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authority is not the earthly but the heavenly Jerusalem, a company that had never known
divorcement. When we open the book of the Revelation the first company of the
redeemed we meet with are those who say:
"Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, And hath
made us kings and priests unto God and His Father" (Rev. 1: 5, 6).
While all whoever they may be, and whatever their calling, must have been cleansed
by the blood of the Lamb, there seems some special reason why it should have been
introduced here. The word "washed" is the Greek lousanti, but the best texts read
lusanti which means "loosed". Again, redemption sets free, and employs a number of
words derived from luo "I loose". Nevertheless the way in which the word luo is used in
the book of the Revelation makes us suspect that something more is intended here in
Rev. 1: 5, 6, than purely evangelical salvation. Let us assemble the occurrences of luo
which are seven in number.
Luo in Revelation.
"Loosed us from our sins in His own blood." (1: 5).
"Loose the seals." "Loose the seven seals." (5: 2, 5).
"Loose the four angels." "The four angels were loosed." (9: 14, 15).
"He must be loosed." "Satan shall be loosed." (20: 3, 7).
Haima "blood" occurs seventeen times in the Revelation. Four references are to the
blood of the Lamb. Thirteen to blood shed or sent in judgment. The four that interest us
at the moment are:
"Loosed us from our sins in His own blood." (Rev. 1: 5).
"Redeemed us to God . . . . . kings and priests." (5: 9).
"Washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (7: 14).
"They overcame by the blood of the Lamb." (12: 11).
The references to blood that remain fall into two groups:
1. The call for vengeance.
"Avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth." (Rev. 6: 10).
"For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood
to drink; for they are worthy." (16: 6).
"Drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."
(17: 6).
"Avenged the blood of His servants at her hand." (19: 2).
"He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood." (19: 13).
2. The judgment by blood.
"The moon became as blood." (Rev. 6: 12).
"Hail and fire mingled with blood." (8: 7).
"Third part of the sea became blood." (8: 8).
"Power over waters to turn them to blood." (11: 6).
"Blood came out of the winepress." (14: 20).
"The sea . . . . . became as the blood of a dead man." (16: 3).
"Rivers and fountains . . . . . became blood." (16: 4).
"And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain
upon the earth." (18: 24).