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I remember years back when being a newly minted Believer and going to church, some of the worship songs spoke of Jesus blood. We were singing things like, “thank you for the blood”, “beautiful the blood”, “the precious blood of Jesus”. I was in truth not quite sure what to think of this. Our Lord and Savior who bled and died on a cross for us, suffering horribly, more than anyone had ever suffered or ever will…and we are singing as if this was a celebration!  To be honest it was a long time before I was comfortable with this.

So is the blood of Jesus really all that big of a deal? Actually YES…it is a very big deal.

What we have to realize and understand is that without the blood of Christ, there is no forgiveness of sin. Since we all on this earth have sinned, we desperately need the forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus is central to this being possible.

So what about all the blood sacrifices in the Old Testament? There are many Old Testament scriptures that make it clear that the shed blood of animals indeed brought forgiveness of sin from God. Leviticus 16:30 says: For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. So then if the blood of animals in the Old Testament was sufficient to pay for sins, then why did Jesus have to die?

God Himself prescribed the blood sacrifice of animals to provide cleansing of sin for the people of Israel. So were the people of the Old Testament truly forgiven of their sins? Yes they were, God said they were if they did the things He told them too. However even though sins were forgiven, they were not paid for…there is a difference here, a very important difference. Following God’s instructions, repenting of sin and offering the appropriate animal blood sacrifice cleansed the people of sin, but yet the sins were not paid for…they were rolled forward until the One who could truly grant complete absolution came…Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:22 says this: And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. (forgiveness of sin) So it is clear that blood is necessary for the forgiveness of sin. Then we see in Hebrews 10:4 this: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. What does this mean? It means that the blood sacrifice of animals was only a temporary fix if you will until the only offering of blood that could truly purchase the forgiveness of sin was to take place…the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

So how is it that Jesus was good enough to be the final sacrifice of blood?

Lets roll back the clock a little bit to Adam and Eve. Sin first entered the world through a man, Adam. Sin committed in the Garden of Eden was not committed by an animal it was committed by a man. Therefore the blood of an animal was never going to be sufficient to pay for the sins of men. What was really needed was the blood of a man to purchase forgiveness, but since all men sin, who was going to be able to accomplish this? Man owed a debt to God, a debt we could not possibly pay, so Jesus paid the price for us through the shedding of His blood and His death on the cross.

We just established that a man was needed to make propitiation for sins. This had to be a very special man however. Romans 3:23 states: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Enter in Jesus…the perfect man. We have just seen that according to Roman’s 3:23 all men sin, but Jesus the man was the only exception to this…He never sinned. So Jesus Christ being sinless and perfect, while also being a man was qualified to be the required blood sacrifice to pay our sin debt. He was of course at the same time God in human form, but chose to live as man, not God. Jesus gave up His power, not His divinity…else He would simply have been God housed in a human shell…we see this is true by many facts in the Bible. Jesus ate, He slept, He got tired, He cried etc. He did what all we humans do, except of course sin. God has no need of sleep or food, and He surely does NOT get tired!

Remember this as well as far the Old Testament goes; some will say that there WAS complete and true forgiveness of sin. That is not at all true for one simple reason; in the Old Testament days the sacrifices had to be continually repeated! Jesus came to earth as a babe, grew up as a man, and He sacrificed Himself (willingly I might add) for us ONCE, not repeatedly, one time! The blood sacrifice of Christ given one time paid for all sins past present and future.

Christ cried out on the cross in John 19:30; So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

 “It is finished” is translated from the Greek word tetelestai meaning: “the debt is paid in full”, in fact this very word was stamped on bill receipts back then to indicate what else, the bill is paid in full!

A man, the first Adam, introduced sin into the human race. The second Adam, Jesus Christ wiped clean the slate of humanity through His sacrifice of blood. Being repentant and asking for forgiveness is still very necessary. The shed blood of Christ does pay and did pay for all sin…but even though that sin you committed, or I committed is already paid for…the transaction of forgiveness becomes available when we ask Christ into our lives and accept Him as Lord and Savior repenting of our sins.

So to answer the original question, “Is the blood of Christ really a big deal…YES! No blood no forgiveness and every human’s destination in eternity would be hell. Through the gift of Christ we have forgiveness, and eternal life with Him in heaven.

If you have not asked Jesus into your heart, please do not wait…do it today, right now.

If you are truly repentant, meaning you are sorry for your sins, then pray to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you. There is no magic formula or special words to use. God knows your heart, just ask Jesus into your heart, give Him Lordship over your life…commit yourself to Him and chose to live your life for Him. Trust in Christ only for your salvation, not yourself or your “good works”. Your good works without the forgiveness of Jesus and a personal relationship with Him mean nothing. Repent of all known sins and ask for forgiveness through Jesus, acknowledge Jesus as Lord of your life, believe that His death on the cross is enough to pay for your sins, and that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and is even now in heaven with the Father…and you will be saved. But you MUST live a life characterized by the precepts of the Bible.

A good place to start is reading the book of John; this will give you a good basic understanding of what Gods Word says and what He expects from you.

God bless you all in the precious name of Jesus Christ
Greg

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