Red Church Doors
“Power in the Blood” is the song Lewis Edgar Jones wrote and is best known for. He died September 1, 1936. Jones was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and he worked and ministered all his life with the YMCA. Hymn writing was his hobby.
Have you ever wondered why some churches have painted red doors? This used to be true of virtually all Episcopal and Anglican churches. It’s a tradition that visually shows that we enter into the church through the blood of Christ and we return to the world for the sake of the Lamb. When we enter the church, we are in effect walking into completeness already prepared. This salvation (adoption as God’s children) is ours, shouted by John the Baptist who declared "This is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!", accomplished completely as Jesus boldly announced “It is finished!” at the moment in John’s gospel when the Passover lambs were sacrificed, and announced by John the Revelator when he declared; "Then I saw a Lamb looking like he was slain standing in the center of the throne” in the New Heaven and New Earth. Of course we are saved by works - the sacrifical works of a Savior who lived the life we cannot live and died the death we deserved to die as our substitute.
If you follow the theme “Lamb of God” throughout the Bible it will lead you to Jesus. Jesus is the center and meaning of all of human history. Beginning with creation and the prophecy about the one who “will” crush and “will be” crushed by the serpent (Genesis 3:15), the Old Testament is all about preparing the way for the coming of Christ. The prophets speak about a Lamb whose character and mission is defined over the centuries: a lamb who will adequately cover sin when our self-righteous attempts fail (Gen 3:21) — whom God will provide (Gen 22:8) — whose shed blood will save God’s people from death (Ex 12:13) — who will be a perfect offering without spot or blemish (Lev 22:19) — the lamb is a person who will be crushed for our sins and numbered with the transgressors (Isa 53:5, 10) — who is identified once-and-for-all in a thunderous proclamation by John the Baptist who pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29, 36). John proclaimed the truth that Jesus is the one who, from the beginning of time, the whole world was waiting for and hoping for. This is the Master Theme of the Bible (see also: 1 Cor 5:7; 1 Pet 1:18-19; Rev 5:6, 22:3).
He lived to perfectly fulfill the Law’s demands for us, and he suffered the judgment that we deserve - so that we can know God. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13). This is what we were made for! It is salvation by grace alone as we trust in the sufficiency of Christ’s work on our behalf. We are weak and heavy laden as we gradually step back into the churches that for too long have been closed because of the pandemic, but he lives to invite all who are weary to come to find rest for their souls. Through the blood of the Lamb.
“And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness merciful to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant that, by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all thy whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.” ”