Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
LIFEBLOOD
The word "lifeblood" is practically redundant in itself. For us human beings blood is essential to life. In fact, if a person loses 40% of their blood death is likely to occur. So those scenes on TV or in the movies where a large pool of blood is taken as a sign of exsanguination (the loss of blood to a degree sufficient to cause death) are not fiction. Neither is the nausea felt by those coming on such a scene. Even veteran "first responders" have been known have such problems at such times.
Blood is a substance unlike any other for us humans. When we read of the Old Testament sacrifices and the copious amounts of animal blood that were splashed at the base of the Altar of Burnt Offering in the Temple, we tend to feel a bit squeamish. Don't you think the Hebrew worshipers of old had similar feelings, especially since they knew those animals were dying in their place? The blood poured out in a sin offering sacrifice was a substitute for their own.
But don't you also think this was exactly the message God wanted the people to learn and remember? Don't you think that is the reason those bloody sacrifices went on day after day, week after week, month after month for generations? We humans easily excuse our sins, but the fact is human sin, your sin, will not be atoned for without the shedding of blood, and if the sinner is to live, that means there will have to be a sacrificial substitute. The hymn writer, Isaac Watts, has it right:
Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.
But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.
My soul looks back to see the burden Thou didst bear
When hanging on the cursed tree and knows her guilt was there.
Believing, we rejoice to see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice and sing His bleeding love.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 156)
