"(W)ithout the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (
Heb 9:22)
"... and when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying 'Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (
Mt 26:27-28)
"...being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (
Rom 5:9)
Pilate washed his hands, saying "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man"... and all the people answered "His blood be upon us and on our children" (Mat 27:24-26).
"
...it was the Father's good pleasure for all fullness to dwell in (Jesus), and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross" (
Col 1:19-20)
"...(T)he blood of Jesus (God's) Son cleanses us from all sin" (
1Jn 1:7)
"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (
Jn 6:54)
Examine the uses of the word "blood" in the verses above. Clearly, the references are not meant to stand alone at their literal or surface readings; rather, the Christian reader is aware that they are meant to convey deeper concepts of guilt, death, covenant, sacrifice, atonement, and eternal life. But how did "blood" come to mean these things? From Genesis onward, God has loaded it with every meaning that is critical to the Gospel of Jesus.
First references: Building a Chain from Genesis to Jesus
Life, Death, Guilt and Judgment. Where does God start building blood into a picture of the Gospel? One could argue that He begins with Creation in His choice to feature blood in the design of life, or perhaps in His provision of skin garments to clothe the fallen Adam and Eve. However, the first EXPLICIT reference to blood comes in the account of the murder of Abel (Gen 4:8-16): Abel's blood was "crying" to God from the ground (v10). In this short phrase, God expressed three thoughts using blood: Abel's life had left him because of Cain's violent sin; God knew all about it; and judgment was required against Cain. Life and death; guilt and judgment. Interestingly, God chose to juxtapose these concepts with Cain's petulant, rhetorical question: "Am I my brother's keeper?" (v9). This question seems to echo down through the study of blood, finding its answer in Jesus.
God developed the picture further in the Flood account. The earth was filled with corruption and violence: it was obvious and grievous to God, and it required judgment (Gen 6:5-13). Judgment was rendered in the form of a worldwide flood, but righteous Noah was graciously preserved from it in the ark. When he disembarked, he offered sacrifices of clean animals to God, who then established a covenant with Noah. In this context, God elevated blood by prohibiting its consumption, explicitly equating the life of an animal with its blood (Gen 9:4, cf Dt 12:23-23). He then immediately built a chain linking blood first to human life, then to judgment for taking that life (Gen 9:5-6): "And surely your blood of your lives will I require... at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed". Are you listening, Cain?
The link between blood and the Gospel is further developed in the Joseph account (Gen 37). "Let us slay him," the brothers say, as though modeling themselves after Cain (cf Gen 4:8, Gen 37:18-20). Reuben intervenes, saying "Shed no blood" (Gen 37:21-22), but Judah prevails: "What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?", he says; "Come, and let us sell him...." (Gen 37:27-28). They sell him as a slave, and use kid's blood to dupe their father into counting him as dead (Gen 37:31-34). Later, when the brothers unknowingly stand before the exalted Joseph, Reuben recalls their guilt in regard to Joseph: "His blood is required" (Gen 42:22). In this account, God re-set the stage of Cain's murder (jealous brothers inclined to "slay" an innocent brother), and then set forth only flawed pictures of a "brother's keeper": first Reuben, who had neither the power to keep Joseph from eight brothers nor the perfect love to offer himself in Joseph's place; then Judah, who acknowledged his responsibility toward Joseph (Gen 37:27), but chose to pervert it to his personal profit. We look in vain for that brother to step forward who will keep his brother perfectly, or the Kinsman-Redeemer who will buy him back-- and we realize that God has shown us a void that only Jesus can fill! In the process, God has again used blood to express life, death, and guilt.
God's next reference to blood comes in the final blessings and prophecies of Israel over his sons, and specifically over Judah (Gen 49:8-12). The reference to "the blood of grapes" looks like a quaint reference to Judah's wealth, which we might tend to render "he will harvest and press so many grapes that his garments will be stained with the juice". But wait-- isn't this a Messianic prophecy? Yes, it is about Jesus, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev 5:5), the King whose sceptre will never depart and whose judgments are just (Is 9:6-7). And how does King Jesus fulfill this prophecy of a robe stained with the blood of grapes? By trampling the winepress of God's wrath (Rev 14:14-20, 19:11-15, Is 63:1-6, Ps 58:10). Even this passing reference to the blood of grapes, then, turns out to be an expression of judgment.
