Blood is not a subject we enjoy discussing. The most shocking scenes of a horror movie are bound to include lots of fake blood. Some people swoon at just the sight of blood. I’m not that bad, but I do get a little uncomfortable seeing my own blood, so I look the other way when they draw blood for lab work and I quickly apply pressure to stop any bleeding, keeping my blood out of my sight.
There is a story that circulated on social media a couple of years ago about a very young girl with a potentially fatal disease. Her brother, who was two years older than her, had survived that same disease and had the antibodies in his blood that she needed. The doctors explained to the young boy that his blood could save his sister and he immediately agreed to it. Right after they took a pint of his blood he asked the nurse how long it would be before he died. He thought she needed all of his blood and yet he was still willing to go through with it to save his sister’s life.
One of my favorite young Pastors tells of being diagnosed with a serious blood disorder and how he was miraculously healed by God through answered prayer. As he describes it, “The blood of a Jewish carpenter now flows through my veins.”
Under the Old Testament covenant, the shedding of the life’s blood of flawless and innocent animals offered with a repentant heart was required annually to temporarily cover a person’s sins. It was the blood of a sacrificial lamb smeared on the door posts of Israelite homes in Egypt that caused the angel of death to pass over them sparing their first born sons. All of that was a shadow of the new covenant and the perfect once and for all sacrifice of God’s only Son; “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)
Jesus was not just a blood donor. He knew it would take every drop of his blood in order to save a sinfully sick world; yet He was still willing to give His life as the perfect and acceptable sacrifice for us while we were still under the death sentence of sin; so that everyone who believes in and follows Him will receive new life. One of my favorite hymns tells about the power of His shed blood. “Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you o’er evil the victory win? There’s wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power In the precious blood of the Lamb.”
The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus not only shed His blood and gave His life so that we may live; He rose from the tomb to prove the life He gives us is eternal. I could never repay Him or even thank Him enough for the blood He shed and His gift of eternal life, but I can and will dedicate my life to eternally serve and worship Him.