THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
TEXT: Hebrews 9.1-28
When Adam first sinned in the Garden Of Eden, and the eyes of he and his wife were opened, God met them with the skins of the first sacrifice for man’s sin. . . and the IMPORTANCE of the Blood was first INTRODUCED to IMPACT man’s life forever.
From Genesis to Revelation, it is the central theme in expressing God’s love for man and the necessity of a sacrifice to redeem man back to his Creator. It was offered to Cain as the only choice for obtaining salvation from sin, to the Israelites in Egyptian bondage on the eve of the Exodus as their Passover to dissuade the Angel of Death from taking their first-born, to Moses on Mt. Sinai as the seal of the First Covenant with blood, to the Old Testament high priest as the yearly sacrifice for the sins of a needy people, and on throughout the pages of the Old Testament as a Promise of a Someday Better Sacrifice for man’s sin.
But Isaiah 1.11 tells us of the weariness of God in the observances of blood without the true meaning. For a canvas was being painted that should reflect that Better Sacrifice. For God from the beginning of sin equated the sin offering as the same--even choosing to limit the vocabulary of sin and sin offering to the same word. . . so that man would always know that with any sin, He had before the foundation of the world prepared Himself a Better Sacrifice.
The Blood of that Sacrifice is that of God’s own Dear Son--Jesus Christ. It pleased God to bruise Him, according to the prophet Isaiah, for God knew that the remissions of sins could not have been effected without the Effusion of Blood on the Cross. When He chooses to pen this statement in Hebrews 9.22, He uses a word that He architects to be used only once--`haimatekchusia, "a gushing forth. . . an effusion" translated "shedding of blood". For without the shedding of His Blood, there is no remission of sin. THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD--for the Cross was truly a Bloody Cross. It was not the 16th century classical machinations of godless painters commissioned by ungodly rulers in God-forsaken churches to soothe men’s consciences. It was a Blood-stained Cross that went with a Blood-stained Christ. For He was beaten and mocked and had His beard plucked out by ruthless soldiers. . . who plaited a crown of thorns into His scalp until the three inch barbs were lodged between His skull and His skin. He was tortured and beaten with a Roman cat-’o’-nine tails that tore His flesh and exposed His Blood to men’s vicious eyes. Crowned with a crown of thorns, robed in a purple robe over his freshly opened wounds, the demons danced with glee that the Son of Glory should suffer so. Satan, however, sought to destroy Him before the Cross--but the Father’s Plan necessitated that the Blood be shed on lifting Jesus above the earth on that cruel Blood-stained Cross on which He died.
The BLOOD IS OUR POWER--for it is the Lifeflow of Christianity. To think less of its importance is to weaken our faith, to suppose that it lacks in power is to deny the Faith. It is our POWER TO OVERCOME SATAN (Revelation 12.11). Any attempt in entering the arena of conflict with our mortal foe without the Power of the Blood is not only foolish, but useless. We often sing of its Power in our songs, but live so much of our lives without that Power. Let us use this weapon of warfare wisely and realize our potential through His Blood.
The BLOOD IS OUR PURPOSE, for once we have realized that the Blood of Jesus Christ is our only access to Heaven, it can then become our focused message to a dying world.
The BLOOD IS OUR PURGING (Hebrews 9.14), for by His Blood are we made pure before our Father. We can stand on the foundation that our Savior has lain by the Sacrifice of Himself.
The BLOOD IS OUR PEACEMAKER (Colossians 1.20); for by it, we who had been at war with God on Satan’s side, are granted not only peace with God--but also the peace of God.
The BLOOD IS OUR PROPITIATION (Romans 3.25). Not only did Jesus ascend into Heaven to offer His Blood as an offering before Almighty God on the Heavenly Mercy Seat, this verse tells us that He actually BECOMES our Mercy Seat--THE PROPITIATION. So that we can do as no Old Testament priest could ever do--have daily access to the Holiest of Holies, which we now have in Christ Jesus through His Blood.
The BLOOD IS OUR PURCHASING AGENT (Acts 20.28). He has not only redeemed us to Himself, He has paid that price with His own dear Blood. The debt that was owed could only be paid with a Sinless Atonement, and only God’s Son could meet the requirements of a Sinless Sacrifice. His Blood was the only medium of exchange that a Holy God could accept for the sins of a lost world. And He freely chose to do so while we were still yet enemies of God, so that we might be ransomed as the sons of God.
The BLOOD IS OUR PASSOVER (Hebrews 11.22), for even as the Old Testament picture of deliverance to the Jews in bondage to Egypt, Christ became our Paschal Lamb (who was slain before the foundation of the world) so that by applying His Blood to our hearts, we, too, shall escape the Wrath to come--and be known as His people by identifying ourselves with His Blood.
The BLOOD IS OUR PURIFICATION, for without it, we are but hopeless sinners on a direct route to Hell to face God’s punishment. Because of it, we can purify ourselves in holy living because He has purified us into a holy standing.
The BLOOD IS OUR SACRIFICE and our SIN-OFFERING; it is our SUBSTITUTION and our STEADFASTNESS--by it we can be assured of Heaven and insured against Hell. It is our SANCTIFICATION and our SPRINKLING--for even as the Old Testament priests would sprinkle the altar with the blood of bulls and goats, He has sprinkled us unto sanctification with His own pure Blood. It is our SALVATION and our SEAL OF THE NEW COVENANT. We remember it in deed each time we participate in the Lord’s Supper. We should never take lightly the one thing He asked us to remember above all--that it was His Body and His Blood that makes a relationship with God possible.
The BLOOD IS OUR CLEANSING and our JUSTIFICATION. It is our ETERNAL REDEMPTION (Ephesians 1.7). By it we are brought nigh to God, kept by its power, and promised eternity by simple faith in its efficacy. "It is important" is an understatement. "It is needful" could not even begin to fathom its depth. No human tongue could ever explain it; no angel could ever begin to understand it. God alone could only perform it, and Jesus alone could only offer it. The Blood is IMMUTABLE, unchangeable. It is ETERNAL, it is EFFICIENT, and it is EFFECTIVE. Satan cannot conquer it and scoffers cannot refute it. It is the PREMISE of our salvation and the PROMISE of our future. It is THE FULL PAYMENT for our UNPAYABLE DEBT. We can accept it or reject it, but we can never deny this one thing--that the shedding of a Sinless Blood is the greatest outpouring of God’s love ever revealed to man.
No one this side of Heaven shall be able to describe the importance of the Blood of Christ. All such efforts are futile, as our finite minds cannot fathom His great sacrifice for us. Let us therefore seek to praise Him for the victory we have in Him.
