Dr. Ron Sumners
May 17, 2009
During the Korean War the American Red Cross had a slogan that appeared daily in newspapers all across the land. It read, “Give a fighting man a fighting chance - be a blood donor.”
That’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. Through His shed blood He gave us all a fighting chance for both time and eternity.
Any person who accepts the Bible as the Word of God must come to the conclusion that Christianity is basically a religion of atonement. The Christian Faith is not an ethic, though it is ethical. It is not a theology, though it is theological. It is not a means of reformation, though it has social, cultural, and political overtones. The Christian Faith is first, fundamentally, and above all a religion of redemption. It has to do with the deliverance of our souls from sin.
We see this poignantly in the sign of the Christian Faith. The sign of the Christian faith is not a burning bush or two tablets of stone. It is not a seven-branched lamp stand or a halo above a submissive head. It is not a golden crown. The sign of the Christian Faith is a rugged and bloody cross.
At least 175 times in the New Testament God reveals that redemption comes by blood. Why is blood necessary for redemption? To find the answer we must go to God Himself.
When God desired to redeem the world He was faced with a great dilemma: How could He love the sinner and yet punish sin at the same time? The cross was the answer. For on the cross God expressed his hatred for sin and simultaneously revealed His love for man. Calvary was a crucible in which God mixed law and love and what the justice of God demanded, the love of God provided.
This is the central message of scripture: Through the shed blood of His son, Jesus Christ, God made atonement for the sins of the world. Sin must be punished, but God would take the punishment Himself.
I want us to think about the cross and the blood of Christ.
First, consider the principle of blood in sacrifice. Dr. Paul Brand, former head of rehabilitation at the Gillis W. Long Hansen’s Disease Center, a leprosy hospital in Carville, Louisiana wrote, “We moderns have an initial resistance to the intrusion of blood into our religion. In this respect, we differ from all previous cultures. Virtually all “primitive” religions, including those of Rome and Greece, believed blood had sacramental power, and a bloodless religion would have seemed powerless to most ancients.”
This idea of the blood as essential for the atonement of sins seems to be written deep in human nature. In ancient Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, blood sacrifices were freely practiced. In Saxony, as late as 785 A.D., it was necessary to prohibit human sacrifice.
In the twelfth century the Aztecs had a flourishing civilization in Mexico. Their calendar had eighteen months of twenty days each, and on each day, there were many gods and goddesses to receive sacrifices. As many as 20,000 human beings each year were slaughtered on the altars of ancient Mexico. To get their sacrificial victims, these ancient people engaged in constant warfare with neighboring tribes and nations.
In his book, Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer, the Scottish anthropologist, traces the development of the world’s religions from their earliest forms. In his outstanding work he makes the startling revelation that 90% of the world’s population has practiced human sacrifice in religious ceremonies at some stage in their history.
Dr. Alexander Garigolia, the great Christian anthropologist, states that the percentage is more like 95%.
Where do these beliefs and practices originate?
Dr. Garigolia tells us that his research reveals that it is innate in man to believe that he has wronged or sinned against his God or gods, and that the only way of appeasement is atonement by the blood sacrifice of some sort.
Did these practices originate in some mythological, unknown past? Were these superstitions something that “just happened?” Or was there a basis at the dawn of history for such practices that was corrupted by the cruelty of mankind? The answer is found in the Bible!
Second, consider the pattern of blood in scripture. This principle, which seemingly was written in the heart of man, is written even more clearly on the pages of scripture.
The story of redemption begins before the beginning. Calvary was not an afterthought of God. We are told in the Bible that Jesus was a “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” God was not caught off guard when man transgressed in the Garden of Eden. He knew what man was going to do; thus, Calvary antedates creation. There was a Garden of Gethsemane in the heart of God long before there was a Garden of Eden in the mind of God. God’s desire to save preceded His desire to create.
But, come with me back to Eden and see the drama of redemption unfold. God created man in His own image and placed the first couple in a beautiful paradise. They had only one prohibition, “of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely: 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” (Gen. 2:16-17).
Adam and Eve had scarcely settled down in their new home when Satan tempted them by raising doubts in their minds about the trustworthiness of God and by appealing to their inner desires.
They believed Satan’s lie rather than God’s truth and ate the fruit. Thus, they sinned against God. Immediately they saw themselves naked and they were afraid. Instead of becoming gods as Satan had told them, they found that they were alienated from God and alone without God. Fear of God, rather than friendship with God, caused them to hide from God.
When God apprehended them and confronted them with their actions, they made flimsy excuses. Sin always weakens our concept of God’s omniscience. But a wise man knows that God knows!
Adam blamed God and Eve for his sin. Eve, on the other hand, blamed the devil. Neither wanted to take responsibility for their acts. From the beginning, man has sought a scapegoat upon which to place his sins.
