"There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel's veins; And sinners plunge beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he Wash all my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its power Till all the ransomed church of God Be saved to sin no more. Ere since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die. Then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing Thy pow'r to save, When this poor lisping stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave." On what a tremendous theme this was written. Christ's dying on the cross also reveals God's love to us. There is a lot said about love today. Most of it, however, is usually sexual, sensual or selfish. God is not the author of this at all. His is not a blind or sinful love. It sees things as they really are and yet moves to punish sin so that love can be established in righteousness. This kind of love is best seen at the cross. There is hardly a verse in the Bible referring to God's love that does not suggest in the context, and sometimes even in the same sentence, the word about the cross (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20; I John 4:10).
Testament. Adam and Eve were clearly presented with the fact that they would surely die in the day they disobeyed their Creator. Quite frankly, the human race has been dying ever since, both physically and spiritually. Jesus Christ died in your place and mine, satisfying di vine justice, by paying sin's pen alty of death. This leaves nothing for us but God's wonderful heav en. In the worship established for Israel, the scapegoat carried away the sins of the people in a symbol ic manner on the Day of Atone ment. The second goat was used as a sacrifice. Its blood was shed and placed before Cod within the holy of holies. There are many ways in which we transgress the law of the Lord today. There are sins of omission and commission. In the holy of holies, the ark of the covenant, containing God's per fect law was covered over by the mercy seat. It was here, on the Day of Atonement, that the high priest placed the blood of the sec ond goat, sacrificed a moment be fore. This was a beautiful picture in type of the coming Christ who was to die on the cross. In Israel's worship and life, a substitute in tervened. Even today, someone has taken my place. Thus the wrath and divine justice of God has been sat isfied. In this way the Lord does not violate His own righteousness. Rather, He shows Himself to be a great God of tremendous mercy, love and grace. Now, through our personal faith in His own shed blood, you and I can have peace with God as well as immediate ac cess into His presence. This is clear ly what the Bible teaches. The hymn writer expressed it,
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