Over the past 20 years or more, there has been an idea that we need churches to be more “user-friendly” to reach the world. We need music that has a rhythm that makes you want to dance or slow swooning music like you would sing for a love story. There is a casual look that makes your church inviting with a coffee bar so they can drink while they listen. Some have big screens and videos because it reminds them of the entertainment they are used to. While I could take each one of these and break it down to prove the value or worthlessness of each one, that is not the point of today’s devotion. Each of those mentioned can be good or bad, but the next one is a sin. We are in a culture where many are opposed to speaking about the blood Jesus shed for our sins. They say it is gory and offensive. Yet, they watch movies and programs that mutilate people and call it entertainment. So why do fundamental churches put much emphasis on the blood of Christ? Why the blood and not the love?
While love is vital to who God is, and why He sent His Son to die for our sins, love was not enough to satisfy the holiness of God. We can go all the way back to the beginning when Adam and Eve first sinned. After their sin, God established their punishment and then He killed animals to clothe them. The blood of animals was shed as a symbol of what it took to cover their sins. It was a picture of what was to come when Jesus would shed His blood for our sins. Shedding the blood of animals was not sufficient but it was a type. Hebrews 9:12-14 explains that the shedding of blood was required for us to be forgiven. Each year animals would be sacrificed in the Old Testament by the priest to cover the sins of the people, but each year it had to be repeated. But when Jesus shed His blood because He was “without spot,” meaning He had never sinned, His sacrifice and shedding of His blood was enough for redemption for all who would believe, and it was forever. It never had to be repeated.
Hebrews 9:12-14 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified 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?”
In Genesis 9:4 the blood represents life, but the shedding of that blood brings death. This is important for us to understand because the penalty for sin against God is death. This is made clear in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood for our sins, we receive the gift of eternal life. We can now enter where man could not when the blood of animals was shed. Now we are invited into the presence of God with boldness. Before the death of Christ, we had no access to the throne of grace which we needed. Nothing we could do could make us acceptable to God. Not only did we gain access, but it was also now available to anyone. It wasn’t just for the Jews. The holiest mentioned in Hebrews 10:9 is taken from the holy of holies where God resided in the temple. Before only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies once a year, because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood for our sins we now can have access to the real Holy of Holies!
Hebrews 10:19 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood, he became our propitiation. The word propitiation means “averting the wrath of God by the offering of a gift.” It refers to the turning away of the wrath of God which is the just judgment for our sins.
Romans 3:25 “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”
Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood, we can be justified! Romans 5:9 declares that the blood applied to cover our sins allows God to see us just as if we have never sinned!
Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood, we can be redeemed! Redeemed means to be bought back. We were His at creation, but because of sin, we were in the kingdom of Satan. When we accept the gift that Jesus provided by the shedding of His blood on the cross we are bought back by God into His kingdom.
Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood, we can be forgiven! Ephesians 2:13 reminds us that before Jesus died on the cross, we were far away from God, but when we are forgiven the blood of Christ makes it possible for us to draw near to God.
Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood, I can now call Him Abba Father, just as Jesus did in Mark 14:36. When I think of the verse in Romans 8:15 where Paul reminds us that before our salvation was made possible by the shedding of Jesus blood, we were children of fear. Now we are adopted, and we can call Him Abba Father! This is a term that indicates closeness and dearness. I imagine climbing up in his lap and allowing His arms to engulf me and protect and love me like no other.
Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
Why all the talk about the blood, because it provides all we need in life and in the afterlife in Heaven with our Father. It is not gory or offensive. It is beautiful and comforting. I am so thankful for the blood that was shed to cover my sins.
