The Offense of the Blood of Jesus Christ
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How well I remember the line of demarcation when I first came to Jesus Christ in 1964.
It was the preaching and singing about the blood of Jesus Christ.
Many churches were taking the songs about the blood of Jesus out of their hymnals; and the sermons and homilies no longer made reference to the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
It was offensive to the heart and mind of the people.
It’s the offense of the blood of Jesus.
Our culture had grown past such primitive beliefs.
It was beneath the dignity of the western culture of Europe and North America to believe in such vulgar practices.
Psychology, psychiatry and higher education had taken us past the belief in such things as sin and blood sacrifice. Those were the trappings of the less advanced cultures.
The curious thing is while those claims were being made, there was still jealousy and greed in our culture.
Stealing, fighting and murder continued to take place.
Hatred, bigotry and violence were common place.
While they were doing away with the one, denying the need, the behavior of the people still proclaimed the root problem existed.
Mankind is helplessly, hopelessly, and habitually a sinner in need of a Savior.
Offense of the blood of Jesus Christ is not new.
Do you remember the encounter Moses had with God because Moses’ son was not yet circumcised, according to God’s covenant with Abraham?
“And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, ‘Surely you are a husband of blood to me!’ So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!” — because of the circumcision” (Exodus 4:24-26 NKJV).
Circumcision was the distinguishing mark of God’s covenant.
The descendants of Abraham were a “one God people.”
They alone could be face to face with Almighty God.
They were to have no other deity.
They were in covenant with the one true living God and the blood of circumcision sealed that covenant. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4 NKJV).
The exclusivity of the Living God has not changed.
The first commandment is still, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
The message of the Apostle Peter to the High Priest and to the religious leaders of his day is still absolute. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NKJV).
Jesus Christ is God come down from Heaven.
He is the Son of God, one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God.
The Apostle Paul declared it was He, “In whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sin.”
Why?
Why must there be a blood sacrifice?
“There is none righteous, no not one… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10, 23 NKJV).
Nothing illustrates the validity of that Scripture more than the training of a baby and a young child. No parent has to teach their child to be selfish, or to lie, or to hit another child.
We do have to teach them to be kind, to tell the truth and to share their things. Why? Because they are sinful in heart right out of the womb.
That does not change while they grow to adulthood. They simply become more mature in their sinful behavior.
We still become selfish, jealous, hit people with our words and sometimes with our fists.
Adults tell lies and will even steal (“It’s just a little thing.”)
We are sinners and no amount of education, cultural training, or counseling will change that. Only one thing can change the heart of a person.
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ!”
Scripture says if there is no blood sacrifice there can be no cleansing from sin (Hebrews 9:22).
“Ah,” one might say, “That is true of all religions, because almost all religions of the world have blood sacrifice.”
The difference between Jesus Christ’s blood sacrifice and the religions of the world is significant.
The blood sacrifice of most religions is that of an animal, although historically many of them had human sacrifice of their sons and daughters.
Today, the Muslims are still sacrificing their sons and their daughters in the mistaken belief they will receive special rewards in heaven for making such sacrifice. Yet, God said such a thing had never even come into His mind (Jeremiah 19:5; 32:35).
The difference between the blood sacrifices of the world’s religions and the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ could not be more distinct.
The blood of bulls, goats, birds and other animals cannot purge the conscience of a human being.
Human sacrifice is the blood sacrifice of one sinner for another sinner. Neither the animal nor the human can take the sin of a person upon themselves and stand in the place of another human being.
Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.
He was a sinless man and fully capable of taking your sin and mine upon Himself. “The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6 NKJV). “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).
It may be offensive.
It may seem extreme.
It is extreme because of the value of your life.
God wants you face to face with Him. He created you to live face to face with Himself. Your sin separates you from Him and will send you to eternity in the Lake of Fire. God paid the highest price for your life!
It is offensive to our human senses to think someone would go through the excruciating suffering our Lord and savior experienced because of our sinful behavior.
He loves you and me that much.
He willingly made the sacrifice, so we might be delivered from sin and death, live in covenant with Him, face to face.
“O the blood of Jesus. O the blood of Jesus. O the blood of Jesus, it washes white as snow.”
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The Offense of the Blood of Jesus Christ
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