“Live By the Blood”

Scripture: Romans 5:1-11

As we continue on our journey through Lent, we have been considering what it is about our faith that proclaims life in Christ above the life that we know within our human experience. Today, we take a look at the life that comes to us through faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament contains many references to sacrificial blood, and in Leviticus 17:10-11, we read that many people in the ancient nations consumed blood, but that Israel was forbidden from doing that. It was believed that the power of life was contained in the blood of both animals and conquered people. To defeat a more powerful enemy was a great victory, and some would consume the enemy’s blood, in the belief that they could gain even more power for themselves.

But the passage tells us that blood is not for eating, but rather for sacrifice on the altar to receive atonement for sin. In this context, the word “atone” refers to the act of substituting a sacrifice of a life’s blood to gain forgiveness for our transgressions against the Lord. A blood sacrifice, the giving of one life for the redemption of another, was so important for the people of Israel, that it was only to be used at the altar, and never within your own body. It was to be an offering to God, not to themselves.

In the Christian context, blood atonement has become a vitally important concept for believers, in that the blood of Jesus Christ was poured out on the Cross, as a sign that we might be forgiven for our sin. And this also points out the place of the Cross in our faith, in that it has now become our spiritual altar. This is the reason that Christian churches place crosses in our sanctuaries – it reminds us that salvation is about sacrifice, both that which Jesus accepted for our salvation, and that which we must accept in surrendering the life that disgraces God, in favor of the life that will bring honor to our Lord.

Faith in the power that the blood of Christ holds is our only hope for receiving forgiveness through atonement.

Read Romans 5:1-5

Without the atonement that comes to us by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, we remain unworthy to come into the presence of Almighty God. He is perfect, and we are not, and the two – perfection and sinfulness – cannot exist together. For Israel, this division was symbolized by the curtain in the temple. It separated human worship from the Holy of Holies – that place which represented God’s existence. The only one who was allowed to enter that space was the chief priest, and then only on the Day of Atonement after he had undergone extensive ritual cleansing. But by Christ’s great act at Calvary, as we read in Matthew 27:51-52, this curtain, this divide between God and us, was torn from top to bottom, opening the way for salvation by faith in the One who made it possible for all to become one with God once again.

As Paul writes, our justification, or rather our atonement through the power that comes by faith in the blood of Jesus, we receive the peace and grace and hope of our Glorious God. But as he continues, we discover that this does not include a life that is free of pain and struggle! As a matter of fact, he tells us that we should rejoice in the sufferings that the world brings against us – not that we should be happy at the prospect of pain and struggle, but because our God will be with us, and guiding us through whatever comes against our faith. Persecution, hatred, disbelief, loss of friendships and family, and on and on – these are what Satan will use to try to convince us that faith is useless, that it is worthless in this life, that it only tears us down and throws us out.

But Paul writes that our suffering, those pressures of life that come against us, in conjunction with our faith, all serve to teach us how to persevere against the attacks that will, inevitably, come. By trusting that the Lord will see us through the most difficult of circumstances, we can begin to see God’s light at the end of the world’s tunnel of darkness.
And when we can see the Light of Christ awaiting us, we realize that the Holy Spirit has been guiding us through the darkness of affliction, and will see us through to the completion of our journey. And as the struggles of life continue to try to close in around us, we become stronger, and faith continues to grow richer, and trust in the way of Christ will become our way, too.

Our Christian character, our Christian nature, slowly takes on the nature and character of Christ, and hope is restored to our life. Without faith, there is no rejoicing in our struggles; without rejoicing that God is with us, there is no standing against the attacks; without resistance to the ways of earth, our character will never be able to model the life of Christ; and without the life of Christ, there can never be hope for eternal life. And without living in the hope of Jesus Christ, the Spirit will never be able to fill us with the love of God.

Eternal life, with and through our Lord, hinges on our believing all that God has done for us through the life and blood of Jesus!

Read Romans 5:6-8

Until Calvary, humanity was lost. Life had no chance whatsoever of knowing anything about the love of God, or the life that awaits each and every one of us. We were totally unworthy and unaware of God’s presence - sin controlled our lives, and it had a death grip on our hearts. There was no hope at all, because the only blood sacrifice that we, or rather Israel, could manage had be made for each and every sin that was ever committed, and human intellect is incapable of remembering all of it. We were doomed.

But in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in the rending of the separation that existed between us and the way of God, we were granted access to the way of faith. It isn’t because we had become perfect, it isn’t because we were suddenly worthy, and it definitely isn’t because we suddenly became righteous and Godly – it is simply because we are dearly loved by the Lord. And that is the hope that Paul was writing about – the hope that comes to us by faith - faith in the power that the Life Blood of Jesus holds for us.

At the Last Supper, when Jesus picked up the third cup of the Passover, the cup of Redemption, he proclaimed that this was no longer just a reminder of the events of Passover, but that it was a new covenant, created through the shedding of his blood, and offered to all by faith in him. And when he told them that they were to drink his blood, the blood of his new hope, they were appalled at the thought. Their Law had demanded that this practice be banned many centuries before. Of course his command wasn’t to be taken literally – it is a spiritual drink, a faith drink that is given for our forgiveness.

Christ’s blood atonement was given for us before we were worthy to receive it, and in place of our death in sin, we have been offered life in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Read Romans 5:9-11

Faith is still at work in Paul’s letter, when we read that it was by God’s act at Calvary, through the shedding of divine blood, that even though we are still far from being perfect, we now have a means to pass through the vail of sin and death, the wall that we can never breach on our own, the barrier that separates us from our Gracious God, and know the love and life of eternity. The agonizing blood sacrifice that Christ endured is our only hope for the Lord’s gift, but we still must choose to take the step of faith which carries us beyond the penalty for our failure to live a Godly life. But there was still more that had to be done.

His death was the means of our reconciliation, our restoration, our reuniting with God. But we have to remember that in Jesus’ death, his body was relegated to the tomb of earth. Life was still missing on that Friday before Easter, but it was soon to reappear in a glorious, abrupt, mysterious, and shocking way. While the blood gained us a path to righteousness, the resurrection that left the tomb of death empty, is our path to eternal life. And the hope that each brings to our life hinges solely on whether we believe the truth and power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, or not.

So the choice is before us – do we continue to live as “enemies” of God, simply because of the life we lead and our refusal to accept the atonement that Jesus created for us, or do we surrender our dependency on what we can never accomplish on our own, and claim the Life Blood of Jesus as our only hope?

The choice shouldn’t be all that difficult, but apparently it is for many! May it never be so for us.