In fact, ALL the references to blood in Genesis present blood as a symbol and synonym for capital punishment properly applied to sin. God reinforces this symbolism throughout the rest of the Bible using many dozens of references linking blood to life, death, guilt and judgment:
- Life and death. "The life is in the blood" (Gen 9:4, Lev 17:11, Dt 12:23), hence its loss brings death and its significance is to be respected.
- Guilt for murder or other sin, and judgment of that sin. For example, if a man was responsible for someone's death, the victim's blood figuratively marked him as guilty (2Sa 3:28-30, Dt 22:8, Josh 2:19, Jdg 9:23-24, Jer 2:34-35, 51:34-35, Ezk 23:37, Jonah 1:14); if a man committed a crime punishable by death, the blood of his punishment figuratively marked his guilt (Lev 20:9-16, 27, 2Sa 1:14-16, Is 59:1-3, Eze 18:13, 33:1-9); the concepts of manslaughter, "the avenger of blood", "innocent blood," etc. (Gen 4:10-11, Ex 22:2-3, Num 35:10-28, Dt 19:1-13, 21:1-9, Josh 20:1-9, 1Sa 19:4-5, 25:25-34, 2Sa 3:27-29, 4:8-12, 1Ki 2:5-9, 2:29-33, 2:36-37, 2Ki 9:6-7, 9:26, 21:16, 24:3-4, 1Chr 22:7-10, 28:2-3, 2Chr 24:25, Ps 5:6, 9:12, 26:9, 30:9, 55:23, 79:3, 79:10, 106:37-38, Pr 1:11-19, 6:17, 12:6, 28:17, 29:10, Is 26:21, 33:15, 59:7, Jer 7:6-7, 18:21, 19:4, 22:3, 22:17, 26:15, 46:10, 48:10, Lam 4:12-16, Eze 9:9, 14:19-20, 16:36-38, 18:10, 21:32, 22:27, 23:45, 28:23, 32:6, 35:5-6, 36:18, 38:22, 39:17-19, Mt 23:30-35, 27:4-8, 27:24-25).
- Laws and references that further link blood with life or elevate its significance, including prohibitions against consuming blood, linking of Passover blood with lives of firstborn, laws concerning menstruation, David's drink offering, etc. (Gen 9:3-4, Ex 4:9, 7:17-24, 12:3-23, Lev 3:17, 7:26-27, 12:1-8, 15:19-33, 17:3-4, 17:11-14, 19:15-18, 19:26, 20:18, Dt 12:16-27, 15:23, 17:8, 1Sam 14:29-34, 2Sam 23:15-17, 1Chr 11:17-19, 2Chr 19:10, Job 16:18, Ps 16:4, 30:9, 59:2, 72:14, 78:44, 105:29, Is 4:4, Eze 7:23, 33:24-25, 36:17, Jn 1:13, Acts 17:26, 15:20-29)
This is the grim starting point of the Gospel: every sin of every man will be judged, and the proper judgment is death (Rom 6:23, Heb 10:26-27). Even more grim is that every man has sinned (Rom 3:9-20, 3:23), because sin includes every violation of every law of God (Ja 2:10-11), every violation of the principles underlying each law (Mt 5:18-48), every failure to express faith toward God and concern for man in matters of conscience (Rom 14:23), and every failure to do the good that stems from that faith (James 4:17). What's worse is that, even if we could stop the flow of sin from our lives this moment, our past sins alone would require judgment. Truly, "our blood is on our own heads". We and all men rightfully deserve to be trampled in the winepress of the wrath of God (Rev 14:15-20); we deserve to be amongst those who are judged by blood and for blood (Rev 16:1-6).
But while guilt and capital judgment are indeed the starting point of the Gospel, the ending point of the Gospel is life-- which God also describes in the language of blood. This is why the "Gospel" is indeed "good news": it describes a way to pass from death to life. Let's come back to this endpoint after we've examined some of the other links-- links which describe the way from death to life.
Covenant. From the burning bush in Moab, God commissioned Moses to deliver His people from their slavery in Egypt. After some faithless hesitation and negotiation, Moses accepted God's commission and prepared to go back to Egypt. But on his way he encountered God's anger, which was appeased when Zipporah circumcised their son (Ex 4:24-26). The account seems abrupt and mysterious. Why would God suddenly want to kill the man He had just chosen to deliver His people? Why did the circumcision appease that anger? Why did God quote Zipporah twice in a row: "a bloody husband to me"? In presenting the event so succinctly and placing it so strategically, God has gently forced us to re-examine the Abrahamic covenant and the sign of circumcision, and explicitly connect them with blood.
