Blood Everywhere

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Hebrews 9:22


I can remember as young boy carrying a glass bottle of Pepsi Cola on top of a stuffed Teddy Bear when I accidentally dropped it and a piece of glass flew up from the ground creating about a 2” gash in my leg that immediately began to bleed a lot. It seemed as if the bleeding wouldn’t stop and I recall crying (Ok, it was really a blood curling scream) out to my mom and dad asking them frantically, “am I going to die?” Why is it that even children understand something about the power of blood as the Bible teaches, “life is in the blood.” My mom assured me that in no way was I going to die from this injury as my dad took pieces of athletic tape and made a butterfly bandage to seal the wound.

That memory came to mind this morning as I read one of my favorite quotes regarding understanding the Bible. The quote is by a theologian named Graham Scroggy who once said, "Cut the Bible anywhere and it bleeds” referring to the scarlet thread that runs throughout the scriptures from the first book of Genesis to the last book of book of Revelation.  No matter how you look at it, no matter where you cut it, you will find prominently displayed or predicted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It’s really true, cut the Bible anywhere and it bleeds referring to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  

Consider the life of Abraham in the book of Genesis and how Abraham took his son Isaac to a mountain to sacrifice him, Mount Moriah.  And God said take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love and we discover the first time the word love is used.  It's used in the context of a father sacrificing his son on a mountain, Mount Moriah which interestingly enough was also the very mountain that Jesus would be crucified upon.

Swipe right and we read about Moses who lifted up a serpent in the wilderness on a pole and told the children of Israel if they would look upon the serpent and believe in faith, you would be healed. Jesus referenced that event saying just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up. Jesus was making it clear that those who would look to Him for salvation, as grotesque as that might sound, they too would be saved. 

Turn ahead several more books and we come to the life and writings of King David in the psalms where David wrote Psalm 22, a vivid description of the crucifixion hundreds of years before it was even invented. In fact, the opening line of Psalm 22 is one of the sayings of Jesus that we hear Him say from on the cross where He cried out, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"

Skip over to the prophet Isaiah where Isaiah spoke in the 53rd chapter of the book bearing his name about the suffering servant saying, "Who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"  He was wounded for our transgressions.  He was bruised for our inequity.  The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed.”  And so we turn from book to book and chapter to chapter and we see this scarlet thread of God’s redemptive plan running through it. Everywhere we turn we read a story of redeeming love. 

The story of the Bible is one of redemption, from cover to cover we read about the extent God Himself would go to secure our eternal salvation. The Bible makes perfectly clear that without the shedding of blood there remains no sacrifice for sin. In other words for mankind to know God’s forgiveness someone had to die, and Jesus, lovingly and willingly took our place upon the Cross, the billboard of eternity.

Go all the way to the end, the last book in the Bible and what do you find? The apostle John, taken up to heaven momentarily and what does he see but the most epic moment in all of history where we get a glimpse of the worship of heaven that we read of in Revelation 5:6–7, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” At the very center of worship in heaven is a Lamb as though it had been slain and the throng of heaven singing as one, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.”

Let that sink in today. God’s plan from before the foundation of the world was to make it possible for us to know the love of the Father and for us to gain uninhibited access to His presence. And the only sacrifice that could succeed in purchasing our redemption would be the very blood of God Himself. Make no mistake about it, wherever you cut it the Bible bleeds so we might know what the famous hymn of old declares, “There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.”

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

Romans 5:9

I LOVE YOU!