In Touch - Mar. 31, 2010

March 31
The Precious Blood of Jesus 
1 Peter 1:17-21

Many churches today have erased all mention of Jesus' blood from their worship. But the shedding of blood is essential to the Christian faith—without a sacrifice, no one can have a relationship with God. For that reason, the Lord wove the story of death, renewal, and reconciliation like a red thread from Genesis to Revelation.

What do you have if you take all the blood from a body? A lifeless corpse, right? The same thing is true of the Bible. Scripture would be no more than historical literature if we edited the "unpleasant" bits regarding animal sacrifice, Jesus on the cross, or the power of His blood.

God designed the redemption system in such a way that anyone could understand the connection between shed blood and freedom from sin. The Lord gave detailed instructions for offering a perfect animal sacrifice so that His holiness would be satisfied. God also wanted His followers to understand that sin brought terrible consequences and resulted in death. The first fatality in Scripture was the animal whose skin was used to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness (Gen. 3:21). Every time an Israelite brought to the priests a lamb or a pair of doves, he recognized that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).

God chose a graphic solution to the world's sin problem. Therefore, believers cannot be squeamish about explaining what truly happened at Golgotha. The words we choose influence listeners; "Jesus shed His blood for you" is a powerful statement. It is also the message God repeats throughout the Bible.

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