Let's pause to see this connection. Firstly, we notice that God directed Abraham to circumcise every 8-day-old male as the sign of His covenant with Abraham, and that that sign was to endure throughout their generations (Gen 17:10-14; also see study of Circumcision). That is, the bloody rite of circumcision was mandatory for Moses or his son to be numbered amongst God's covenant people; in failing to circumcise his son, Moses was in violation of the Abrahamic covenant, hence was subject to being "cut off" from his people (death being one possibility encompassed by the term). This would certainly have precluded him from the commission God had given him! Secondly, if we go back even further to when God first established his covenant with Abram, we see that God enacted a specific bloody "covenant ceremony" with Abram which involved halving numerous animals, separating the halves, and passing between them (Gen 15:9-10, 15:17). This ceremony of cutting, dividing and passing through is the very source of the Hebrew word for "covenant", which literally means "a cutting" (see Jer 34:18-19). It was during this ceremony that God gave Abram the prophecy which Moses was performing at the time of Zipporah's words (cf Gen 15:13-14, Ex 3:15-22). Blood was not explicit in either the account of Abraham's covenant ceremony or in the sign of circumcision, but Zipporah's double quotation raises it to a conscious level: Moses was a husband of blood by virtue of both his participation in the Abrahamic covenant and by his enactment of the sign of circumcision.
Blood was also prominent when God established the Mosaic covenant with the people at Sinai. After He had schematically sketched it to them, the people affirmed that they would do all that God required of them. Moses built an altar, upon which they sacrificed oxen; Moses caught the blood of those sacrifices in basins and sprinkled both the altar and the people with it. "Behold," he said, "the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you" (Ex 24:3-8). This blood of sprinkling made the Mosaic covenant symbolically tangible and visible on the people and their clothes. True, it would only endure physically until the people washed and their clothes wore out 40 years later (Dt 29:5), but its inclusion in Scripture ensured that it would point to Jesus throughout every generation (Is 40:8, Mt 5:17-18).
Notice, then, that blood was present or prominent in each new covenant: Noah's sacrifices of clean animals, Abraham's sacrifices and circumcision, and Moses' sacrifices and blood of sprinkling. In fact, through the Law of Moses, God has made blood a symbol of covenant (Heb 9:19-20).
Substitutionary Sacrifice. God's plan for Moses was to liberate the Israelites from bondage using great judgments against Pharaoh, Egypt, and Egypt's false gods (Ex 6:6, 12:12). The judgments continued in the form of various plagues, culminating in the plague on the firstborn (Ex 11:4-8). At that point, God introduced another concept that is critical to the Gospel by instituting the Passover (Ex 12). God said that all the firstborn of Egypt would die, but "when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Ex 12:12-13). Here we have the first link of blood to substitutionary sacrifice and deflection of judgment (Heb 11:28).
The picture of substitutionary sacrifice was greatly expanded in the Law of Moses. In this Law, God revealed His own righteous character and set it as the standard for His covenant people. Moreover, He began to reveal that the wages of sin is death-- violators of the covenant would be "cut off". But He also showed His desire to be reconciled to His sin-prone people by agreeing to satisfy His justice through the death of a suitable substitute. God allowed us to "see" this through a sacrificial system involving animals and blood.
For example, when a person discovered a sin, he was to bring a sacrifice, and place his hand on the head of the animal (Lev 4:27-35). This laying-on of hands conveyed the transfer of sins to the animal in a related passage (Lev 16:21). He was then to slay the sin-bearing animal and catch its blood in a basin. Some of the blood was to be applied to the horns of the altar, and the remainder was to be poured on the base of the altar. Symbolically, then, the life of the animal was graphically visible on the altar in the form of blood, representing the forfeited life of the sinner. The carcass was cleaned and burned to ashes and smoke, representing utter judgment on the sinner. The sweet-smelling smoke rose as the body was consumed-- the judgment was good and complete, and God was totally satisfied.
This system of substitutionary sacrifice was described primarily in the early chapters of Leviticus (Lev 17:11, 5:17-19, Num 15:22-31; Lev 4:13-20, 4:22-26, 4:27-35, 5:1-13, 5:15-16, 6:1-7). They were required whenever someone violated the laws described elsewhere in the Pentateuch: one sin required one sacrifice. So what happened to the sinner when he offered the correct sacrifice? Let's consider a number of concepts and words that God used:
- Deflection of Judgment. Because the Passover blood was on the lintel, the Angel of Death would pass by and not kill. The person was spared from judgment because the lamb was offered instead.
