It’s Still The Blood

Bible Study

It's Still The Blood

Today we are going to look at the role that Blood plays in the Bible culminating with the Blood that Christ shed on the cross. It’s a funny thing about blood, some people are very squeamish about it and will faint at the sight of blood. I know of a nurse who gets very faint at the sight of a lot of blood. Needless to say she has a job where she does not encounter a lot usually.

In early American history bloodletting was used as a treatment for a variety of illnesses often to the death of the patient. It has been said that a contributing cause for the death of George Washington was due to bloodletting, or draining out much of his blood in an attempt to make him well. As recently as 1942, Sir William Osler’s highly regarded medical textbook advocated bloodletting as a treatment for acute pneumonia.

In heathen cultures it has been a practice to drink blood. The Mayan culture who recently seemed to have gained some notoriety with purported predictions based on the mayan calandar are said to have gone so far as to offer sacrifices which included the cutting out and the removal of a beating heart, while it is still beating and pumping blood. The drinking of blood isn’t confined to ancient pagen practices, the Roman Catholic church today would have you believe that in a ceremony called the Mass (not found in the Bible) the catholic priest has the power to change inert wine into the blood of Jesus Christ (a gross misinterpretation of the John Chapter 6) and then their followers are told they are drinking the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (a blatent contradiction of scriptures for the Bible is clear that you are forbidden to drink blood before the law Gen 9:4), during the law (Lev 17:14), and after the law (Acts 15:29). This is not to say that the Blood of Jesus Christ is not important, it certainly is as we will see today, which is why It’s also worth noting that all new mistranslations of the Bible such as the ASV, NIV and any other bible other than the King James Bible attack the blood reference to Jesus Christ. Sound far fetched?  Consider Colossians 1:14: the KJV reads, “In whom we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, even the forgiveness of sins:” The NIV reads, “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The NIV, NASV, RSV, NRSV and remove the words “THROUGH HIS BLOOD”.

Many of the new hymn books have followed suit in their “praise” emphasis and have also removed most if not all mention of the redeeming power of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Not to offend? 

And what is the fascination with blood today? Our young people today, and some not so young, are being sold a book and movie series based on vampires. It’s hard not to notice the fascination a large segment of our society has with blood.

What does the Bible say about it??

BLOOD

Life of the flesh is in the Blood.

Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Leviticus 17: 14For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

Life is in the blood or through the blood. Although this is true of all flesh there can be no life without the blood and we are going to look today at human blood and human life.

All human beings are united through their blood. It has been said that if you cut a man, whether he be black or white, eskimo or african, european or western they will all bleed red, we all have blood in common. The Bible says,

Acts 17:24-God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

One statement in this passage calls for special attention.  Paul says that God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.  The one thing which relates all men to each other is the blood that flows in their veins.  ALL MEN ARE OF ONE BLOOD and that ONE BLOOD was the blood of Adam the first man. So if we all share the life giving power of blood, where then does death come from?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Since the LIFE is in the blood,  according to the Scriptures,  and the wages of sin is death,  sin affected the blood of Adam and caused him to die.  Because the blood of all men partakes of the sin of Adam. As you recall from Genesis 2 God had created Adam and Eve and then had placed them in the garden of Eden with just one admonition, lets read it here in

Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

In Genesis 3 you can read of Eve’s and then Adam’s transgression of God’s commandment as they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You will notice that they did not drop dead physically on the spot, but spiritually they did die and physically death was introduced.

GENESIS 3 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

and then in verse 17

17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

For some insight into other things that took place be sure to check out episode 1 “Body, Soul and Spirit”. All men are blood relatives of Adam,  whether they be white or black,  Jew or Gentile,  pagan or cultured.  Their blood carries the sentence of death because of Adam’s sin,  and for this reason all men die a common death.  Remember that the life is in the blood,  and so if man must die it is because there is death in the blood.   Adam’s sin corrupted the blood of the entire human family, death was introduced physically and spiritually. So everyone born today shares that tainted death bearing blood. The question is how to fix the problem of the tainted blood and to get back the blood that is without corruption, that is without that sin from adam, which has not been polluted. Remember the life of the flesh is in the blood.

