Blood is fascinating stuff. I’m not trying to be gory here, but it is fascinating. It is both attracting and repelling at the same time. Take the rush hour “gawker’s slowdown” at a traffic accident. Why do people slow down? The prospect of seeing blood at the scene. Why do people go to prize fights or ultimate fighting events? Blood shed by one or both opponents. It is equally repelling. Consider surgery. Most of us don’t have the stomach to perform or even watch surgery. Why? We are repulsed by the sight of all that blood.
Here are some interesting facts about blood. It can be frozen and is unaffected. It can be taken from one race and given to another without influencing the color of the recipient. Blood cannot be duplicated by scientists. There is no such thing as synthetic blood. Blood is the “red river of life” carrying food and oxygen to every cell in the body and, simultaneously, carrying away waste material. It circulates twice per minute through the body and, as the heart pumps it, supplies and cleanses every cell in the body. No part of the body can live without being in contact with blood. The white corpuscles (leucocytes) in the blood fight disease. The red corpuscles (erythrocyctes) carry food and oxygen. Blood is composed of plasma, corpuscles, and platelets. Most adults have between five and seven quarts of blood. Every cubic millimeter of blood (the size of a pin head) has 5.5 million cells in it! Those cells can live for 110-120 days. To replenish lost blood cells, the body manufactures 2 million new cells/second! Like I said, blood is fascinating stuff!
God thinks so too. He declared that only blood could atone for the human soul. From the Bible, here are four powerful actions which the blood can do for us:
1. The blood is the price of our salvation(Exodus 12:1-28).
It saves us from judgment to come. Just like the Israelites, to be freed from slavery in Egypt at the Passover, the blood of a spotless lamb must be applied to each home and all must partake of its flesh to be effective. Even so, we are saved from judgment by applying the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, to our lives. Jesus shed His own blood to save me from the judgment my sin deserved (Romans 5:9).
It saves us from sin. Blood alone is the acceptable atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11). Under the Old Covenant sin was “covered” by the blood of an animal that was sacrificed. It protected the sinner from the wrath of a holy God. Under the New Covenant the blood of Christ Jesus does more than cover our sin. It cleanses the soul from sin. Blood alone is the acceptable price for sin (Romans 3:25). Blood alone is our redemption price (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Jesus’ blood redeemed us, paid the ransom price, for us. Because of our sin we had a pricetag on our heads. Jesus paid the price and bought us for Himself!
2. The blood conquers Satan(Revelation 12:11). How do the saints alive during the Great Tribulation overcome Satan? By the power of the blood of Jesus and their fearless testimony. Remember, Satan is already defeated by the cross. When Jesus died and shed His blood, Satan lost the war. All you and I need do is claim the power of the blood through prayer and the victory is ours! Old-timers call it “pleading the blood of Jesus.”
3. The blood condemns sinners (Matthew 27:24, 25). Just as the blood of Jesus saves, so it also condemns. It bears witness for or against our condemnation. When Jesus was brought before the angry mob by Pontius Pilate, the mob screamed for Him to be crucified. Pilate symbolically washed his hands and declared himself “innocent of this man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” To which the mob shouted, “His blood be on us and on our children.” The blood can save. The blood can also condemn.
4. Finally, the blood cleanses saints (1 John 1:7). Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you and me from sin. When we are cleansed we are washed so pure that there is no stain or hint that sin was ever present! That’s not all. His blood cleanses us from all sin, no matter how many, no matter how heinous. That’s the gospel. Jesus died and shed His blood to save sinners and to make them fit for heaven. How do we, as Christians, apply the blood of Christ to our sins? Here’s how. Confess your sins to God (1 John 1:9). Humbly admit your guilt. When you do you tap into the cleansing power of the blood. God uses the blood to cleanse our consciences (Hebrews 9:14). Sin pollutes our consciences so they need cleansing too. God doesn’t want us to be in bondage to the sins of our past. Satan does. He accuses us of our past sins and afflicts our consciences. The blood will wash them clean. The blood frees us to pray with power (Hebrews 10:19). It gives us confidence to come to God as priests and offer up our prayers to Him. It frees us to serve God with power (Revelation 1:5, 6a). Once we are cleansed from our sins—past, present, and future—we can serve God as His priests with power and authority. God only uses pure vessels and the blood purifies us so He can use us.
The blood is fascinating stuff but more than fascinating, Christ’s blood is astounding! It is the cost of our salvation. It conquers Satan. It condemns sinners and cleanses saints.
There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb,
Irv