- "Atonement" (Lev 1:2-5, 4:35). This word bears the idea of "covering" something, just as Noah's ark was "covered" with pitch (Gen 6:14). As applied to a specific sin, we can think of it as "hiding" the sin, or "blotting out" the record of that sin (e.g. Is 28:18 uses it in the sense of "disuannulling" or scribbling out a written covenant); as applied to the sinner himself, we can think of it as protecting him from judgment. This concept of atonement was greatly expanded and exalted in the command and rituals for celebrating "The Day of Atonement" (Lev 16, especially vv 11-20). In this festival, God presented the idea that the accumulation of unatoned sins was a barrier to His desire and design to dwell amongst His people (visualized by the Tabernacle in their midst). In essence, these sins defiled the Tabernacle and priesthood, hence jeopardizing the worship practices that made it possible for God to dwell there-- and the very covenant itself. On The Day of Atonement, then, the High Priest made sacrifices for his own sin, then for the sins of the people; he took the blood of each sacrifice into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled it upon the ark of the covenant
- Purification, Sanctification, and Consecration. These three ideas are linked to blood in the ceremony in which the priests were hallowed for service (Ex 29, Lev 8). Specifically, blood and sacrifice were used in this ceremony to "purify" and "sanctify" the altar (Lev 8:15) and to "consecrate" the priests for service (Lev 8:22-33). Purification (2398) suggests a process for rendering something morally acceptable that was formerly defiled by sin (corrupted, contaminated). In the ceremony at hand, it is the priests and the altar that were to be purified. They represented God and His perfect judgments, hence it was important that they be pure-- yet they are naturally contaminated by sin. Making a sacrifice for the sin of the priests and applying the blood to the altar provided a physical picture of purification: judgment was rendered upon the priest's sin, making it no more a barrier to depicting a sinless God, and allowing the sacrifices he would present to be satisfactory representations of God's perfect judgments. Sanctification (H6942) might be considered the end result of that purification-- something was formerly defiled, but can now be pronounced and set aside as morally clean because it has been purified. Usually God used oil to signify this (see study of oil), but blood was also used in Lev 8:15. Consecration (H4390, H4394) of a priest describes "setting him" in the sense of a setting a gem in its setting, or "filling his hand" with the purpose of his role and responsibilities.
- Cleansing. Blood was used to show that someone or something was formerly unclean, but is now clean. For example, blood was prominent in the reinstatement ceremony of the cleansed leper (Lev 14:1-32), the declaration of cleanness of the mildewed house (Lev 14:34-53), and the water of cleansing for those who touched a dead body (Num 19). Notice in all these cases that the former uncleanness presented a barrier to fellowship or use-- the leper was separated from the community and Tabernacle (Lev 13:45-46), the mildewed house was emptied, scraped, or even dismantled (Lev 14:35-47), the person who touched a dead body was barred from Tabernacle worship until his purification. This barrier to fellowship or use is removed once the unclean thing is cleansed.
Taken together, we see that the person's sin defiled them and made them unsuitable for fellowship or service-- but that they were completely cleansed and restored by the transfer of guilt and judgment onto the sacrificial animal. Praise God: the sinner now had a completely acceptable standing before God-- at least with regard to that one sin.
The Blood of Human Genealogy or Descent. The last link in the Gospel chain involves the idea of common human descent. This idea is conveyed using blood alone (Jn 1:12-13, Acts 17:26), or in the phrase "flesh and blood" (Mt 16:17, 1Cor 15:50, Gal 1:16, Eph 6:12). To see how this link relates to the Gospel, we must now consider how all the links point to Jesus.
The Completed Chain is Fulfilled in Jesus. Life, death, guilt and judgment. The Gospel starts with the reality that every man has sinned, accumulating guilt and meriting the righteous judgment of death (Rom 5:12, 3:9-18, 3:23). God continues to use "blood" to express this reality throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus and into the last days (e.g. Mt 23:30-35, 27:24-25, Lk 11:48-51, Acts 5:28). But more importantly, He shows us how Jesus FULFILLS these aspects of picture.
