The Blood of Jesus Saves Us

                                

                This blog was precipitated by the baptism of one of my granddaughters this year. I wanted her to have a clear understanding of the mystery of communion with God, and what it means to us as Christians. Toward that goal, I offered the following scriptures and commentary. Now I'm sharing these thoughts with the hope that a deeper meaning in communion will be found by others.

            Almost from the beginning of creation, mankind needed a way to be reconciled to God. It was Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, who first worshipped God by taking a perfect firstborn lamb of his flock for sacrifice to God. God was pleased with this offering of blood from Abel, but He was not pleased by his brother Cain’s offering from the fruit of his field. Hebrews 11:4 says: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it, he being dead yet speaks."

        Later, when God found mankind to be continually evil, He decided to send a flood to destroy every  man and beast, including every living creature on the earth. But Noah found favor with God and was given instructions for building an ark to save himself and his family, along with many creatures on earth. Noah endured taunting and ridicule while building the ark in a dry land. But it was his turn to show his wisdom when it began raining and didn't stop for forty days and nights, eventually covering the tops of mountains with water.  

         After flood waters receded enough for Noah and his family to leave the ark, Noah offered a burnt offering, including the blood of the sacrificed animal. Genesis 8:30 says: "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings to the Lord." In this instance, the Lord God gave His blessing for a new beginning for the earth and for mankind after the flood.

        The story continued when God chose Abraham to father a nation of people through which the Savior of the world would come. Thus God made a covenant with Abraham, which had to be established with the shedding of blood. Amazingly, God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. So Abraham took his son to the top of Mount Moriah to sacrifice him.  But an angel intervened to keep him from taking Isaac’s life and a ram was provided in his place. Genesis 22:13b says: "So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son." 

          Sacrificing his son couldn't have made sense to Abraham, because Isaac was the child of promise, born to his aged parents. What were the chances that another son could be born to this old couple? Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100. But Abraham's faith was strong enough to follow God's instructions, and God blessed him because of it. 

        When the children of Israel were ready to leave Egypt after 430 years, Moses told them to take the blood of a sacrificed lamb and sprinkle its blood on the doorposts of their houses. This sign of faith meant that they wouldn’t die when the angel of death passed over the land, bringing death to the sons in every Egyptian household. Exodus 12:13 says: "Now the blood shall be a sign for you in the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And Hebrews 11:28 says: "By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them." 

They were in a hurry to get away, having been told to dress and to have with them precious gold and other valuables from the Egyptians. And not having time to make leavened bread, they were told to carry unleavened bread with them. And the Israelites followed all the directions given by God. 

  

        Abel, Noah, Abraham and Moses believed God and kept his commandments. They all had a covenant with God that required a sacrifice with the spilling of blood. It was the blood that sealed each covenant. The children of Israel came out of Egypt and were living in the wilderness when God commanded that a tabernacle be built, so that He could live in their midst.  Exodus 25:8 says: "And let them build Me a sanctuary, that I may live among them."

        The details of the tabernacle and everything pertaining to it were given by God. And as a sign of the covenant between God and the Israelites, Moses sprinkled the blood of sacrificial animals on the altar and on the book of the covenant for God’s side of the covenant, and on the people for their side, declaring: "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words." Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 9:19. And Leviticus 17:11 says:  ^"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."

    The blood of animals was a sufficient sacrifice until Jesus came to earth to die on the cross as the sacrificial lamb for the sins of all mankind. Only the blood of Jesus contains the power of God Himself to forgive our sins and make us whole. John 12:27 says: "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour." Jesus knew that His purpose for coming to earth was to be the blood sacrifice for our sins.

 

          Looking at the death of Jesus brings up questions about why Jesus’ blood, flowing from his body on the cross, was shed for our salvation. Death is punishment for sin, so to have life, there must be atoning blood. Romans 6:23 says: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Jesus' death fulfilled God’s requirement of a blood sacrifice in order to have relationship with Him. What is the power in the blood? It is life that is in the blood. Through partaking of the Lord's Supper, wherein the bread is the body of Christ and the fruit of the vine is His blood,  the Spirit revitalizes and sustains our soul and gives us renewed strength and courage to sustain our faith as we go through our lives. 

    To understand how drinking the blood of Christ works in the body, compare it to water. When washing with water, there is cleansing on the outside, but when drinking it, it is sustaining and refreshing. It gives life because you cannot live without it. It's the same with drinking the blood of Christ in communion. Drinking it, we're given life through the Spirit.  Because sin separates us from God, it takes His blood to cleanse us and make it possible for us as sinners to have a relationship with Him. We don't do this alone. We commune with our fellow saints, with God, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If we take the body and the blood in true communion, the power of God is within us. 

    I Corinthians 10:16 says: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 

John 6:35 has Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum: And Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. There’s no access by sinful man to a holy God except by the blood of Jesus being applied to our lives. For reconciliation, for cleansing, for sanctification, for union with God, for victory over Satan and for eternal life, we must be redeemed by the blood of Jesus.  

We drink His blood, symbolized by the fruit of the vine, and eat His body, symbolized by the unleavened bread, in communion with God and the saints. At the last meal Jesus ate with his apostles, He told them to remember the sacrifice He was about to make. 

Beginning in Matthew 26, the scripture says: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom’." 

Jesus’ death came after He was wrongly accused and convicted, suffered beatings, humiliation, crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross. His side was pierced with a sword and blood and water flowed out. The Son of God gave His life, shedding His blood, so that we might have eternal life with the Father. It is only through the blood of Christ, our Savior, that we can stand sinless before God. Our communion with Him through eating His body and drinking His blood while on this earth makes that possible.  We are to observe the Lord’s Supper, understanding that spiritual refreshing and renewal comes with partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine in communion with God and all the saints, while remembering His suffering and His sacrifice with reverence, thanksgiving, and awe.