Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:22 ESV
I wonder if you, dear reader, have ever seen another human being die. What a way to start a post, huh? I was present when my father died and have also been at the bedside of other dear ones when they died. What I observed is that, quite obviously, the person who had formerly resided in that body was gone. Indisputably.
The Bible speaks of our human blood as being the carrier of physical life. When our blood stops flowing, our spirit can no longer reside in our body. "The life of the body is in the blood." That's not Resplendent Daughter's opinion - - check Leviticus 17:11, 14.
Consider the truth of those verses. Our physical heart pumps our blood throughout our body. This makes it an organ we simply cannot live without. But, here's a curious fact ... the Scriptures speak much about the heart, referring to it nearly 300 times! Each reference pinpoints this part of our body as ALSO being the headquarters of our emotions and desires, intricately tied up with our eternal spirit, the very core of "who we are" as individuals. How amazing!
Perhaps it is for these reasons that physical blood is, in the Bible, also equated with SPIRITUAL life.
In some way, which we cannot fully understand, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their very blood became infested, infected with sin. God's specified remedy for their sin involved spilling the blood of the purest living being which could be found.
Blood of the pure to cleanse the blood of the guilty.
Like it or not, this truth is central to both the Jewish and the Christian faiths.
Do you know who spilled the first blood in the Garden? It was God, who killed animals so that their skins would cover Adam's and Eve's nakedness. Do you see the parallel there? Blood was spilled to atone for, to cover, sins. Of course, I'm not saying that nakedness is always a sin; but, in this case it was representative of their sinful state. This requirement of God's, that blood be spilled/shed for sin to be forgiven can be seen in the first accepted sacrifice (Abel's) and the rejection of Cain's (Genesis 4:3-4 and Hebrews 11:4)
We look now at Hebrews 9:11-14 (ESV):
11But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,e then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctifyf for the purification of the flesh, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify ourg conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
I blogged recently about the Most Holy Place, also called the Holy of Holies. You remember, the innermost part of the Tabernacle/Temple, whose curtain that separated it from the rest of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom? The redeemed heart of each believer in Jesus Christ is God's Holy of Holies.
In order for a person to become a believer in Jesus Christ, his or her heart must be transformed. This is an act by the Holy Spirit of God when the person acts in faith and believes, not just with his head, but also with his heart. In that moment, each believer is "covered" by the blood of Jesus Christ. And in that one-time, transformational act, eternal redemption is secured for that person.
This is the meaning behind one of Jesus' names, the Lamb of God, whose blood cleanses the believer from all sin. Do you know why I love to refer to Christ-followers, saved, redeemed Jesus-lovers, as "believers"? The first sin committed, by Adam and Eve, was the sin of unbelief. They did not trust God's word. They had no faith in His assurance or fear from His warning. They did not believe that, if they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, they would "surely die."
I am so thankful for our blemish-free Lamb, whose blood sacrifice atones for all my sin and purifies my conscience (my heart) from all sin, including those "dead works" or good actions I might try to do in some misguided effort to earn my ticket to Heaven. Jesus' blood turns my focus from "earning" to "serving", acts of love flowing out of undying gratitude for what my God has done for me.
Ironically, although Christianity is meaningless without that scarlet thread of blood running throughout, it is the only religion that ends well, in eternal victory. (Acts 4:16 and John 14:6.)
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."
Revelation 5:9-10
Lord Jesus, I never want to stop praising You for Your blood, which washes away all my sin. Thank you for Your unspeakable, indescribable sacrifice of Yourself....for me. I exalt Your name, which is above every name, amen.
Sources:
https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-the-heart.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christianity-bloody.html
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