Soul-Saving Blood.
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
In order to become a child of God, you must:
- repent of your sins [1]
- believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and that He rose the third day
- confess the Lord Jesus
What exactly happened on that cross almost 2,000 years ago? Jesus shed His blood and that blood paid for the sins of all mankind [2]. Let's talk about blood. The Blood of Jesus.
When we turn back to the Old Testament of the Bible, we see that after sin entered into the world, God required the blood sacrifice of animals for the atonement of sins.
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 the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.Leviticus 4:3-5 If the priest that is anointed do sin...then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering....he shall... lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the LORD. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation...
But the blood of the animals still couldn't do the trick. The Israelites were still unfaithful to their God as evidenced by their awhoring after other gods. A better sacrifice was needed.
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
God promised His people, the Jewish people, a new covenant about 600 years before the coming of Christ. We will see that this covenant would also require blood.
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
In the Bible, we have the Old Testament (or Hebrew Scriptures) and the New Testament. Both were ushered in by blood. The Old Testament came by the blood of animals. The New Testament by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Old Testament Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Hebrews 9:18-20 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
New Testament
Matthew 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
--Jesus Christ
The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were only a picture of the ultimate sacrifice. When Jesus Christ went to the cross almost 2,000 years ago, He was the ULTIMATE sacrifice. A bloody sacrifice indeed.
- His skin was whipped off,
- His beard was torn out of his cheeks,
- His head pierced with thorns,
- His face beaten to a pulp. He was unrecognizable. The Bible says He was more marred than ANY man.
- His hands and feet were nailed through with thick spikes,
- His side pierced with a spear after He died.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, completely abolished the system of animal sacrifice forever. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were only a picture, a figure, of the true sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Their blood was only a figure of the true blood that would be shed thousands of years later on a cross outside the city of Jeruselem. The animal sacrifices were...
Hebrews 9:9 ...a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience...9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The blood of animals had to be shed over and over but the blood of Jesus was shed only one time. The Catholic religion does not understand this and contends that the blood is shed over and over again in the mass, but the Bible says something different:
Hebrews 10:12, ...after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.Hebrews 7:27 ...this he did once, when he offered up himself.
Hebrews 9:28 ...Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many...
Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
The blood of Jesus is powerful. It is a saving, healing blood. Look at what the blood has done:
| What the blood of Jesus does | Bible Reference |
|---|---|
| The blood pays for our sins so we don't go to hell. | Matthew 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. |
| The blood bought us. [3] | Acts
20:28 ...feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood.
1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23 ...ye are bought with a price... |
| The blood justifies us before a holy God. | 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.. |
| The blood redeems us. | Ephesians
1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace.
Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. |
| The blood brought us Gentiles into a relationship with God that we didn't have before. |
Ephesians
2:11-16 ... ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh
...without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world:
But now in Christ Jesus...are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. |
| The blood brought Jew and Gentile (regardless of race or nationality) into a right relationship with God. |
Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. |
| The blood brought peace. | 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. |
| The blood purges our consciences from dead works. | Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? |
| The blood lets us enter into the holiest place before the throne of God. | 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. |
| The blood forges an everlasting covenant between the believer and God. | Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, |
| The blood sanctifies us. | Hebrews 10:29...the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified... |
| The blood cleanses us from all sin. | 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. |
| The blood washes away our sins. | Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, |
| The blood causes us to overcome this old wicked world. | Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. |
Be washed in that cleansing, crimson tide. The blood of Jesus.
[1] I'm not talking a mental assent to the things of Christ. I'm talking about real conviction and repentance of your sins and a commitment to Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:21
[2] The blood paid for the sins of all but not all will be saved because many will reject the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 John 2:2, John 8:24
[3] We were bought from the grip of Satan to the power of God who is the Father of all believers. Acts 26:18
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