The Precious Blood Series

INTRODUCTION

 The precious blood of Jesus is a subject that is rarely taught in churches today

 But there is a sacredness about the blood, especially the blood of Jesus

 Much of the research I am gleaning from David Alsobrook, a leading authority on this teaching

WHY HIS BLOOD IS PRECIOUS

 sacrifice = to give up something of value

 2 Sam 24:24 – King David refused Aranuah’s offer of oxen to sacrifce saying, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing."

 A Hebrew would search out the best of the flock & bring that animal to the priest to offer

1 Kings 8:62-64

62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. 63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. 64 On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

 What a tremendous cost for a sacrifice

 In today’s standards it would definitely be over $10M (probably $15M)

 The Bible does not state how many priests worked on this but no doubt it took hundreds of priests, hours and hours

 Some would call this a big waste

 Solomon was sacrificing by revelation

 He foresaw the immeasurable cost of the perfect lamb

 Solomon’s costly sacrifice was still just a grain of sand on a beach compared to the blood of Jesus

1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

 Precious means "costly, valuable, honorable, highly esteemed & beloved"

 If we are not redeemed by corruptible things, than we are redeemed by incorruptible things – the blood is incorruptible

 Lev 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood…"

 His blood is not like man’s, it was created by the Father, formed by the Holy Spirit

 Heb 10:5 "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me…"

 Mary was the carrier, but the body of Jesus was a creative miracle of God

 The Blood that flowed in Jesus was pure, holy, incorruptible

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

 In Gen 2 – God commanded Adam & Eve not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil for if they did, they would surely die

 When they ate, a death occurred inside of them & immediately they saw their nakedness, they needed to be covered again

Gen 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

 The covering was no longer God’s glory, but a coat of skin

 It was not divinely created this time, but a gruesome event

 By this, God demonstrated the gruesome reality of sin and it’s wage – death

 Likewise, Jesus’ death provided payment for the penalty of sin

 His death was a gruesome sight

 His death was vicarious

 His sinless life was a substitutionary death for our sinful lives

 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

There are 5 foundational truths in Gen 3:21

1. God requires the shedding of blood for sin (Heb 9:22 & Lev 17:11)

2. The sinner must be covered with blood

3. God provides the sacrifice

4. God himself covers the sinner

5. The innocent dies for the guilty

THE ACCEPTED OFFERING

 We cannot downplay the necessity of the blood of Christ, and emphasize His death instead

 Sin cannot be atoned for without blood (Lev 4,5,6 & Heb 9:22)

 Satan is wants to minimize the importance of Christ’s shed blood

 In Gen 3, we have the first example of blood being shed for sin

 In the very next chapter, we see first example of man’s refusal to accept the blood sacrifice

Gen 4:1-12