The Blood Of The Covenant Series

A COVENANT WITH GOD

PART 7

“THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT”

Date: July 28, 2002

Place: Allendale Baptist Church

Text: Hebrews 9: 23-28

Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

Introduction:

Martin De Haan states, “The Bible is a book of blood and a bloody book. When we are accused of preaching a Gospel of blood we proudly plead guilty, to the charge for the only thing that gives life to our teaching and power to the Word of God is the fact that it is the blood which is the very life and power of the Gospel. The Bible declares itself to be a living book, the only living book in the world; and it is able to impart life to those who will believe with their hearts what it teaches”(9).

Spurgeon stated, “Scripture teaches us…that the blood produces life – that life lies in the blood. Blood, therefore, is the mysterious link between matter and spirit. How is it that the soul should in any degree have alliance with matter through blood, we cannot understand; but certain it is that this is the mysterious link which unite these apparently dissimilar things together, so that the soul can inhabit the body, and the life can rest in the blood”(65).

When I first read Spurgeon’s insight here on the concept of the blood it provoked me to ponder this thought, “Life can rest in the blood.”

There are seven biological functions of the blood.

The 7 functions…

1. The blood transports metabolic wastes from each cell to organs that excrete them, even drugs.

2. The red blood cells transport oxygen from respiratory structures (lungs) to the cells of the body.

3. The blood transports nutrients from the digestive system and from storage depots to each cell of the body.

4. The blood transports hormones from endocrine glands to target tissues.

5. The blood helps to maintain fluid balance in the body.

6. The blood helps to distribute metabolic heat within the body and to maintain normal body temperature.

7. The blood (white blood cells) defends the body against invading microorganisms.

Medical science has given us insight into how “life rests in the blood.”

These seven functions accomplished by the blood help you and I live.

If for what ever reason you where to lose too much blood you would die – so life rest in the blood

Lev. 17:11 states, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s own life.”

This verse tells us there is physical life in the blood but it also alludes that there is spiritual life in the blood also.

The blood is what gives you and I life spiritually and the seven critical functions done by the blood, for a person spiritually when they have accepted the blood of the lamb- Jesus’ sacrifice of His blood on the cross.

Hebrews 9:22 “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is not forgiveness.”

The blood of the Lamb’s seven life functions.

I. The blood of the lamb transports the metabolic waste from each of our cells (spiritually) and then takes this poisonous waste out of our soul and spirit.

A. This is the first task of the Blood of the lamb as it floods through our spiritual veins.

B. T.S. Robie said; “Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Christ to keep you out of Hell.”

C. II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

II. The blood of the lamb transports oxygen- the breath of life- into the spiritual cells of us.

A. Genesis 2:7 “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.”

B. Interesting God formed man- first the physical structure was there but man did not become a living being until God breathed into man.

C. It’s the breath of God in the blood of the lamb which brings life.

Reality check – We’re never alive until we receive the breath of life from God which only flows through the blood of the lamb.

III. The blood of the lamb transports nutrients (food) to the spiritual cells of each of us and gives us life.

A. John 6:35 “… Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”