Religions of the world will tell you that in order to be right with God and to have eternal life you must follow their religion, you must be a good Catholic ( I was born a Catholic and I’ll die a catholic”, will first of all you were born a baby and you will die a dead Catholic and go straight to hell if you don’t do something about the blood. It’s a blood problem being a Catholic doesn’t have anything to do with it and why would you even think it would?  others tell you that you must be a good Muslim and martyr yourself for the promise of virgins in heaven to be right with God, that doesn’t deal with the corrupt blood problem,  others say that you must live a good life, that is the way. That doesn’t deal with the corrupt blood problem. Some say you need to live as a Christian whether it be Baptist or Methodist, and others will say if you were brought up in a good Christian home then you will be ok, that doesn’t deal with the blood problem, others say that you must do good and believe in the existence of God and maybe your good will outweigh your bad, that doesn’t deal with the blood problem,  Others have said that what man really needs and longs for is to find the fountain of youth, the world is youth obsessed, with plastic surgery to try and stay youthful to yearly new exercise and diet regimes, the focus is on youth and the quest for the fountain of youth to ward of death, but none of these methods have ever worked, death physically and spiritually still takes its toll, and that doesn’t deal with the blood problem. Eternal youth, eternal life is not found through the quest for the fountain of youth. What we need is not another quest for the fountain of youth friend, but rather a fountain of blood. A fountain of pure, untainted, life giving blood to replace our fallen and corrupt blood.

So how do we get this pure untainted blood from God? Where does it come from? Let’s take a closer look to find the answers.

Origin of Blood

It is now definitely known that the blood which flows in an unborn babe’s arteries and veins does not come from the mother but is produced within the body of the fetus.  It is only after the sperm has entered the ovum and a fetus begins to develop that blood appears.  Picture this as an illustration,  think of the egg of a hen.  Take an unfertilized egg of a hen. You may incubate this unfertilized hen’s egg,  but it will never develop.  It will dry up completely but no chick will result.  But let that egg be fertilized and incubation will bring to light the presence of LIFE IN AN EMBRYO.  After a few hours it visibly develops. In a little while red streaks occur,  denoting the presence of BLOOD.

MOTHER’S  BLOOD  SEPARATE

Did you know that the developing embryo in the human womb also never shares blood with the mother? The mother provides the fetus (the unborn developing infant) with the nutritive elements for the building of that little body in her womb,  but all the blood which forms in it is formed in the embryo itself.  From the time of conception to the time of birth of the infant not ONE SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD ever passes from mother to child. All the blood which is in that child is produced within the child itself.  The mother contributes no blood at all. It is well documented and I encourage you to do a quick search to see the truth of this fact.

GOD’S PROVISION FOR US OF UNTAINTED BLOOD

We have seen that when GOD created woman He made her so that no blood would be able to pass from her to her offspring.  And now In order to produce a sinless man who would yet be the son of Adam,  God has provided a way whereby that man would have a human body derived from Adam but have blood from a separate source, “God’s blood”. God prepared Mary as a virgin having known no man,

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

23Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 24Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Notice first that this virgin conceiving a child and bearing a son called Immanuel (God with us) is a prophecy from the old testament book of Isaiah   found in chapter 7 and verse 14, hundreds of years earlier all the way back from 742 B.C. another proof for the validity of the Bible.

Conception by the Holy Ghost was the only way the virgin birth could be accomplished.  Mary nourished the body of Jesus and He became the seed of David according to the flesh.  Through this The Holy Spirit contributed the blood of Jesus.  It is sinless blood.  It is divine blood.  It is precious blood. It is uncontaminated blood. Look at what Judas who betrayed Jesus Christ said about his blood:

Matthew 27:3-4

 3Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.

Our Lord was innocent. Instead of being conceived physically by a human father,  He was conceived by a DIVINE FATHER.  As a result,  biologically,  He had DIVINE BLOOD,  INNOCENT BLOOD, SINLESS BLOOD. Sin makes human blood corruptible.  Soon after death decay sets in,  and it begins in the blood. That is why meat must be drained well of its blood because it goes rancid.  That is why embalmers place the embalming fluid in the body and remove the blood.  David said that Jesus’ body should not see corruption.  Though He was dead three days and three nights,  His body did not corrupt because there was no corruption in his blood! That is why he did not die as a result of the crucifixion, Because He was sinless they could not put Him to death but instead He laid down His life voluntarily that He might take it up again!

the scripture is clear on the importance of the Blood of Christ in our salvation.

The Importance of the Blood

Ephesians 1:7

7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

1 Peter 1:18-19

18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

there is singing in Heaven about the Blood!

Revelation 5:9

9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Romans 5:9

9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Ephesians 2:13

13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 13:12

12Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

Hebrews 10:19

19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

1 John 1:7

7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. You see the blood applied is essential,

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

And these are just some of the verses concerning the blood of Christ mentioned in the New Testament, there are many more. But what about the old Testament, is the importance of the Blood just a recent New Testament doctrine? Let’s take another look at 1 Peter 1:18-19 for here we have a connection to the blood sacrifices offered in the old testament which also are a picture of the final blood fulfillment through Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary.

