Blood. It’s one of life’s building blocks for all vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. But it’s interesting to consider what blood means to different people. For surgeons, nurses, emergency room staff and first responders, it’s a normal part of a day’s work – making incisions, drawing blood for testing, giving transfusions, and stopping bleeding from severe wounds.
And if you’re a patient in need of a transfusion, you don’t want to hear someone say, “Sorry, we’re all out of your blood type. But we do have some high-quality tomato juice. Or some vintage cherry Kool-Aid. Which would you prefer?”
If you were to ask the director of a modern-day horror movie, however, you’d get a very different perspective. Blood’s a vital part of creating the film’s gore factor. On the other hand, parents have another vantage point. If little Johnny or Ginny runs home crying, blood seeping from a knee, elbow or finger, they know it’s time for remedial action.
Most of us take blood for granted, even though we have approximately 10 pints of it circulating continually through their bodies. Blood has many life-giving properties: transporting oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout the body; helping dispose of carbon dioxide and waste products; providing immune protection from viruses, bacteria and infections; possessing a complex clotting system; assisting in regulating body temperature; and maintaining vital pH and fluid balances.
A small minority of people find the sight of blood traumatizing. Hemophobia is an intense, irrational fear of blood that can cause dizziness, extreme anxiety, even fainting. Have you seen the new TV show, “Best Medicine”? It’s about a prominent big-city surgeon who takes up a small-town medical practice for one reason – he can’t tolerate the sight of blood. Not a desirable trait for a physician.
But nowhere does blood play a more central role than in the Bible. There are some who call Christianity a “bloody religion,” and there’s some validity to that. In the Old Testament, especially Leviticus, we see God establishing precise, detailed animal sacrifices to be performed by the Israelite priests as ritual atonement for the people’s sins. Sacrificing sheep and goats and birds didn’t provide for the actual forgiveness of sins but pointed to the once-for-all-time sacrifice that would be made by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
With Good Friday coming up in a few days, followed by Easter, it’s fitting to contemplate the incomparable impact of the blood Christ shed during His scourging and crucifixion. The night before His crucifixion, Jesus observed the Passover meal with His disciples. Taking a cup containing the ceremonial wine, He declared, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Jesus knew with certainty what He was facing.
This scene is recalled later in the New Testament when the apostle Paul, writing to believers in Corinth, described how they should observe the Lord’s Supper, which we commonly refer to as communion: “The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me’” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
Just as physically we rely on the blood in our bodies to remove impurities, among other things, the shed blood of Jesus Christ does much the same for us spiritually, only in a much more profound way. As Hebrews 9:22 clearly states, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [of sins].”
The writings from other apostles made the same affirmation. The apostle Peter wrote, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
And the apostle John explained what it means to accept by faith and act upon what Jesus did in becoming the substitutionary atonement for our sins: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
We could cite many similar passages from the New Testament, but during worship services this Easter we’ll likely hear many hymns that underscore the incomparable, life-changing impact of Jesus’ shed blood to ensure our forgiveness, redemption, and restoration into an everlasting relationship with God.
One of them, written in the late 1800s by Lewis Edgar Jones, is called “There Is Power in the Blood.” Its first verse and chorus offer this assurance:
“Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb….”
Gospel singer and songwriter Bill Gaither has written numerous hymns about the life-giving, cleansing blood of Jesus. One called “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” might startle our sensibilities if we didn’t understand what Christ did for us, long before any of us had committed our first sin. It starts off:
“There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains….”
Another of Gaither’s hymns reminds us:
“What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow….”
There are so many other hymns and songs that address this theme, but a more recently recorded praise song, “The Blood,” tells why it’s essential to always remember what only Jesus’ blood can do for us:
“Everything changed
It’s getting harder to recognize
The person I was
Before I encountered Christ
I don’t walk like I used to
I don’t talk like I used to
I’ve been washed from the inside out.
Hallelujah, hallelujah
I know it was the blood
Could’ve only been the blood….”
Is Christianity a bloody religion? Not exactly. In reality, it’s a relationship – a relationship with God made possible for each of us solely because of the blood Christ shed on our behalf. His blood cleanses us from all sin, giving us access to the holy, perfect God.
No comments:
Post a Comment