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The Blood of Jesus
You may have heard someone mention the Blood of Christ before, and wondered what they were
talking about. It might even seem strange to you that Christians talk and sing about blood. What in the
world are they talking about?
We can start to see what the significance of the blood is by looking at the old testament story of
Moses.
When Moses went before the ruler of Egypt, and asked him to set free the children of Israel, Pharoah's
heart was hardened, and he refused. The Lord brought forth several severe judgements against Egypt,
but Pharoah stubbornly refused to let the people go.
Finally, The Lord determined to bring an extremely severe judgement on Israel. This judgement
entailed the death of every firstborn person in Egypt. Think about this. What would that be like if it
happened in Page County? There might be a thousand dead, or more.
In order to save the Isrealites from this catastrophe, The Lord instructed Moses to have each family
slaughter a lamb and smear the blood on their door posts. When The Lord saw the blood on the door
post, He would pass over that house, and go to the next.
In this way, by the blood of a lamb, true believers escaped the judgement of God.
| On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and
animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a
sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No
destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. [Exodus 12:12] |
After this judgement, Pharoah did let the Isrealites go, and Moses led them through the desert for forty
years. In the desert, God gave Moses The Law.
God gave the people of Israel instructions for sacrificing animals to Him, and gave the priests
instructions for ritually purifying themselves and the alter. The sacrifice of an animal was to be for the
atonement of sins, and the sprinkling of blood was for cleansing.
| When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of
calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the
people. He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." In the
same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In
fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:19-22 |
When you think about it, this seems strange that God would set up a system where Animals were
sacrificed to atone for our sins, and the blood of those sacrificed animals was used to purify, but there
is actually an important reason for this.
All of the animal sacrifices were to point people toward that moment when God Himself - Jesus Christ
- would allow Himself to be violently slaughtered in order to pay the price for our sins.
The Bible tells us that Jesus became a sacrificial lamb so that He might pay the price for our sins:
| The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world!" John 1:29 |
Like the children of Israel in Egypt, those of us who have put our trust in The Lamb are spared God's
judgement because we are covered by the blood.
When God sees that we are covered by the Blood of Christ, He passes over us, and does not punish
us for our sins. The price has been paid, and judgement has been satified by the blood which Jesus
spilled on the cross.
Even more, we are actually cleansed from the stain of our sin by the blood of Jesus:
| ... they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev 7:15
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins... Eph 1:7
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Indeed, when we are washed by the Blood of Jesus, we become white as snow and God doesn't even
recall our sin anymore.
That's powerful stuff!
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