Emphasis Preaching Journal

Despite all the soldiers who have shed their blood on battlefields -- from the Mongol warriors to the Crusading knights to the GI Joes -- there has yet to be peace. Blood begets blood. What a provocative claim, then, that the blood of Jesus makes peace! The difference is that his blood was shed between heaven and earth to reconcile the relationship between God and the world, and this action was initiated by God as a self-revealing self-sacrifice. This makes it efficacious. This is not a negotiated peace that relies on the compliance of both parties.