Firstly, the concept of sin is brought to a head in Jesus. Before Jesus came bodily, our standard of sin and basis of judgment were the laws of the Old Covenant. However, the written Law was merely a description and prophecy of Jesus-- He was "the Word made flesh", the fulfillment of all righteousness, the one whom all Scripture spoke of (Jn 1:14, Mt 5:17, Jn 5:39-40, Lk 24:25-27, Heb 4:15). Hence Jesus is the standard against which sin and guilt are judged. In fact, Jesus' earthly ministry revealed that the Mosaic laws only described sin to the extent that could be outwardly discerned, without fully capturing its inward essence and source (Mt 5:20-48, Mk 7:5-23); in that sense, Jesus greatly broadened the concept of guilt by including the inward aspects of sin. Furthermore, although His earthly ministry was one of grace rather than condemnation (Jn 3:17, 12:46-48), a person's rejection of Jesus and his ministry calls for judgment, above and beyond the judgment of any other specific sins (Jn 3:18-19, 6:28-29, 16:7-11, Heb 10:28-29). Finally, He is not merely the standard of judgment, but Jesus is the actual executor of judgment in the day that He comes (Jn 12:46-48, Acts 17:29-31); it is He that will trample the winepress of God's wrath on earth (cf Rev 14:19-20, Rev 19:11-16, Gen 49:10-11).
Thus, the ministry of Jesus brings the concepts of sin and judgment to a single focus: Him. Do we accept Him and conform to His standard of purity, or are we marked with blood for eternal judgment? But we also see the whole concept of sacrifice brought to a focus in Jesus.
Substitutionary sacrifice: guilt and judgment are transferred from a sinner to an acceptable substitute. Who can stop the flow of sin or save us from judgment? No man can or will do it-- but, praise God, He has bared His own arm and provided a way of punishing sin without treating us as our sins deserve (Ex 34:5-7, Ps 103:1-14, Isa 59:12-21).
Under the Law, God graciously accepted the sacrificial death of an innocent animal as a substitute for the death of a sin-guilty man (Lev 17:11, 5:17-19, Num 15:22-31; Lev 4:13-20, 4:22-26, 4:27-35, 5:1-13, 5:15-16, 6:1-7). Although this principle of substitutionary sacrifice is indeed gracious, we notice that the Mosaic system operated on a sin-by-sin basis: one sin required one sacrifice. When we consider the scope of mankind's sin as revealed by the Law and the ministry of Jesus, we quickly realize that this system would require sacrificial animals by the millions and billions per day, creating a river of blood that would dwarf the Jordan River without ultimately addressing sin at its source (Rom 3:9b-20, Heb 10:1-4, Mic 6:6-8). So did God create a system that was inadequate and doomed to failure? No-- the Mosaic system of animal sacrifice was always a picture and prophecy of His eternal plan for Jesus (Hbr 9:9-12)!
God inhabits eternity, and His character and purposes do not change (Is 57:15, Mic 3:6). Hence, Jesus' crucifixion was as much a present reality to Him at the time of creation as it will be at the time of judgment, making it equally true in every age that Jesus was "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:18, 1Pt 1:18-20). And the elect have always lived by faith in God's grace on the Cross-- a grace that fulfilled and transcended the Mosaic system-- regardless of whether they could put the name of Jesus on that grace, and regardless of whether they lived before his crucifixion (e.g. Heb 11:24-26, Ps 51, Lk 2:25-32), concurrent with it (Lk 23:39-43) or after it (
Rom 1:16-17, 1Cor 1:18, Heb 12:2).
And so we see that the Mosaic sacrifices, operating one sin at a time, were cumulatively pointing to Jesus. But Jesus is the better sacrifice who voluntarily gave his life as a bloody sacrifice "once for all" (Heb 9:6-10:20, Jn 19:34, Gal 1:4, Php 2:8, Col 1:19-23, Heb 12:2). He is the Passover Lamb whose blood deflects judgment (1Cor 5:7b). He achieves greater acceptance for us than Abel's sacrifice (Gen 4:4, 1Ptr 2:4-5, Eph 1:5-8). His sacrifice is more soothing and pleasing to God than Noah's or Aaron's (Gen 8:20-22, Lev 4:29-31).He fulfills the entire sacrificial system of Moses in that He, who was without sin, became sin for sinful man, bearing the penalty for our sin.
