Ever notice how bloody Christianity is? People who don’t understand often say, “Your religion is kinda’ gross. Why are you always talking about blood? Blood this, blood that. Everything’s so bloody.”
Well, there are reasons why we believers seem to obsess over blood, specifically Jesus’ blood. It’s because His blood has power––power to redeem, renew, regenerate, and rescue. It has the power of spiritual rebirth.
How many of our old, timeless hymns talk about blood?
- “Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.”
- “There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb.”
- “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins.”
There’s a good reason those songs speak of the blood. You see, even though Christ came in fulfillment of the Law, there still had to be a blood sacrifice in order for you and I to know forgiveness of our sin. The writer of Hebrews said, “the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)
The sacrificial system in the Old Testament that Jesus replaced was a bloody, messy business. Afterward, the one presenting the sacrifice would have to go to a laver (large bowl) to wash the stain of the animal’s blood off of himself. The problem for you and me today is that we can’t remove the stain of our own sin. Thank God that Christ washed off the stain of our sin for us with, what else? His blood. As odd as it sounds, it’s blood that makes us clean and whole!
1 John 1:7 says “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” and Paul wrote in Colossians 1:14: “we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Because of what Christ did for us on a cross for six hours one Friday, we can be clean before God, just as Isaiah said: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)
Pastor Henry Ironside recalled a time when he preached in a small town in Washington. While there, he was the guest of friends who raised sheep. It was lambing season. One morning he watched the new lambs play in the meadow. One lamb especially caught his attention. It appeared to have six legs and its fleece hung loosely from its body. When the preacher mentioned this curiosity, one of the herders caught the lamb and brought it to him. Then the mystery was revealed. Draped across the lamb was the fleece of another lamb that had died from a rattlesnake bite. The odd-looking lamb was an orphan, and although the herders had tried to convince the dead lamb’s mother to take care of the orphan, the old ewe refused because she didn’t recognize the lamb’s smell. It wasn’t until the herders skinned her own lamb and draped the fleece over the living lamb that she adopted the orphaned lamb as her own.
Friend, like that orphan lamb, Jesus, our spotless, sacrificial lamb, has covered you. Jesus freely, willingly sacrificed His own life and covered you with His blood so you could be forgiven of your sin. So, when God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of His perfect, beloved Son, not the inseparable chasm your sin once created between you and Him. Because of Christ, God is willing to adopt you as His own.
So, if you’re approaching this Easter with the thought you’re not worthy of forgiveness or if the Accuser has convinced you that you’re just a spiritual orphan that God would never want, think again. God loves you so much that Jesus died a sacrificial death for you, and because Jesus shed his blood for you, He’s gotcha’ covered!
That’s the good news. The great news is that He rose on the third day, that He lives today in heaven at the right hand of God, and that right now He is offering intercession (prayers) to God on your behalf.
Need I say it again? He’s gotcha’ covered!
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