in the Blood. Let every mention of
the Blood call to mind the deep humility and self-surrender of the
Lamb, for it is this disposition that gives the Blood its wonderful
power with God. Hebrews 9:14 for ever links the Blood of Christ with
His self-offering to God, "how much more shall the Blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God ..."
And it is this fact that bestows upon it its power with God for
men. For this disposition has ever been of supreme value to God.
Humility, lamb likeness, the surrender of our wills to God are what
He looks for supremely from man. It was to manifest all this that God
ever created the first man. It was his refusal to walk this path that
constituted his first sin (and it has been the heart of sin ever
since). It was to bring this disposition back to earth that Jesus
came. It was simply because the Father saw this in Him that He could
say, "My Son, in Whom I am well pleased." It was because the shedding
of His Blood so supremely expressed this disposition that it is so
utterly precious to God and so all-availing for man and his sin.

The Second Question.

We come now to the second question--how can we experience its full
power in our lives? Our hearts surely tell us the answer, as we look
on the Lamb, bowing His Head for us on Calvary--only by being willing
to have the same disposition that ruled Him and by bending our necks
in brokenness as He bowed His. Just as it is the disposition of the
Lamb that bestows upon the Blood its power, so it is only as we are
willing to be partakers of the same disposition of the Lamb, that we
shall know its full power in our lives. And we may be partakers of
His disposition,[footnote13: Phil.2:5; 1 Cor.2:16] for it has been
made transferable to us by His death. All the fruits of the Holy
Spirit, mentioned in Galatians 5--love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control--what are they
but the expressions of the lamb-like nature of the Lord Jesus, and
the Holy Spirit wants to fill us with them. Let us never forget that
the Lord Jesus, though exalted to the throne of God, is still the
Lamb (the book of Revelation tells us that) and He wants to reproduce
Himself in us.

Are We Willing?

But are we willing for this? There is a hard unyielding self, which
stands up for itself and resists others, that will have to be broken,
if we are to be willing for the disposition of the Lamb