God's Grace is also Just. Before we can wholeheartedly embrace this aspect of blood as a praiseworthy provision, we should settle something: is it really just for God to exempt some law-breakers from the law-prescribed judgment (Rom 6:1, 9:14)? Yes! God is the Maker of all Creation, crafting it according to His pleasure and defining its principles and purposes (Rev 4:11, Eph 1:9-12). He is the one who is ultimately victimized or offended by every violation of those principles-- there are no victimless sins (Ps 51:4). Hence, His response in forgiving or punishing is the one that defines justice (Dt 32:4, Dan 4:34-35). Furthermore, being omniscient about every human thought and action, He is able to discern every violation-- there are no secret sins (Pr 15:3, Heb 4:13). Moreover, He has unlimited power to render thorough judgment upon every violation-- there are no sins that fall between the cracks (Dt 32:39-43, Isa 40:13-15, 43:12-13, 45:5-12, Mat 12:36, Rom 9:14-24). As the Creator of all Law, as the injured Plaintiff, as the reliable Witness and as the omnipotent Judge, He is the only One who can determine how to punish or forgive sin. And in His perfection He has made a way to be both Just and the justifier without any inconsistency; He is able to be both faithful and just to forgive us our sins (Rom 3:24-26, 1Jn 1:9).
But, we press, is it really just for the Father to victimize His innocent Son in our place (2Cor 5:21, 1Ptr 3:8)? To answer this, we have to see Jesus as part of the Godhead. Jesus and the Father were completely unified with regard to the plan of salvation, and Jesus was a willing participant in it, not a passive victim of it (Jn 10:17-18, 10:30, 17:20-24, Gal 1:3-4, 1Tim 2:5-6). As John Stott says, "...we should not think of the Father laying on the Son an ordeal He was unwilling to bear, nor of the Son extracting from the Father a salvation He was unwilling to bestow." (John Stott, "The Cross of Christ", InterVarsity Press, 1986). Together, Father and Son implemented an eternal plan that simultaneously satisfied both justice and mercy.
But is death the just penalty for sin, we may ask-- is it consistent with a loving God? Yes! It would not be loving for God to subject is Son and his people to an eternity of insults and injuries at the hands of those who mock Him, reject His Son, and trouble His people (Rev 21:27, 22:14-15)-- hence, we can easily see banishment from His presence as an act of love which makes Heaven a pure and loving environment for those He loves. But this banishment is death for those who receive it, since God is the only source of life and every good thing (Isa 59:1-3, Heb 7:26, Jn 5:24-29, Rev 21:8). Therefore, we can understand death as a passive consequence of sin even before we consider any active punishment of that sin (Jude 1:14-15, Rev 21:8, Heb 10:26-29).
Settled, then: God is JUST both to punish sin and to provide a mechanism for forgiving it (Ezk 18:35-42). We praise Him for His desire to seek reconciliation with sinners (2Cor 5:19, Ezk 18:31-32, 33:11, 1Ti 2:3-4, 2Pt 3:9). He accomplished this without compromising justice by agreeing to transfer the sin penalty to a substitutionary sacrifice under certain limited conditions:
- The sacrifice must reflect that God is the recipient, hence must be done on God's terms: right animal, right place, right mediator, right mode of sacrifice (Ex 20:24-26, 23:18, Lev 1-7, 9:6-24, 18:21, Dt 18:10, 1Sa 13:9-4, 15:22-23, 1Ki 12:26-13:2, 2Ki 16:2-16, 17:17-22, Ps 16:4, Is 1:11-17)
- The sacrifice must be "clean," and "perfect," as it represents the blameless and innocent life that is acceptable to God. It must not be old, maimed, blind, injured, sick, deformed, stolen or unclean (Dt 15:21, Lev 3:1, 3:6, Mal 1:6-14)
- The sacrifice must reflect the sinner's humility, contrition and repentance; it acknowledges that his sin offends God and merits death, it expresses faith in God's mercy, and it reflects a desire for restored fellowship with God (Am 5:21-27, Is 66:1-4, Heb 11:4)
- The sacrifice must not be treated as a bribe or perversion of justice, a payment or meal for God, or a right to future sins (Ps 50:12-13, Is 1:11-20, 66:1-3); it is not even to be considered a mere fine, as though the value of the animal were comparable to the value of the sin, or the loss of the animal were adequate punishment for the sinner; rather, it is a symbolic forfeiture of the life of the sinner himself and a sign that God desires reconciliation even with sinners who rightly deserve death (Mic 6:6-8, 1Sa 15:22-23, Ps 51:14-19).
