“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14, NIV)
Our home visits in Israel include sitting around a table enjoying Shabbat dinners with families. They usually mention kosher dietary rules and regulations. The keeping of the clean from the unclean is practiced. You can’t mix meat with dairy. They are not to be served on the same plate, neither washed in the same basin nor stored in the same refrigerator. In their minds, not following these regulations is disreputable.
I take the opportunity to say, “You work so hard at keeping things on the outside clean, but God is concerned with that on the inside being clean — your heart. You can’t take it out and clean it with soap and water and put it back in, but Yeshua can do it. Are you clean?”
You can feel the answers, but there are no words spoken. One young man after he was asked that question looked up into the heavens. Then he looked back at me and, in deep thought with a guilty expression in his eyes, he said, “No, I am not clean.”
I said, “You need blood to cleanse you from your sin. The blood of Yeshua.” The thought engaged his heart. The Spirit was drawing him to His Son, the Lamb of God. And, I wait for God to do His work in his heart.
“Abba, Father, what words can we speak to our Israeli friends to tell of the love of Your Son that cleanses us from sin because of His blood sacrifice? Washing with water alone does not cleanse them. They need Your Son’s blood. Spirit of God, pass by them and cause them to see the Lamb of God and to thirst and drink of His blood, so that their hearts may be cleansed from the guilt of sin.”