Blood

The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).

People are afraid of blood. Some parents lose it when their child gets a scraped knee or cuts a finger. Some teenagers love scary movies but cover their eyes when fake blood fills the screen. Fear of blood-borne diseases has many people treating blood like a pathogen, wearing gloves and throwing bloody clothes away instead of washing them. Some people get queasy at just the mention of blood.

And yet blood is at the heart of Christianity. Christianity is the religion of forgiveness, and forgiveness is only made possible by blood. In the Old Testament, God forbade His people from drinking blood, giving the following reason: 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 life (Leviticus 7:11). Sin demands the death sentence; but in His mercy, God accepted the blood of animals as payment for human sin.

This was, however, only a limited solution to a much bigger problem. Every human being sins over and over again; not a day goes by that we do not break God’s laws and invite His wrath. Countless animals offered up their lives to pay for human sin, but the need for additional sacrifices only grew larger. Thankfully, in Jesus Christ God provided a permanent solution, a final sacrifice that would atone for all human sin throughout the ages. God’s own Son would offer His blood in place of ours, freeing us forever from the guilt of our wrongdoing. John writes, the blood of Jesus…purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

The cross is an ugly, bloody thing, but that blood is beautiful when you realize the great good it does us. In his vision of heaven, John relates the following: there before me was a great multitude that no one could count…They were wearing white robes…These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation chapter seven). If you have ever tried to wash out a bloodstain, you must be shaking your head at the thought that blood could make anything white. But Jesus’ blood washes us clean of sin, gives us His purity, and makes us fit for a place in heaven. His blood is nothing to be feared; it the greatest blessing you will ever receive.