Praise God, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of sin through the blood of Jesus (Ps 111:7, 1Jn 1:9, ). God's covenants with men that make peace and allow fellowship. God's covenants with Noah, Abraham and the Israelites were signaled with blood and animal sacrifice (Gen 8:20-9:11, 15:4-18, Ex 24:3-8, Ps 50:5; also see Circumcision). Common to each covenant was an expression of God's willingness to bless and dwell with humans, and a formal declaration of the human response that would allow it (Gen 9:11, Gen 15:18, Ex 19:5-6, Ex 25:8, Ex 29:45-46, Dt 5:32-33, 1Ki 6:12-13). The covenants were cumulative, such that the conditions of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants were included in the Mosaic Law (Lev 7:10-14, Ex 20:13, 21:12-14, 21:29-32, Num 35:14-37, Lev 12:2-3, Ex 12:43-49). When Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice, He established a new and better covenant in His blood that fulfills all of the previous covenants (Jer 31:31-34, Mt 26:27-29, Col 1:20, Heb 12:24, 1Cor 10:16, 1Cor 11:23-30, Mk 14:23-25, Lk 22:19-20, Heb 13:20).
Atonement, forgiveness, purification, sanctification, cleansing. Praise to Jesus, His blood was offered on the Cross in place of ours! Our sin is reckoned as His as we embrace His sacrifice by faith. But having said that, what is our new standing with God? Are we on probation? Is our name entered into the Book of Life with an asterisk? Are we low-ranking saints working our way upward? God uses blood to show us our new standing using the concepts of atonement, forgiveness, purification, sanctification and cleansing.
In the Old Testament, these words conveyed a change of state and status in the sinner: once guilt had clung to a person, marked him for judgment, made him unholy and unsuited for fellowship or service to God, weighed him down, or stained him-- but then a sacrifice covered his sin, lifted the weight of guilt and judgment, removed the contamination, allowed the person to be declared pure, and cleansed him from the contamination that formerly excluded him from fellowship (e.g. Lev 17:10-12, 19:21-22, 15:28-31,16:1-34, Num 5:6-8, 8:12, 15:22-28, 2Chr 29:20-24, Ex 29:35-46; the animal sacrifices in Lev 1-7, but not the grain offerings of Lev 2; Lev 8:15, 9:7-24, 10:16-18, 12:6-8, 14:1-57, 15:13-15, Num 6:8-12). In the New Testament, Jesus has the power to accomplish this change of state in the sinner, not animal sacrifices. He does so by the sheer exercise of Divine authority (e.g. Mk 5:24-34, Mt 9:20-22, Lk 8:43-48), but in a way that replaces and fulfills the entire sacrificial system.
Although the Mosaic system was indeed gracious, it required one sacrifice for each sin. The problem is that human sin is so frequent and extensive that this mode of atonement is inadequate, except as a picture of a more comprehensive system-- specifically, the "once for all" sacrifice of Jesus (Heb 10:1-10). Within the New Testament, then, it is Jesus' blood that cleanses, atones, purifies and sanctifies-- one sacrifice, but one that transforms the sinner in an ongoing and comprehensive way rather than one sin at a time (Heb 13:12, 1Jn 1:7-9, Rev 1:5, 7:14). This concept is easy enough to articulate, but its ramifications are so good and so vast for the Christian that it deserves much contemplation and praise (Rom 11:33-36).
Humanity or common geneological descent. Being of "flesh and blood" means being of human substance and descent (Mt 16:17, Jn 1:12-13, Acts 17:26, 1Cor 15:50, Gal 1:16, Eph 6:12). Being of the same flesh means being of the same family (Gen 29:14, 37:27, Jdg 9:2, 2Sa 5:1, 19:12-13, 1Chr 11:1, Isa 58:7).
The Avenger of Blood and the Kinsman Redeemer. In becoming a brother to fallen man and in shedding His blood for his brethren, Jesus is able to bring closure to Cain's question and to fill the void in the Joseph account. And here we must pause to consider an interesting overlapping of concepts. The Hebrew word for "Avenger" and "Kinsman-Redeemer" are the same (Ga-al, H1350)-- it is that close relative who "repays" either in terms of repaying blood for blood, or repaying a debt. By his loving and costly expenditure of blood, Jesus can not only pay the price for his brethren's past sins (ALL of them, not one at a time), but also buy back their whole being from its perpetual and ongoing slavery to sin (Eph 1:7, 1Pt 1:18-19, Acts 20:28, Col 1:13-4, Heb 9:11-12, Rev 5:9). He is His brother's keeper, our Kinsman-Redeemer. On the other hand, our rejection of Him makes us complicitous in His death, for which God will act as the Avenger of Blood (Heb 10:28-30). Other references that bear on the Kinsman-Redeemer vs Avenger of Blood include Rom 12:17-19, Rev 5:9, Rev 6:10, 2Ti 4:14; see complete study of Redeemer and Avenger of Blood).Jesus' blood is life. Having gone through the other aspects of blood, we are now ready to revisit Jesus' fulfillment of the principle that "the life is in the blood." Previously, this principle has been applied in death-- that when the blood is poured out of an animal, it graphically shows its life being poured out in a sinner's place; that when a man dies as a punishment for sin, his blood marks him as guilty; that when a man is guilty of murder, the blood of his victim symbolically marks him as guilty. But now God has prepared us to understand it positively-- that is, not as life leaving something alive, but of life entering someone dead.
