The Best Vaccine

Do you already have it?

Faced with the current pandemic, many are wondering which is the best vaccine. Pfizer, or maybe Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson? Almost the entire world seems to be putting their hopes in the vaccine so that this deadly virus can finally be stopped. We all want to return to normality, not worry about wearing masks, face shields, or social distancing, to be able to hug our grandparents and return to our churches without fear of getting infected. However, experts say that the world will not be the same after this pandemic.

There is, on the other hand, a worse pandemic than COVID-19, and it threatens to destroy all the people in this world and affects the entire universe; a pandemic for which there is no human vaccine that works. This pandemic is called sin, a terrible disease that leads to eternal death (Romans 6:23). The worst thing about this disease is that everyone has it, but most don't know they have it (Jeremiah 17:9); they are asymptomatic, but continue to harm other people. Some of its symptoms include headache, serious psychological and emotional damage, illnesses of all kinds (Isaiah 1:5, 6); uncontrollable corrupt words and thoughts (Matthew 12:34 cf. Genesis 6:5). The prophet Isaiah compares a sin-sick person to the unclean menstrual rags that women wore in Biblical times (see Isaiah 64:6). A few who realize that they are carriers of this disease suffer even more, as their desire for a cure increases, but their human efforts seem useless and in despair, they cry out: "Wretched me! Who will free me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24).

In the book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, we find some thoughts that show the terrible condition of a sinner. Bildad, one of Job's so-called friends, said: "How then can a man be justified with God? Or how can he, who is born of a woman, be clean? Behold, not even the moon itself will be resplendent, nor are the stars clean before his eyes; How much less man, who is a worm, and the son of man, also a worm? (Job 25:4-6). Eliphaz, in his response to Job, affirms the same thing: "What is a man that he be clean and that he that is born of a woman be justified? Behold, in his saints, he does not trust, and not even the heavens are clean before his eyes; how much less the abominable and vile man, who drinks iniquity like water? (Job 15:14-16, emphasis added). Job's response is: "Who will make the unclean clean? No one" (Job 14:4). Faced with this desperate and discouraging panorama, we ask ourselves the question: What is the best vaccine for this virus of sin? The answer is only one. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

The blood of Jesus Christ

"All vaccines contain an active component (the antigen) that generates an immune response or instructions for producing that active component. The antigen can be a small part of the disease-causing organism, for example, a protein or sugar, or the whole organism attenuated or inactivated. God's vaccine works in a similar way. Christ had to come and become a man (John 1:14), participate in our flesh and blood, that is, our virus (Hebrews 2:14), and thus develop immunity against sin (Romans 8:3) and be able to inject ourselves with that blood to us.

Renowned Peruvian medical student and scientist Daniel Alcides Carrión García "is recognized for inoculating blood contaminated with the bacterium Bartonella bacilliformis to contract the "Peruvian wart" or "Oroya fever"―now known as "Carrión's disease"―, way to study its development and evolution in the infected... At twenty-one days, he felt the first symptoms of Oroya fever, which continued with its characteristic evolution, to the anguish of his teachers and friends. Carrión personally wrote his clinical history until September 26, 1885, when overwhelmed by fever and severe anemia, he went into delirium. At his request, his companions continued writing the clinical document that he had begun... Carrión was transferred to the French clinic Maison de Santé (in Lima); on October 4, 1885, he received intravenous carbolic acid injections as a measure of last resort; he entered into a coma and died on October 5… Thanks to his sacrifice, we know today that the Peruvian wart and Oroya fever are the same pathologies". Just like Daniel Alcides Carrión, when Jesus incarnated, he received an inoculation of the virus of sin through his human genetics from his mother, and during his life, he developed immunity to sin through faith and obedience to the Father of him By shedding his blood on the cross, Jesus made available to all mankind that precious blood, which is the medicine for sin.

The two phases of healing

The first phase is the inoculation phase. The patient who wishes to protect himself from a virus must first be vaccinated. Likewise, the first step that the sinner must take to heal himself from his spiritual disease is to accept the sacrifice of Jesus for all of us for our salvation. "Who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, might live to righteousness; and by whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). You may be wondering and how much does that wonderful vaccine cost? The answer is nothing. Wonderful! "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "For much more, being already justified in his blood, by him we shall be saved from wrath" (Romans 3:24; 5:9, emphasis added). It is only by faith that we can be justified (or forgiven Romans 5:1). But the sinner must acknowledge his need for salvation and repent of his sins (Acts 5:31; 2 Timothy 2:25, 26; Romans 2:4).

The second phase of healing is immunity. Those vaccinated are not exempt from not getting infected. You must continue to take care of yourself and be patient so that your body will eventually build its own immunity. In the same way, the one who has been justified by the blood of Christ is not beyond the reach of temptation and sin. He must continue to live a life of obedience by faith and a continual death to self. "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23, emphasis added). Paul said, "Truly I assure you, brethren, for the glory that I have of you in our Lord Jesus Christ, that I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31, emphasis added). By dying every day in Christ, we grow stronger in our fight against sin, and thus we will be more and more victorious.

There is hope

So don't despair. There's a solution! You may not feel that you are sick with sin. Jesus can show you your sickness if you ask and let him. Perhaps like Pablo, you see your illness, and you try to heal yourself with your own strength. Jesus tells you: "it is by faith, not by human works." Perhaps you have already accepted the gift of salvation, but you continue to fall into sin. Jesus tells you, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). You should not be discouraged; in Christ, there is the solution for sin and immunity to not get sick anymore.