The Necessity of Blood

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” —Leviticus 17:11

When we come to Christ, or come to know Christ, we give our lives to Him because we believe that He died on the cross for our sins and then rose from the dead so that we might be justified (declared to be righteous) in the sight of God. One of the key aspects of Christianity is to know and understand the means God provided in order for this reconciliation to happen, which is called the “atonement.” “Atonement” is the act that God provided for us to be reconciled to Himself. The idea is rooted in the Old Testament, specifically seen in the book of Leviticus where we read about the need for the shedding of blood for atonement to be made. God tells us that the life of a creature is found in its blood, and through that blood being poured out on the altar, atonement is made, or our sins are paid for and dealt with. Since blood is the tangible expression of life, the idea is that one life is given for another. And because we have sin in God’s sight, our death is required (Romans 6:23) and we are under His wrath, for each sin that we commit is rebellion in His sight. But, God provided a way for our sin to be dealt with without us having to die. He gave us the sacrificial system, whereby we could, through the blood of various animals, have blood shed on our behalf to cover over our sins (this act is called propitiation) and have our sins taken away (this act is called expiation). It was through the shedding of blood that we could be forgiven, and without the shedding of blood “there is no forgiveness of sins.”—Hebrews 9:22.

Atonement that is made available through the blood sacrifice involves both propitiation and expiation. But can the blood of a lamb or a goat really take away or cover our sins? No, it’s impossible, because animals, though living beings, are not made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Only one who bore the image of God and lived a perfect life could pay the price. The blood of animals could only be a temporary fix to our permanent problem. As the author of Hebrews says,

“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”—Hebrews 10:1-4

The law in the Old Testament was to show how inadequate such sacrifices really were—they were only a shadow of what was to come and were to point to the fullest expression of atonement that would be made through Jesus Christ. God provided Christ to come and give His life for us. He came to take away our sins (1 John 3:5), cover them (Romans 3:25), and cleanse us from them (1 John 1:7). And it is through that same precious blood that peace was made between God and man (Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:20; 1 Peter 1:19). The cross was absolutely necessary for Christ to procure our salvation, and if He didn’t shed His blood then we wouldn’t have our sins atoned for and we would still be under God’s wrath.

For many in our western world today, blood is not the image that we prefer to have in our mind when considering who Christ is and what He has done. Many of the great songs of the faith that spoke about the blood of Christ have largely vanished from our contemporary worship and are in danger of disappearing from our churches altogether as they are seen as archaic, outdated, cruel and grotesque—but we must not let this happen. We must run to the cross, making a concerted effort to never forget about the blood of Christ, for without His blood being shed, we can’t be cleansed from the guilt of our sin that so stains our souls. Without His blood we are still dirty in the sight of God and His wrath remains on us. It is through His blood that we have been justified, and it is through that same blood that we will be “saved by Him from the wrath of God”—Romans 5:9.

I pray that we might have a recovery of the great biblical truth of Christ’s blood that was poured out for us so that we, like the hymn writer of old, could sing with full confidence and great joy,

“What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! Precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Amen.