Earlier in this study we read a Scripture that undoubtedly offended the people He was teaching, especially the Scribes and Pharisees, more than anything else He said. I would like to take another look at it at this time. It is found in John 6:53-59:
Then Jesus said unto them: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in Him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven–not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Can you imagine being in a crowd of people who are listening to a well known preacher and he makes this kind of statement? The murmuring in the crowd would turn to a raucous outrage in no time at all. Yet, there was a handful of men who, even though they didn’t understand it, decided to stick with Jesus, regardless. Most in the crowd left Jesus then because they could not accept what He had said. When Jesus asked the disciples if they were going to leave too, they answered by saying, “Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life!”
The teachings of Jesus were not always clear to the crowds–often not even to the disciples, but they were very definite. Jesus left no question about genuine Truth. He was also so very exclusive, saying His truth was the only Way, the Truth, and the Life! Human nature does not like to be told there is only one way. Human nature also does not like to be told what to do. Yet, Jesus made it abundantly clear that without the partaking of His flesh and the taking of His Blood unto one’s self, a person will die in their sins. In fact, eternal life could only be had by direct obedience to His “formula”–the formula that requires the intervention and cleansing of His Blood! Anything short of that would result in eternal death and separation from God. Eternal life can only come through the blood of Jesus. Adam’s blood is defiled and that sin-defilement has carried down through the generations to every one of Adam’s descendants.
Sin has to be judged, yet God loved the human race so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice to provide a way of escape from the wrath and judgment of God. One of the most familiar passages of Scripture in the Bible is found in John 3:16-18:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
It is the blood of Jesus that reconciles us to God, nothing less. Here is how the word reconcile is defined:
- the restoration of friendly relations.
- fence-mending
- squaring, balancing
- the action of making one view or belief compatible with another
In Romans 5:6-11 we learn about the justification that comes through this reconciliation:
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
So what is the ultimate value of the Blood of Jesus? It is physical, spiritual, and eternal. God delivered me by substituting His own life for mine! This substitution pays my entire debt–no exception! This means I am totally FREE!
But, as complete as this payment is, the complete meaning of this payment goes much further than we might think. This is where the word “DISPOSITION” that we discussed earlier comes back into the picture. When we “drink” Jesus’ Blood, we accept His divine nature into our being! Obviously we don’t eat pieces of the body of Jesus Christ, nor do we literally drink of His Blood. Our flawed nature however is gradually overtaken by His perfect one. This is what we find taught in 2 Peter 1:2-11:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this every reason giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. for if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These things don’t come automatically through some kind of metamorphosis. They come by applying one’s self to reading and studying God’s Word and through an intimate personal walk with God. Ephesians 5:25-27:
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Below are some of the things that are provided by the blood of Jesus and the proof from the Word of God.
- We are saved by His blood: “Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (Romans 5:9)
- We are redeemed by the blood: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7) “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”’ (Revelation 5:9-10)
- Christ purchased and bought us with His blood: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
- There is remission (cancellation) of sins by the blood “…in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:14) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)
- We are reconciled to God (made friendly) through the blood: “…and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:20) “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)
- We have entrance into heaven because of the blood: “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission, therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—(Hebrews 9:22-26)
- We have eternal life through His blood: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54)
- There is an everlasting eternal contract with God through the blood: “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20)
- Our very faith as Christians is in His blood and because of His blood: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:24-26)
- There is communion and fellowship with God through the blood: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16)
- There is peace with God through the blood: “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands–that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:11-13)
- We are cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus the Son: “But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
- Our conscience itself is cleansed by the blood: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)
- Obedience to God is possible through the blood: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.” (1 Peter 1:1-2)
- All the requirements of the law are taken care of by the blood: “…Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:21-22)
- There is power in the blood: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil…” (Hebrews 2:14) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)
- We are clothed and our garments made white because of the blood: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ so he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.” (Revelation 7:13-15)
- We are sanctified and made holy by the blood: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29) “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” (Hebrews 13:12)
- We can enter God’s presence “in the holiest” by the blood: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 19-22) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
- Heavenly joy is because of the blood: “…Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12)
- We are able to defeat Satan entirely through the blood: “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Revelation 12:10-12) “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.” (Hebrews 1:14-16)
As we see that Jesus died in our place, there is another part of this “dying” that we need to understand. Jesus did not die so that we would not have to. His death made it possible for us to be able to die to ourselves…and die to ourselves we must. Jesus taught His disciples that they were to pick up their cross and follow Him. This is what His Lordship requires if we are going to be true “sons” of the Kingdom of God.
The extreme sacrifice made on our behalf requires that we see our need for a Saviour. It also requires that we repent of our sins. It also means that we understand that salvation is provided for much more than the individual acts of sin that we commit throughout life. Salvation provides the only remedy for the sin-nature that every human being is born with. Once this is understood and the blood of Jesus has been applied, then we must die to ourselves, making Him the unquestioned LORD of our lives.
To Be Continued in Part 8