God had told them when they sinned they would die. Now, what was He to do? Instead of slaying man, whom He loved, God slew an animal and made coats of skin to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. The drama of redemption has begun. For the first time, blood was shed as a covering for sin. And a pattern begins to emerge in scripture: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
After the fall, Adam and Eve took up residence outside the garden and began to raise a family. Cain and Abel were born into the home. Cain decided to be a farmer. Abel became a rancher. One day God called for an offering from these two young men. Apparently, God had already taught them that the only way they could approach Him was by blood. Thus, Abel slew a lamb, brought it to God, and his sacrifice was accepted.
Cain, however, did not see the need for a lamb. He believed that an offering should be made to God, but not necessarily a lamb. He had worked hard on his farm. He thought that the produce of his fields should be enough.
But God rejected it. We never come to God on our own terms. We are never accepted on the basis of our works, no matter how good they are. God requires blood.
The pattern continues: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Now come down to Egypt where the children of Israel are in bondage. The Lord raises up Moses to deliver His people from the oppression of Pharaoh. To convince Pharaoh to deliver his people God sent a series of plagues on Egypt. Each plague was a plea from the heart of God to the heart of Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” But the wicked ruler rejected each of God’s appeals.
The story of the Passover is well known to all of us.
The Lord told Moses on a given night that the death angel would pass over the land of Egypt.
Every home that did not have blood sprinkled on the door-posts would be visited by the death angel and the first-born of the family would die. So, Moses instructed the father of each family to slay a lamb, sprinkle the blood upon the door-posts and lintel of his house, and wait for God’s redemption. The Lord said, “The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you 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 Egyptians ridiculed the command, but that night the death angel rode a bloody mission through the land of Egypt. The people of God who obeyed the command were redeemed. Those who ignored it were not. Thus, the pattern emerges even more clearly: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
On their way to the Promised Land, the people of God were instructed to build a portable tabernacle. On a given day each year, the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would gather all the people in the tabernacle and he would pray their sins on the lamb. He would then sever the jugular vein and catch the blood in a bowl and enter the Holy of Holies. A thick curtain separated him from the people who waited on the outside to see if the sacrifice would be accepted. The High Priest would remain within the Holy of Holies for three hours. In comparison, Jesus suffered on the cross in total darkness for three hours.
After three hours, the High Priest would come out to the waiting multitude, raise his hands in the air, and cry with a loud voice, “It is finished.” Jesus spoke the same words from the cross, signifying that God had accepted the sacrifice. They were well known to every Jew. Yearly, he had heard the High Priest utter them as he came out of the holy place.
All of these Old Testament sacrifices were only types and symbols. They were shadows of good things to come. They were in preparation for the great sacrifice of Jesus who was their fulfillment.
The pattern is now set. Throughout the Old Testament, God has taught his people His hatred for sin, His love for the sinner, and that the only way to approach Him was by blood. They understood clearly: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
In the fullness of time Jesus was born. The first announcement was to shepherds who reclined on hills outside the city of Bethlehem. Have you ever wondered why God appeared to the shepherds first? Tradition says that these were Temple shepherds. They took care of the sheep that were offered as a sacrifice. So, when Christ appeared in the manger, the angel appeared to these men first to let them know that they were out of a job. The coming of Christ meant they were out of business.
When Jesus was thirty years old he was baptized by John the Baptist. John said of Him, “Behold, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
This is one of the crucial verses in the Bible. The Jews at that time understood this language. They had been sacrificing lambs for generations. John is informing them this is God’s lamb, not theirs and He would take away the sins of the whole world.
Do you see the development in redemption and sacrifice?
In Abel’s day it was one lamb for one person. Abel’s lamb did not atone for Cain’s sin.
In Egypt, it was one lamb for one family.
In the wilderness wanderings the stream becomes wider. It was one lamb for the whole nation. On the Day of Atonement, the sins of the nation were placed upon one animal.
Now, in Jesus, we have one lamb not for one person, or one family, or one nation, but for the whole world.
The lamb, required in the Old Testament, must be without blemish. For three days prior to his being slain, the lamb was thoroughly examined by the priests. After careful scrutiny, if it was unblemished, it was worthy of sacrifice. Jesus passed the test with His three year ministry. He was the Lamb of God.
Then came the final week in Jerusalem. Jesus was betrayed by one of His own followers, Judas. He went through the mockery of a trial and was condemned to death. They took the Son of God and nailed Him to the cross; they suspended Him between heaven and earth with two thieves, one on each side. At noon, a darkness as black as midnight rolled in. Darkness covered the earth for three hours, while the Son of God suffered for our sins.
Crucifixion was a horrible thing. Usually when a man was crucified, he withered in agony on the cross for two or three days. The criminal usually died of exhaustion and dehydration. Jesus hung for three hours on the cross and then died. His last words were those famous words which the Jewish people had heard from their high priest as he emerged from behind the curtain of the holy of holies, “It is finished.” God’s blood sacrifice for the sins of the world had been made.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
My friends, the scarlet thread of the blood of Jesus runs through all of creation. Have you accepted the sacrifice of the Lamb of God for your sin?
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