True Alpine Club Rope

If there was any other way to be saved, any other way to be cleansed, any other way to be forgiven, any other way to be accepted, then Jesus would not have died nor shed one drop of His blood.

But that He did die and that He did shed His blood, tells us that only His blood can cleanse us from all sin.

I read a true story one time of a party of six people who began a dangerous descent of a peak in the Swiss Alps. The first man in line lost his foothold and slipped over an icy ledge. The next two men slid after him while the experienced climbers above braced themselves and stood firm to bear the shock. They thought, without any question, they would simply hold and all these men would be saved by the rope they were connected to.

But when the rope ran its length, the cord snapped in two. The climbers watched in horror as their friends scrambled hopelessly to stop their slide over the slick precipice. Within seconds the three men fell screaming to their deaths 4000 feet below.

For a half hour the other three climbers were frozen in silence and fear, unable to move. Finally, they began that slow painstaking descent down the mountain. Hours later they arrived safely, eager to find answers. Why had the rope broken? They were told that true Alpine Club rope would never break, and that was true.

The survivors were shocked when a close examination revealed the rope they had was not true Alpine Club rope. It was a poor cheap fatal substitute. How did they know it was not the true Alpine Club rope that the professional climbers used? Because true Alpine Club quality rope has a red strand running through it, but this rope did not.

I don't know what your rope of hope is that you are holding on to; counting on it to take you to heaven. But I can tell you what my rope of hope is. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Because nothing but the blood can save you.