God describes Jesus as the giver of life, as life itself, as the one who can give it to whomever He desires (1Jn 5:11-12, Jn 1:4, Jn 5:26, 6:33, 6:47, 10:10, 11:25-26, 14:6, 17:1-3, 2Ti 1:10). In the language of blood, true life is in Jesus' blood. That is, Jesus' life (His "blood") imbues life to whomever accepts Him, embraces Him, internalizes Him, identifies so strongly with Him that He becomes their identity and life-- whomever will "eat His flesh" and "drink His blood" (Jn 6:53-63). This is eternal life: that we know Jesus intimately and experientially, and have fellowship with Him forever and ever (Jn 17:3, 1Jn 5:11-12, 1Jn 5:20, Col 3:4).We are now able to see blood as the symbol of the whole Gospel, which we can now articulate as follows: "Man is guilty of sinning against God, meriting the judgment of death. But because of His grace and love, God has established a covenant with mankind in which any man can be reconciled to God by transferring his sin to an innocent, acceptable substitute. Jesus willingly took on flesh and blood so as to be brother to us and become that substitute, redeeming us from our bondage to sin, cleansing us from guilt, and restoring us to full fellowship. To those who embrace His sacrifice by faith, He offers Himself-- the very essence of eternal life."
Our Response
Our response to Jesus puts us into one of two groups: those who are guilty of His blood and subject to judgment (Heb 10:28-29, Mt 27:4, 27:24-25, Lk 11:48-51, Acts 5:28, 18:6, 1Cor 11:27-29), or those who have accepted his death as the sacrifice for our guilt, hence are cleansed from that guilt and protected from judgment (1Ptr 1:18-19, Heb 13:12, Rom 5:9, 3:23-25, 1Cor 5:7, Heb 9:12-14, 10:14, 1Ptr 1:2, also cf 1Jn 1:6-8, Num 19:1-9). The foremost response we can make to the study of blood, then, is to embrace Jesus by faith (Heb 12:24-25).
If we have done this, how should we live? We should treat Jesus' blood as something holy and precious, not profaning it or degrading it by sinning willfully (Heb 10:28-29, 1Pt 1:18-19); we should remember His sacrificial death, His covenant and His future return in a meek and worthy way (1Cor 11:25-34). Furthermore, we should completely identify with Jesus by embracing His example of entire self-giving ("taking up our cross" and "circumcising our hearts") by denying earthly lusts, giving ourselves in love, and acknowledging His covenant (Mt 16:24-26/Mk 8:34-38/Lk 9:23-26, Dt 10:16, 30:6, Jer 4:4, Rom 2:28-29, Php 3:3, Col 2:10-11; see study of Circumcision). If we depart from His path and commands, we should agree with God that we have done wickedly and embrace the ongoing cleansing of Jesus' blood (1Jn 1:6-8). We should take our life from Him by intimately experiencing Him ("eating" and "drinking" Him) and deriving our strength, joy, purpose and fellowship from Him (Jn 6:51-63 cf Col 3:4, Jn 4:13-14, Rev 2:17). Having been redeemed and cleansed by the blood, we should enter boldly into the presence of God for fellowship and prayer (Heb 10:19).
When we consider the Gospel in terms of blood, we can sing with Wesley:
"Arise my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears.
The bleeding Sacrifice on thy behalf appears!
Before the throne my Surety stands: my name is written on His hands.
He ever lives above, for me to intercede.
His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead.
His blood atoned for all our race, and sprinkles now the throne of grace.
Five bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary.
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
"Forgive him, Oh, forgive," they cry, "nor let that ransomed sinner die."
The Father hears Him pray, His dear Anointed One.
He cannot turn away the presence of His Son.
His Spirit answers to the blood and tells me I am born of God!
My God is reconciled! His pardoning voice I hear!
He owns me for his child; I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh, and "Father! Abba! Father!" cry.
Go to study of Redeemer and Avenger of Blood.
