Some of us cringe.
Some feel nauseated.
Doctors and nurses get used to its sight; still its leaking spurs them to action.
Even for professionals the sight of blood is unnerving. It signals something is wrong.
“Life is in the blood,” says Moses in the Book of Leviticus.
But the old hymn “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” celebrates blood! Does that seem odd? “Oh precious is the flow,” wrote Robert Lowry.
Why rejoice in the brutal death of an innocent young man whose all-powerful Father did nothing to stop it?
Hebrews tells us why: “All things are cleansed with blood.” That shocks our sensibilities because I’ve never seen blood clean anything. Have you? Rather, it stains most everything—garments, wood, stone, even the ground in Rwanda soaked in blood from the genocide bore the mark long after the killing had stopped.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin,” is the very next God inspired line instructing us in a scrubbing system we can’t quite fathom. Our inherited Adamic sin nature demanded a perfect payment we could never provide.
Jesus willingly gave His blood as the cleansing sacrifice for us.
“Once for all!”
We will never love the sight of our blood nor should we.
But Jesus’ blood? That red liquid drawn from the power of His indestructible life should fill us with hope and joy and eternal gratitude because it opened the way for us to enter into heaven to live without the shame of sin! Forever!
Though we strive and pretend to be good and honorable, we will never stop sinning.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus can make us righteous!
Though we get dressed every day to cover our shame, we will never remove its pervasive, sticky film.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash us clean!
This month, as we continue the march to the cross, to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, may you ask Him to help you understand the mysterious, soul-cleansing work Jesus accomplished for you and for me. May you rejoice in the miraculous wonder of His crimson blood washing you white as snow!
He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him!
