Nothing But the Blood

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 atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

I couldn't wait to get home and put my thoughts into words. As I was driving home from church I had the blood of Jesus on my mind. I was thinking about something I had been listening to on a CD and my participation in communion yesterday morning. And my mind, as it often does, began to reel.

When I got home I immediately had to look up scriptures on blood. Blood in the Bible goes way back to Genesis and I'll bet it is mentioned in one way or another in every book of the Bible all the way to Revelation. How could it not? This blood points to Jesus. It is the blood. It is His blood that is hidden in the Old Testament sacrifices that were required to atone for man's sin back then. And that sacrifice came alive in the form of a Man who lived among us that He might do away with all those Old Testament blood sacrifices. 

I researched the meaning of the word blood from the Old Testament and the New. At first I was confused because the very first definition of blood was blood! Okaaayyyy... So I followed all the root words until I came to the very most primitive root word's definition. How appropriate that the first meaning (remember. God is the first and the last, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end) was: to rinse, cleanse away by rinsing, cast out, purge, wash, washing. Now we were getting somewhere. God had us on His mind even at the mention of blood so long ago. 

It is the blood of Jesus, the very same blood that was shed 2,000 years ago on the cross, that still today, spiritually, cleanses away our sin and purges us of all impurities. This can only happen when we give our lives to Christ. We cannot earn this great a salvation by anything we do. We must receive Christ...in our hearts and lives. We must understand that He has done a marvelous thing for us. We must not casually think because we know who Christ is that we are redeemed by His blood. It has to become personal...between Jesus and yourself. It has to come in the form of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The New Testament definition of blood was: of man or animals; referring to the seat of life; blood shed (as opposed to bloodshed). In the Old Testament it was the shedding of the blood of animals as sacrifices; in the New, it was one Man's blood shed for us. 

We are told in the Old Testament scripture above that life is in the blood. This scripture could very well be Jesus speaking to us today. In a way it is since the Bible is the Word of God and since Jesus is God, then these were inspired by Him. Without blood we cannot survive. And that's what God is trying to tell us from Genesis to Revelation...that without the blood of Jesus to atone for our sins we are dead. We are not truly alive until that time we seek Him and receive Him and believe that He just is and that His blood was shed for us and covers us from the time we receive Him until the day we die.

In the Old Testament when people offered animals for sacrifices, it was their hands that killed the animal. These animals had to be perfect, spotless. It might have become more than just an animal; it might have been special, like a pet. So when they killed that animal, and the blood covered their hands, it was personal. Imagine having to sacrifice a favored pet! This is so symbolic of how we put Jesus on that cross; how He was offered up, His blood was shed...for us. His blood was and is on our hands. It is I and it is you who put Him on the cross. But the good news is He chose to be put there because He loves us so much.

With the New Testament and the advent of Christ, a new covenant was formed. This is the one between God and us. Jesus became that new covenant. Before Jesus was arrested and as He shared the last supper with His disciples, He said:  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). 

What does it mean to receive the "blood of the Lamb?" He sets us free from our sins. He takes us out of the captivity we've lived with up until this time. We are dead in our sins and we are held captive by them until we receive Christ, when He saves us from God's wrath in the last days and we are redeemed. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Romans 5:9, Ephesians 1:7)

When we receive Christ we regain the access to God through the blood of Jesus. We are separated from Him until we do this. We once were far off, as Ephesians 2:13 tells us, but we are now brought near...by the blood of Christ. Where once it was the blood of animals, now it is through the blood of Christ. Old Testament sacrifices, New Covenant sacrifice. One Man offering one life, once, for all who will receive it. All things are made new. We are made new. We are made whole.

To borrow a line from an old song: What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Revelation 1:5 - ...and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood...