The Blood
Acts 20:28 Revelation 5:9
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
“And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.”
Over the past several years an attempt has been made to remove songs that speak of the blood out of the Hymnals, and much of the preaching today is a feel good social gospel. Sometimes we are accused of preaching a gospel of blood to which we plead guilty, for it is the blood that makes atonement.
The Word of God declares itself to be a living book, the only book in the world that is able to impart life to those who believes it’s the word of God. In Hebrews chapter four we have this powerful statement, “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.”
That word quick is translated a living thing or something that’s alive. The bible is a living Word, completely different from all other books because the stream of blood moves from page to page from Genesis to Revelation revealing the power of blood which imparts life to the word of God.
In Leviticus chapter seventeen and verse eleven, “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 makes an atonement for the soul.” For the life of the flesh is in the blood.
Let us look at this mysterious thing called the blood; I am mainly concerned with the blood of the man called the Lord Jesus Christ. It was His sinless blood that gave him natural and spiritual life, and in shedding his blood He gave us eternal life.
In the human body there are many different kinds of tissues. They are defined as muscle, nerve, fat, gland, bone, connective tissues and the list goes on. All these tissues have one thing in common; they are fixed cells in the body, very small and each cell has a special and limited function.
However, the blood is fluid and mobile, not limited to one part of the body but is free to move throughout the entire body supplying the fixed cells with nourishment and carry off the waste products.
They tell us that in a Norman human body there are about five quarts of this fluid, which is pumped by the heart and carried through out the body about every twenty-three seconds, cleansing and supplying the need to every cell in the body. And once the blood fails to reach the cells and members of the body, they promptly die.
We sing the song, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus, and it is His shed blood through which we have salvation. We are connected to Jesus Christ through the blood and we are members of his body and members one of another.
In the church Jesus is the Head and we the believers our dependent upon His shed blood for life, nourishment, cleansing and growth. For the life of the flesh is in the blood.
We may differ widely in color; we may differ in function in structure, but we are all members of one body and united by the one tissue, the blood that was shed at Calvary making us brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Listen, my friend, God is not concerned about our man made groups that divides us, and He is not interested in our self-righteous hairsplitting religion, nor our man-made formulas and organizations. He is interested in one thing, that the body would be united as one through His shed blood.
This is why Jesus stated, “You must be born again.” A person is lost no matter what church he belongs to unless he has been washed in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Having been born again because of the blood of the Lamb causes us to worship and exalt our head, the Lord Jesus, and love one another.
In the natural all men are related by the blood of Adam, sinful and polluted, dead in trespasses and in sins. The scripture teaches that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth.” (Acts 17:26)
Through the blood all men have a common origin and are related to Adam. Whether they we white or black, Jew or Gentile, pagan or whatever. Their blood carries the sentence of death because of Adam’s sin, and for this reason all men will die a common death.
The record tells us that God breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Adam’s body was formed from the dust of the ground; and the life of the flesh was in the blood that sustained his body. What a special gift from God who is the author, giver and sustainer of Life.
When Adam sinned and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He died spiritually and, ultimately physically. When Adam sinned, something happened to the blood, and for this reason the flesh has been referred to as sinful flesh, because it is nourished and sustained by sinful blood.
The very fact that sin affected the blood made it necessary that a Virgin would conceive and give birth to a sinless offering that could take away the sins of all mankind. God provided a way by which Jesus, born of a woman would be the perfect sacrifice. He did not have a drop of Adam’s blood in His veins because He did not share in Adam’s sin. “He, who knew no sin, became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.”
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh; 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.” Hebrews 9:13/14
The plan of redemption rests upon the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As essential as the blood is to our natural bodies so also, is the blood of Jesus Christ essential to the body of believers. The bible teaches us, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” So here is the question?
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
In book of Revelation we read that the saints of God had washed their robes making them white in the blood of the Lamb. Think of it….washing in blood and becoming white as snow. Here is the miracle of divine chemistry, only the Blood of the Lamb, which was sinless and supernatural, can wash away the sins of mankind.
“Inasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold; But by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter chapter one and verses eighteen and nineteen.
