot. His lifetime of perfect obedience to His Father was proof of His acceptability as our Lamb. The offering of Himself as our sacrifice met all of God’s requirements. To God, and to us, the blood of Christ is precious.
Oh, precious is the flow that cleanses white as snow! No other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus. – Jim MacIntosh