The Benefit of Blood

The sprinkling of blood is a cleansing in God’s eyes, but it’s not so in the eyes of modern man. Modern man thinks: “How can sprinkling objects with blood cleanse them?” We limit our thoughts to medical science, which tells us that blood has germs and will transmit infections.

While doctors say that there are few bodily secretions more dangerous than blood, the Holy Spirit says something quite different: The benefit of blood far outweighs its dangers.

The benefit of blood is life! Only blood generates life. Just ask someone who has received a transfusion. That’s why—when you’re putting a covenant into effect—blood is all-important.

Blood declares “a life was given.” Only blood—and no other substance on Earth (not diamonds, not uranium, not gold, not emeralds, not oil, not perfume)—establishes the legal basis for God’s forgiveness. You must shed blood for the remission of sins.

… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).

The Voice of Blood

Blood is life, so when it is sprinkled, it says “God has had mercy by substituting one life for another.” The blood of Jesus speaks, as we are told in the Scriptures.

But you have come to… Jesus the Mediator of a New Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:22-24).

Jesus’ blood speaks. So, what does Jesus’ blood say? Where you see it, it says “This is one to whom the atonement applies.” It says “This one has received pardon for his sins.” It says “Regarding this person, the wrath of God has been appeased.”

Where there is blood, propitiation has taken place.

… God’s elect… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father… to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood (1 Peter 1:2).

The Sprinkling of Blood

The sprinkling of blood has long been an action believers perform—and not by Law, but by faith. Moses, for example, kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood by faith before the Law was even established!

By faith he [Moses] kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, in order that the one who destroyed the firstborn [the Destroyer as per Exodus 12:23] would not touch them [the firstborn boys] (Hebrews 11:28; LEB).

Remember that the Israelites had not yet received the Ten Commandments at the time Moses instituted the Passover. The people sprinkled blood on their doorposts by faith. They did it because they knew that their homes and families needed expiation. They needed to atone for their sins through the death of God’s innocent Lamb—they just didn’t know that the Lamb represented Jesus, like we do now.

God promised that he would not take the lives of the firstborn sons of the Jews from any home in which the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the doorpost. The sprinkling of blood was the sign that God had redeemed the firstborn son, and that a family had a future. The family line would be conserved and the honor of the house would survive to another generation—all due to the propitiatory power of blood.

Blood signaled the life-for-life contract a household had with Elohim.

Life-for-Life

Now, we have to rewind here. Nobody will understand how important a life-for-life exchange is without being grounded in an understanding of the death penalty. You must understand the principle of capital punishment to appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus.

If you sin, you must die. If you have sinned, God has decreed your death. Yes, God will administer capital punishment on any person who sins: You, your family, your friends, and even on people who were once good, but who turn back to sin.

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20)

… from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die (Genesis 2:17; NASB).

The death penalty for sin is an unbending law of the Universe.

Justice and Grace

If you are convinced of the justice of the death penalty, and you accept the fact that God’s payment for sin is death—that means that you understand something about justice. Congratulations because that’s the first step—the fear of God! Few people obtain such understanding in a lifetime.

And if you understand that God sent Jesus down from Heaven to die for us, and that he brought him up from the Dead, then you understand the righteousness of God. God demonstrated his righteousness by both condemning Jesus for sin, and in forgiving those who confide in him.

This next passage is quite technical, but bear with the legal terminology to understand God’s righteousness.

… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint he let the sins previously committed go unpunished; for the demonstration, that is, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:23-26; NASB).

Now, this demonstration of God’s righteousness is something most people totally miss. They never appreciate God for being just and the Justifier of sinners—but he is. Let’s break it down:

1. God sets Jesus before all people (displaying him publicly) as the answer to forgiveness.

2. To be fair (since they didn’t ever get to meet Jesus), God was very light on the people who lived before Jesus.

3. God is now the Justifier (excusing sins) of anyone who trusts in Jesus.

People who don’t know this righteousness of God will try to justify themselves. They do that by trying to convince themselves that they are good. If they can’t convince themselves that they’re good, then they’ll make up their own rules—something the Pharisees were very good at, especially with the Sabbath command.

Remember the rich young ruler who, after hearing Jesus mention some of the Ten Commandments, said ‘All these things I have kept from my youth’ (Luke 18:21; NKJV) without realizing that Jesus is the fulfillment (culmination) of the Law.

Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the Law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says… declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the Dead… (Romans 10:3-9)

So, by trusting in Jesus, the One Who God sent, you obtain another level of righteousness—the righteousness that is by faith.

Justice, Grace, Faith, and Salvation

Only a person who understands justice will value God’s gift of life. Only that person will rejoice in the blood of Jesus Christ. Only they will stop feeling entitled to eternal life, and will appreciate it for the grace that it is!

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

Eternal life is a gracious undeserved gift from God.

… by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9; NASB).

You exercise faith in the righteousness of God, and it saves you!

… in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last (Romans 1:17).

How to Become Righteous

If you trust in God’s work in Christ (remember: God sent Jesus and he resurrected him), you experience salvation. We are saved through faith in the righteousness of God, a righteousness which actually becomes ours! This new ability to do good works (acts of righteousness) is given to all who believe in Jesus Christ, so that we literally become righteous.

… apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 3:21-22).

Just Do It

The righteousness of God manifests itself through the works of all those who have faith in Christ. We are created by God to do good works, the good works he prepared for us, and for which he will reward us if we persevere in them. If we obey his Law, he will declare us righteous.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

God ‘will repay each person according to what they have done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life (Romans 2:6-7).

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 2:9-10).

… it is not those who hear the Law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the Law who will be declared righteous (Romans 2:13).