A current television commercial for laundry soap says that a garment may appear clean but under ultraviolet light, it has a great deal of concealed dirt. Of course this soap is supposed to cleanse all dirt that the human eye cannot see.
Scripture talks about CLEANSING and getting rid of sinful impurities. While several passages tell us to do it, the reality is that we need God’s power to rid ourselves of sin. Mere self-effort might make me look good to others, but I don’t need ultraviolet light to know that my life has all sorts of stuff that I can easily hide.
In the OT, the sacrificial system used a word for CLEANSE that was more about ritual than doing the actual job. The NT says, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” and “Christ entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:12–14)
In other words, the sacrificial system is like ordinary soap, but the sacrifice of Christ is the real deal that can get right to the bottom of things. When a person is redeemed by putting their faith in Him, He cleanses all the dirt, even the stuff that no one knows or sees.
King David knew about this cleansing. Filled with guilt over his sin with Bathsheba and her husband, he prayed, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:2) He used a different word for CLEANSE, this time a far deeper cleaning job than mere ritual. He did not want to go through the motions but to be pure and clean before God.
God used the same word speaking through His prophets about His plan for His rebellious people:
"I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me." (Jeremiah 33:7–8)
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be great . . . . On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” (Zechariah 12:10–13:1)
That day came. The blood of Christ was poured out and the sin of the world exposed by the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. Cleansing is available to all — with this caveat:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16–21)
John completes this thought with this invitation:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:5–9)
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Allowing Jesus to rid me of sin, even sin others do not notice, requires light from His Word to exposes it and faith in Him to wash it away. What an awesome truth — God CLEANSES sin!
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