Verse 19 says, “But with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.” It is important to understand what Peter means by “blemish” and “spot” and to know the difference between them. Blemish is a term often used for impurities found in precious stones and gems. Suppose you have a precious stone in your hand. If this stone is pure, it does not have any mixture; that is, it does not have any foreign body mixed in with it. However, sometimes a precious stone or a gem does have a foreign body in it. That foreign body, that element of mixture, is a blemish.
A spot is a scar that comes from a wound. If you have a wound on your hand, eventually that wound may develop into a scar. Such a scar is a spot on your body.
God created us pure, but the fall has brought many foreign bodies, blemishes, into us. All these foreign bodies are of the Devil, Satan. Furthermore, in our natural life we have been wounded.
We can see from the typology in the Old Testament that the animal sacrifices were to be without blemish and without spot. For instance, suppose a sheep was to be offered as a sin offering. That sheep had to be without blemish, without mixture; it also had to be without spot, without any wound. The sheep offered as a sin offering had to be pure and perfect.
Among all the human beings who have ever lived on earth, there has been only one Man—the Lord Jesus Christ—who is without mixture or blemish. Furthermore, He is the only Man who has not been wounded morally and ethically. I would ask you to consider your situation. Even though you may still be young, have you not received many wounds to your ethical and moral being? You must admit that you have not been preserved perfect. There are some who have developed the habit of gambling. Being addicted to gambling is a serious wound to a person’s character. We also wound ourselves whenever we tell a lie. I do not believe that there is anyone among us who has never told a lie. Every lie is a wound. If a wife lies to her husband or a husband to his wife, such a lie will be a wound to their married life. Most of us have also been wounded by stealing. Very few people have never stolen anything from others. Sometimes children steal things from their parents, or wives from their husbands. Stealing always wounds us.
Our person and character have been wounded in many ways. As fallen human beings, we have many blemishes and wounds. Anyone who has been divorced has experienced a serious wound. The Samaritan woman in John 4 had been wounded in this way. Because she had changed husbands six times, she had been wounded in many ways. She was full of spots.
Jesus Christ is the only person without mixture and without spot. He does not have any blemishes or wounds.
Actually, the words “without blemish and without spot” are Old Testament terms used with respect to sacrifices offered to God. Any Jews reading the First Epistle of Peter would realize this. Because Peter was writing to Jewish believers, he used terms that were familiar to them. In other words, this verse indicates that Jesus Christ is the real sacrifice to be our sin offering and trespass offering. Christ is the real Passover lamb.
The lamb sacrificed at the time of the Passover had to be without blemish and without spot. Furthermore, this lamb had to be kept for four days in order to be carefully examined. Before the lamb could be sacrificed, it first had to be examined to prove that it was without blemish and without spot. This is what the Lord Jesus experienced in Jerusalem during the days before He was crucified. Day by day He was examined by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the elders, and the priests. They did their best to find a fault of some kind in Him. However, according to their law, they could not find fault with Him. Then they handed the Lord Jesus over to the Roman rulers, to Pilate and Herod. But neither could these Roman rulers, according to Roman law, find any fault in Him. For this reason, Pilate declared, “I find no fault whatever in him” (John 18:38). Therefore, according to both divine law and secular law, the Lamb of God was examined and found to be without mixture and without spot. Only this unique Person is without blemish and without spot.
On the one hand, Peter refers to the Old Testament typology; on the other hand, simultaneously he indicates that Christ is the real Passover lamb. He is our sin offering and our trespass offering, the One offered for the atonement of the sins of God’s people. As the Lamb without blemish and without spot, He shed His precious blood to redeem us. We all need to know that we have been redeemed from our vain manner of life by the precious blood of Christ.
I would encourage you to spend an hour alone with the Lord to consider the precious blood of Christ shed for you on the cross. This will give you the desire to have a holy manner of life in fear. You will want to become holy in all your manner of life and to pass the remaining time of your sojourn in fear. If we would live in this way, we need to realize that we have been redeemed, bought, purchased, with the high price of Christ’s precious blood. This realization will cause us to have a living in a holy manner of life, for we shall realize that Christ’s precious blood has redeemed us from the vain manner of life. No longer will we want to live in a way that is vain.
A vain manner of life is not necessarily sinful. Rather, in certain respects it may be quite moral. Nevertheless it is still vain—having no goal, aim, or purpose. Anything without a goal or purpose is vanity. Now we should live a life without any vanity. Everything we do and say should have God’s goal in view. This kind of life is weighty and full of content. It is a life with purpose, goal, and aim. Let us all spend time to consider Peter’s writing concerning the precious blood of Christ so that in a practical way we may become holy in all our manner of life and pass the time of our sojourn in fear.