Blood is necessary to the life of humans and animals. It is essential to maintain life. So, it has been called lifeblood. Lev 17:11 says, “for the life of a creature is in the blood.” Without blood there can be no life. Jesus was human and had lifeblood too. But His blood was particularly special. Jesus’ lifeblood brings life to us. His lifeblood is key and necessary to our salvation.
There are a couple of events that God put into place for the Jewish people that were a foreshadow of the blood of Jesus. God always had in mind His Son as He set up feasts, festivals, and ceremonies. Blood was an essential component in many of them.
Passover for example was observed in remembrance of how God miraculously brought them safely out of slavery. The sacrificial animal they slaughtered to get the blood to put on the doorframes was called the Passover lamb. I Cor 5:7 says, “For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” Jesus' death and shed blood, Christ fulfilled the true meaning of the Jewish sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. The bible confirms that Jesus was crucified on Passover day. And He was the sinless and spotless sacrificial Lamb of God who frees us from being a slave to sin. Those who put their trust in Him will escape the judgement of death. Heb 10:10 says, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” He substituted His life for ours and there was no longer any need for countless sacrifices.
We know in Jesus’ last meal with His disciples, after he had given thanks, he took the cup saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” The shedding of Jesus’ blood is a covenant sign, and God states our salvation is sealed and paid for by Jesus’ blood. And we are to regularly set aside time to remember that His body was broken and His blood shed for us.
Jesus went through what we go through to identify with every aspect of life including having our flesh cut. He allowed every drop of blood to be shed while He was being whipped, the crown of thorns pushed on to His head, and the nails hammered into His hands and feet. Jesus knew with every blow the significance of His blood being spilt for the sins of man. The blood was spilt for the Pharisees, Pilot, Herod, the crowds, his disciples, His mother and even the Roman soldiers who were whipping Him.
A speaker on Focus on the Family radio said that the human body can replace 20 million cells in just a few seconds, which means over a lifetime your body produces a lot of blood. Adult humans have somewhere around 25 trillion red blood cells in their body. This means that Jesus had this many red blood cells too and they were being replaced every few seconds. The speaker said he didn’t want to over spiritualize it but were there enough divine and powerrful blood cells shed so that there was enough for every person whoever lived in the world? Is it possible that we each have one red blood cell assigned for us? And that cell is so holy and pure that it can do what it says in I John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus…purifies us from all sin.”
Jesus shed His blood for you to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Cleansing is a result of being washed in the blood of Jesus. When God washes us, we become whiter than snow. White is a sign of purity. If you feel your life is so impure and stained with so much sin that you can never be made pure again, Jesus is saying and promises that His death and shed blood has the power to completely wash you clean so you can begin anew. All you have to do is accept this truth, confess your sins, and ask Jesus to come into your life and then you will receive the gift of this cleansing through His blood. Will you please do that today? Put your trust in Jesus who shed His lifeblood to bring you eternal life.