1 Peter 1:18-19

18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BLOOD

The old Testament is filled with the importance of the blood and the blood sacrifice. If we look back to the verse that we started this podcast with we can see the importance that the blood held in Old Testament times.

Leviticus 17:11

 11For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

The Old Testament Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, gives us the earliest picture of the Blood. God Himself killed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve with skin.

Genesis 3:21

21Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

The first recorded sacrifice in the Bible is in Genesis 3:21. This verse teaches us that after man had sinned,  God supplied an animal and shed its blood, and used the skin as a covering for Adam and Eve’s nakedness.  In this one brief record we have the

plan of all subsequent Scriptural sacrifice.  We have in the Bible a law which we call the “LAW OF FIRST MENTION:”  When applied to this particular verse,  it gives us the key to the meaning of sacrifice in the Word of God.  This law of first mention might be stated as follows:

THE FIRST USE OF A WORD,  A PHRASE OR INCIDENT IN THE BIBLE GIVES THE KEY TO ITS EXACT MEANING EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORD OF GOD.

Apply this law to Genesis 3:21 and we find that it teaches three things:

First:  SALVATION MUST BE OF THE LORD.

Second:  IT MUST BE BY THE DEATH OF AN INNOCENT SUBSTITUTE.

Third:  IT MUST BE BY BLOOD.

Every acceptable sacrifice must meet these three conditions.  It must not be man’s work but God’s work,  not man’s provision but God’s provision;  not the fig leaves of man’s own righteousness but bloody skins of God’s providing.  Every true sacrifice mentioned in Scripture has three essential features. We find that Abel’s sacrifice met the condition of Genesis 3:21 whereas Cain’s did not.

Genesis 4: 3And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

What was the difference in the offerings? Cain brought of the fruit of the ground (no blood) Abel brought a firstling of his flock, a blood offering, No blood – no respect – end of argument! Cain’s offering was rejected. Abel’s offering was accepted.

After the Great Flood, the first thing Noah did was to offer a blood sacrifice.

Genesis 8: 20And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

Just as Abel brought a blood sacrifice, so did Noah.

When God began calling out the Nation of Israel and  Abraham took his son Isaac and went up to Mount Moriah, the boy Isaac said, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” (Genesis 22:7). Issac knew they had to have a blood offering. He had learned it. God had told Abraham to offer Isaac (Genesis 22:2). But when Abraham raised his knife, God said:

Genesis 22: 12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

After the time of Abraham, the Hebrew people went down into Egypt during a great famine, because there was food in Egypt. They grew into a great nation there, but the Pharaoh enslaved them. God called Moses to lead them out of Egyptian slavery, back into the promised land. On the night before the Hebrews left Egypt, God said He would send death to the firstborn children of the Egyptians. This was a judgment from God given because Pharaoh would not let the Hebrews go. That night, God told Moses to institute the Passover. God told Moses to have the Hebrews put the blood of a lamb on “the two side posts and on the upper door post” of their houses (Exodus 12:7). Then God said:

Exodus 12: 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

The Old Testament laws are replete with blood sacrifices, you can’t spend anytime in the Old Testament without observing the prominence and the picture of blood sacrifices. For example,

Leviticus 4: 3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering. 4And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the LORD. 5And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:

The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were only a picture of the ultimate sacrifice. When Jesus Christ went to the cross almost 2,000 years ago, He was the ULTIMATE sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

With the final blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood problem began in Genesis through Adam is finally cleared up, Jesus Christ the last Adam has made a way for us to be reconciled to God through his blood.

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

What about you? Do you know for sure that when you die you will go to Heaven? If you say “Yes, I think so, it’s because I try to live a good life, I try to do good things and I believe in God, then friend you still have a problem.

James 2:19

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Because living a good life and believing in God is not going to fix the corrupt blood that is flowing through your veins since Adam transgressed the commandment of God back in the Garden of Eden. Being a Catholic, methodist, hindu, muslim no matter how sincere you are will not help you.

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Acts 4:12

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Without trusting in the blood of Jesus Christ you are to die and spend eternity in a lake of fire, God did not accept Cain’s bloodless offering God will not accept your bloodless offering of your own good works or your own religiosity.

1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

SUMMARY:

We have seen that

*The life of all flesh is in the blood

*That all of mankind shares a common blood source which stems from Adam

• So all of us die today because there is death in the blood.   Adam’s sin corrupted the blood of the entire human family, and death was introduced physically and spiritually.

Credits:

See The Chemistry of the Blood by Dr. M.R. DeHaan MD for further study.