The Blood

“He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead the third day and repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” - Luke 24:46-47 CSB

On April 6th, 1994, Roy Ratcliff received an unexpected call from his friend, Rob McRay, to baptize a notorious man that the public absolutely hated.

Roy, a minister and author, was accustomed to baptisms and sharing the good news, but this specific occasion was different. There was a prisoner in Portage, Wisconsin, who wanted to be baptized. That prisoner’s name was Jeffrey Dahmer.

Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender who murdered 17 boys and young men. Known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, Dahmer received 16 life sentences for his crimes, which often resulted in cannibalism and necrophilia. He committed his first murder in 1978, and the rest from 1987-1991, yet still remained undetected despite various missing person reports and calls to the police.

Given this, Jeffrey’s case sparked immense criticism of law enforcement, as the public believed the lack of urgency surrounding the victims was due to the fact that they were primarily African American, Asian, Latino, and homosexual. 

So, you can imagine Roy Ratcliff’s shock when he received a call stating that Jeffrey desired to be baptized. 

In a book he wrote titled, Dark Journey Deep Grace: Jeffrey Dahmer’s Story of Faith, Ratcliff shares his initial shock:

“Questions multiplied in my mind. What would my family think? I’d been married for 25 years to my lovely wife, Susan, and in all that time, I’d never exposed her to anything harmful. My children were grown. Would they take this matter seriously, or would they make jokes or laugh about it? Would they encourage or discourage me? What would my congregation think? I had only served them for four years, and I still didn’t know them all well. Would they be honored or ashamed? Most importantly, is Dahmer sincere? Could he have a hidden motive?” (Ratcliff, 2006, pg.11)

Ultimately, Ratcliff responded to the call and agreed to baptize Jeffrey. But before doing so, he needed to visit the prison that Jeffrey was in, officially meet him, and uncover his reason for wanting to be baptized. 

Baptism is an outward expression of unity with Jesus Christ in both his death and resurrection. It is a public proclamation through water immersion of your decision to believe in Christ and follow him wholeheartedly. As Roy spoke with Jeffrey, it was clear he understood the meaning of baptism and sincerely desired it. He breathed a sigh of relief when Roy agreed to baptize him and stated, “I was afraid you would come and tell me that I couldn’t be baptized because my sins are too evil.” (Ratcliff, 2006, pg.15)

His thoughts echo our society. We believe that certain sins are too evil to redeem. 

When we make ourselves the standard of good, it is easy to see the sins of others as irredeemable.

But when we see God as the standard of good, we see that all sin is redeemable. In fact, we should not see ourselves as separate or better than the infamous criminals of the world, because we, too, have sinned greatly against our holy God.

On November 28th, 1994, Jeffrey Dahmer was killed in prison by Christopher Scarver, a fellow inmate. Ironically, Jeffrey was killed in the same manner that he killed his very first victim. When the news of Jeffrey’s death spread, the public cheered- some stating that he received what he deserved. Others praised Christopher Scarver as a hero. Some called it karma. While others called it God providing justice to the families of the victims.

Whether Dahmer is in heaven or hell is not our call to make. None of us can truly know that. 

But here’s what we can know. If Jeffrey did repent of his sins, and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, Jeffrey would indeed be saved. 

Repentance is not a simple, “I’m sorry.” Repentance is not remorse at the thought of being caught. Repentance is a change of mind, leading to a turning from sin to a turning to Christ.

The late Dr. Charles Stanley, the former Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, delivered a sermon where he defined repentance as this: the recognition of sin with godly sorrow, and a commitment to a change of direction.

Repentance is not just recognizing your sin, but also who you sinned against. King David demonstrated this so well.

King David saw a beautiful woman by the name of Bathsheba while she was out on her balcony. He summoned her to his place and had sex with her. She was a married woman to Uriah the Hethite. Bathsheba conceived, and David went to great lengths to hide his deed, including having Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle. 2 Samuel 11:27 tells us that the Lord considered what David had done to be evil. So he sent a prophet named Nathan to speak a parable to David depicting the evil he did. 

When David heard the parable, he had no idea Nathan was speaking of his deeds, “David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb” (2 Samuel 12:5-6 CSB).

Even David unknowingly admitted that his sin deserved death.

But Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from Saul. I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. Why then have you despised the LORD’s command by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife- you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword. Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife' (2 Samuel 12:7-10 CSB).

Nathan then goes on to further tell David what God revealed to him, “This is what the LORD says, I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight. You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Isreal in broad daylight’” (2 Samuel 12:11-12 CSB).

David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Then Nathan replied to David, “And the LORD has taken away your sin: you will not die. However; because you treated the LORD with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die. Then Nathan went home” (2 Samuel 12:13-15 CSB).

For us to truly repent, it is not enough for us to solely recognize our sin, but we must recognize who we sinned against, just like David did. 

I’d like to point out that David’s repentance did not absolve him of consequences. Notice how we read that the Lord brought disaster on David’s family. The son he conceived with Bathsheba died. The Lord administered justice while simultaneously showing David love by taking away his sin, even though his sin deserved death. It's important to note that David would eventually go on to father other sons, including King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live. God would also fulfill his promise to David that Jesus Christ would come from David’s lineage and the tribe of Judah and would establish a kingdom that would endure forever. 

