The Perfect Sacrifice Series

There Is Power In The Blood – Part 2

The Perfect Sacrifice

Last week we began our Bible Study of the power of the blood of the Lamb. We started by looking at the questions, just what is it about blood that is so special, and not just any blood, but especially the blood of Jesus Christ? Why do Christians place such emphasis on what we call the blood of the Lamb?

We began laying some groundwork to answer these questions by going back to the very beginning and looking at heaven and what happened there that required blood to be created. Let’s briefly review to refresh you memories and bring those who weren’t with us last week up to speed.

I. Brief Review

By studying three important scriptures: Exodus 25:8-9, Psalm 11:4, and Rev. 11:19, we saw that the tabernacle and later the temples that were built by God’s chosen people, the Jews, as dwelling places on earth for God were actually patterned after the original temple that exists in heaven.

This heavenly temple houses God’s throne. It serves as a place of sanctuary and worship. Today, it is where Jesus Christ, our high priest, is interceding on our behalf to the Father.

Before mankind was created, the angels, led by a special anointed cherub, worshipped God in the heavenly temple. We studied Ezekiel 28:13-18, which gave us a picture of this cherub and a glimpse of the tragedy that happened in this sacred place. The prophet, Ezekiel, tells us how Lucifer, that anointed cherub, was created beautiful and perfect in all his ways until the moment he sinned.

We saw how the first sin ever committed didn’t take place in the Garden of Eden, like many believe. But actually took place in heaven. And not just anywhere in heaven, but in the very temple of God. Lucifer or Satan committed the first sin and as a result two things happened.

One – he was thrown out of heaven. Luke 10:18 “And he (Jesus) said unto them, ‘I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven’.”

And two – his sin defiled the very temple of God in heaven and all the articles in it. Therefore, God had to make a way to purge or cleanse the temple, and that way was through the use of blood. Hebrews 9:22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sin).”

Since God is a spirit and does not have blood, and angels are spirit and do not have blood, God created a new creature. A being made with a three-fold nature like Himself. He made man with a body, a spirit, and a soul. And as we read in our main text last week Lev. 17:11, man lives because of a special substance which God placed inside of us – blood.

Blood is a powerful substance, because not only does it give life to our physical bodies, but it also gives eternal life to our souls, because Leviticus said that blood is what gives atonement of sin for the soul.

And last we saw how God uses blood as a weapon to overcome sin and Satan and how powerless Satan truly is against this weapon because as a spirit he has no blood of his own to combat the power of the blood of the Lamb.

That was the gist of what we covered last week. (Copies on the vestibule table). Today we are going to continue our study of the blood of Jesus by looking at the necessity of His virgin birth and how He is the perfect sacrifice.

II. The Need For a Sacrifice

So, let’s take another look at Leviticus 17:11, which is again our main Scripture passage for this week.

Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is blood that maketh atonement for the soul.”

A. Sin-Tainted Blood

In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, they inherited something they were never intended to receive. They inherited the process of death. Death was the consequence of sin.

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…”

And God had warned Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:17 about the consequences of disobeying Him, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

All three parts of man died or began to die at the moment Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. The spirit and soul of man died immediately. Though those two parts of us are eternal – meaning they do not cease to exist once they are created – they died in the manner that they were immediately severed from their connection with God.