A little boy once came to the Washington Monument (that’s the one where Spiderman rescues his friends in “Homecoming).
After touring the monument, the little boy saw a security guard standing at the entrance to the monument, and he asked him, “I want to buy this, please.”
“How much do you have?” asked the guard.
“35 cents,” the boy answered.
“You need to understand three things,” the guard explained. “First, 35 cents is not enough to purchase the monument; in fact, 35 million dollars is not enough. Second, the Washington Monument is not for sale; and third, if you’re an American citizen, you already own it. You can go in to the monument anytime you want.”
Hebrews 4 verse 16 tells us: “Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”
The story of the little boy and the Washington Monument is a story about God’s mercy.
We need to understand three things about mercy:
1) All of the money, or good deeds, or hard work, in the world is not enough to buy the mercy or salvation of Jesus Christ.
2) God's spiritual blessings are not for sale, and cannot be earned.
3) If we are in Jesus Christ, we already have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. All we need to do to access His peace, His comfort, His joy, is to enter freely into His presence.
In the Gospels, we see that Jesus celebrated a ceremonial final meal with His disciples. We call it the Last Supper. At the table with them He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”
Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and passed it to the disciples, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This ismMy blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
As Believers today we celebrate this new-covenant meal by breaking bread and drinking wine (or juice) together in remembrance of Jesus.
We call it the Lord’s Supper. This meal replaces the Jewish Passover. There is no longer any need to bring a lamb to the altar, because Christ is the Lamb of God, sacrificed once for all, Who takes away the sin of the world.
There is no longer any need to sprinkle the blood of a lamb on doorposts, for by faith we receive the benefits of the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin.
Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. He is the spotless Lamb of God, the living bread that came down from heaven. With His body and His blood, He fulfilled all the requirements of God’s law, delivering us from the slavery and bondage of sin and death forever!
And because of His death and resurrection, when we accept Him as Lord we have full, free access to His presence, and to every spiritual blessing He promises us in His mercy.
If you're feeling far from God today, or like your sin is too big or too bad for His love to cover over, I want you to read the story of the Washington Monument again, and allow the truth to soak into your heart - you can't buy God’s mercy, but you can enter into it freely and joyously!
During this Christmas season, I encourage you to take Communion. You can do this alone, or with family, or gather a group of friends to celebrate God's mercy together.
Jesus, Lamb of God, in You we find deliverance, mercy, salvation to new life, full and free! We pray that You will be exalted in our lives each day. Amen.