Cover Me

A few weeks ago, some rogue motorist swerved down my street, and collected our mailbox on his way. He knocked the door off, and the handy yellow flag that told us if we had any mail that day. Eventually, i've got to go and buy a new mail box to replace the old one. It has to be a mailbox, i can't put a microwave there, or a bowl of soup. Mailbox for mailbox.

Likewise, if the lady driving the car who hit our mailbox showed up at my door to replace it, she'd need to give me a new one, or at least, a decent replacement. A picture of a mailbox won't do, neither will a new sweater or a pair of scissors. Mailbox for mail box.

We see this idea all the way though the Bible. God told Adam and Eve that a life would be taken if they ate the fruit of the tree, and so it was, although we like to think that God was making a coat to keep them warm, He was shedding blood to pay for sin. The Old Testament sacrificial system depended on and illustrated this idea every day. There had been sin, there must be death. On the Day of Atonement some estimate that over three hundred thousand animals died. The Brook Kidron ran red, the Priests were covered and the mercy seat stained with the blood that paid for sins.

Hebrews 9:22 puts it bluntly, 'without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.' Life for life, death for sin. It's always been this way, and we understand why. Mailbox for mailbox, life for life. But come on, we now that a goat can't pay for the sins of a man. So a man came, the lamb of God, the final lamb, making a satisfying sacrifice, finally giving God and man justice for sins, finally paying the price, finally cleaning our consciences.

We ask this man for mercy, we ask Him to cover us. That's what's going on at the end of Luke 18. The tax collector stands far off beating his chest, and says 'Lord, cover me, a sinner.' Cover me, have mercy on me. Cover me with the blood of a substitute. Just like Moses did in Exodus 24:5-6. An animal was killed, half it's blood poured in the basin, the other half sprinkled on the people. They were covered with the blood of the substitute. Sin brings death, life for life.

Have mercy on me, cover me with the blood of a substitute, pass over me.

The longer i'm a Christian, and the more i see the dark recesses of my own heart, the more precious this becomes. The world needs a God angered by sin, but the world also needs God. Jesus has dealt with that huge problem, He has died, a life for a life, and His blood covers us. If you try to live with Christ primarily as your example, not your substitute, it's like living in a house with no foundations, you're just not safe. Come to Christ instead, and be covered with His blood.