Repentance is not a one-time decision. It is a lifelong, conscious choice to turn from sin to Christ.

This shows us that it is not enough to say we believe in Jesus, yet our lifestyle and speech do not support the faith we say we have.

In fact, James 2:14-18 CSB says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe - and they shudder.” 

By no means is belief in Christ a license to sin. This is precisely why Jesus’ death on the cross did not end there. He rose, and his resurrection demonstrated his power over sin and death, also granting those of us who believe in his name the same power over sin.

If Jeffrey did repent of his sins, and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, Jeffrey would indeed be saved.

This is the part of the gospel we love to hate. 

We hate the thought that someone with a sin list like Jeffrey Dahmer could be in heaven right now surrounded by the love of God. Instead, it would bring comfort to our minds to picture him burning in hell.

Thankfully, the choice of who goes to heaven or hell is not in our hands. If the decision was ours, every single one of us would be in hell. We can’t even meet the standards that we set for ourselves and others.

In fact, we have already failed every single standard we have set. 

If the standard of good and our path to heaven is how kindly we treat others, what are we to say about the countless times we’ve been unkind? Where we’ve cursed someone under our breath? When we gossiped? When we bullied someone? When we laughed at a person who fell? 

If the standard of good and our path to heaven is honesty, what about the times when we’ve told a lie? The money we saw someone drop on the ground but kept for ourselves? The marker we stole from a store when we were just five years old? The time we cheated on a test?

If the standard of good and our path to heaven is showing respect, what about the times when we completely lost our composure? What about breaking the rules our parents set for our protection? 

What about our thoughts? Are they always pure?

Who are we on our worst day? Who are we when no one is looking?

Can’t you see how flawed we are as humans? We can’t even keep the basics of the standards we set for ourselves. The bare minimum.

So, we should thank God that we are not the standard of good. 

This is precisely why Jesus’ death on the cross was necessary. He atoned for our sins, but we often miss the significance. 

In Isaiah 6:1-3, the prophet Isaiah gives an account of a powerful vision demonstrating just how holy God is, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Armies: his glory fills the whole earth” ( Isaiah 6:1-3 CSB).

The repetition of the word holy is hard to miss. The core of who God is holy. He is perfect, pure, and completely other than. He is set apart. When we focus in on the nature of his holiness, it enables us to see the magnitude of our sin and just how necessary the atonement was and still is.

Bruce Fidler, Professor of Biblical Studies at Every Nation Seminary, defines atonement as the following:“Atonement refers to the reconciliation that has taken place between God and repentant, believing sinful humans as a consequence of Jesus’ sinless life and death on the cross. The atonement was necessitated by God’s own character, the demands of the Law, and the condition of humanity” (Leadership 215 Systematic Theology 2 Student Manual pg. 121).

In other words, the atonement is a covering.

The fact that we needed covering, and still do, tells us not only the magnitude of our sin, but also God’s view of it. Prior to this study of atonement, I had always viewed my sins as needing to be forgiven, but I never quite fixated my mind on why God completely opposes sin in the first place. I had always thought about how detestable sin is, but not why. God’s holiness gives way to his innate reaction to release his holy wrath against sin. Yet in his holiness, his wrath is not separate from his love.

Throughout the Old Testament, we read about countless animal sacrifices and the shedding of blood. It always stood out to me that the shedding of innocent blood was the preferred method to atone sin. It seemed a bit harsh and extreme in my eyes. I could not grasp why out of all of the ways to atone for sin, why was death and the shedding of blood the selection? The answer to this points back to God’s holiness. His very nature causes him to hate sin, as sin is in direct contrast to his essence. Sin, in fact, is deserving of death. But in God’s love for us, instead of our blood being shed, Jesus shed his own. This shedding satisfied God’s own wrath.

Now, when God sees us, he sees Jesus’ sacrifice, and not our sin, causing us to become the righteousness of God. For so long, I have unknowingly diminished the significance of the cross and did not quite understand the depth of God’s love for us. Understanding the two-fold function of the atonement as reconciling us back to God, while also satisfying God’s holy wrath, has provided a clearer perspective. 

We serve a God who loved and loves us enough to serve as the ultimate atonement.

The blood that Jesus shed was for all mankind, not just a select few. It has the power to atone for all sins, not just a select few.

His blood is not limited. It is pervasive.

A key reason why we fail to see all sin as redeemable is that we fail to see God as love. God has a deep desire for all to repent and turn to him. Consider these scriptures:

1 John 4:7-11 CSB says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10 CSB).

“The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 CSB).

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen: I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:11-16 CSB).

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” ( John 3:16 CSB).

“He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust” (Psalms 103:10-14 CSB).

“Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love. He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19 CSB).

“He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 CSB).

God’s love is not selective. Through the shedding of Jesus' blood, we are all redeemable. 

Featured song:

The Blood - by Dante Bowe