Summary: Why is the blood so important in the Christian belief?

Scripture

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13

Let’s take a look at life! Us! The way God created us!

God created us for fellowship and the free will to worship him. The Bible says that we are uniquely designed. (Jeremiah 1:5)

The very life of our bodies is the blood. (Leviticus 17:11,14)

The blood is very precious to God, because it is the very essence of life.

Function Of Blood In Our Bodies

Fluid, mobile, unlike fixed tissues. Not limited to one part of the body.

Supplies the fixed cells with nourishment, Carries off the waste products of the cell, Continuously supplies and cleans all cells (keeps constant communication), made of many various compounds and elements.

Antibodies – Antitoxins

Prevent infection the white cells fight infection when it occurs, these prevent it from getting a foothold.

The build-up of these occur when you first contract a disease.

Some are effective for a short time Some are effective for life.

Amount Of Blood in Body

How many quarts of blood are there in the body? The amount of blood in the body varies from about 3½ to 5½ quarts or from 5 to 7 percent of body weight. It is possible to lose about one-third of this and still survive.

The Structure of the Blood

Red Cells: Carry fuel to the tissues.

White Cells: Defends the body, combats infection. Other Elements: Blood clotting Antibodies, stop disease spread

The Red Cells

Contains hemoglobin, an iron compound a fuel for the body.

Unites loosely with oxygen, making oxy-hemogoblin carries food to the tissues and carries away "cell garbage"

The child’s blood comes from its father Its mother’s blood is not transferred The mother provides only the flesh, not the blood.

The White Cells

Larger than the red cells, fewer in number.

In an emergency, these cells increase in number very rapidly ("Conscription of the White Army"), then they rush to the place of attack.

They kill germs and surround them.

Why the Blood?

When Cain shed the blood of his brother Abel, life was spilled out upon the earth.

God created Adam from the dust of the ground, the very ground that Abel’s blood was spilled out upon.

Since God places such an importance on the blood, the very substance that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam and Adam became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7 and Leviticus 17:11,14)

The Bible says that life is in the blood and if the deadly virus of sin entered into mankind and that sinful blood is passed down from one generation to another, then only perfect, sinless, blood can atone us from sin. (Leviticus 17:11)

The Body Of Christ

All members related by His blood. The life of each member depends solely on His blood We are blood relatives to Adam, who sinned. Christ gives us new life (blood).

Jesus is our only source for cleansing "Wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb"

We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb.

Hebrews 2:14 - "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood He also Himself likewise took part of the same...""partakers" - koynoneho - "to share fully" "took part" -metecho - "to take part, but not all," "taking part in something outside one’s self"

Jesus took part in the flesh, but not the blood.

So then, since the blood of Jesus came from the Father (making Him innocent), Jesus was PHYSICALLY (as well as spiritually) the Son of God.

Note Jeremiah 22:30 (speaking of Jeconiah): "Thus saith the Lord, Write this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

"Scofield’s Notes: This declaration does not mean that Coniah (or Jeconiah) would have no children, for in 1 Chronicles 3:17-18 some are named (cp. Matthew 1:12). By divine judgment this king was to be written childless, i.e. no physical descendant would occupy a place in the list of Israel’s kings.

Consequently, if our Lord Jesus, who is to occupy David’s throne (Luke 1:32-33), had been begotten by Mary’s husband Joseph, who was of the line of Jeconiah (Matthew 1:12,16), it would have contradicted this divine prediction. Christ’s dynastic right to the throne came, through his foster father Joseph, from Jeconiah, but the physical descent of Jesus from David came through Mary, whose genealogy is traced to David through Nathan rather than through Solomon (cp. Luke 3:31 with Matthew 1:17).

The New Life

You will remember in the Last Supper, and in our communion, Jesus took the fruit of the vine, gave thanks, and told us that "This is my blood". Drinking the wine (symbolically being the blood of Jesus), we take part in His blood.

We find the word blood first mentioned in Genesis: the Hebrew word for blood is dawn, which by analogy means the juice of the grape.

This is interesting since wine is often used to imply joy (Judges 9:13, Isaiah 55:1).

Walter Lewis Wilson, in his book on Bible Types cites many passages where wine is a symbol of joy and prosperity. Since the Last Supper, we find our joy and prosperity in the "life" (or blood) of Jesus.