Under the Blood

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace…”—Ephesians 1:7

How precious is the blood of Christ! And how often we neglect such a key truth as the power in the Savior’s blood! His blood covers over the deepest sins—it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, or where you’ve been, if you come to Christ in humble repentance, He will not cast you out. He will apply His blood to your sins. His blood was spilled for your sins and mine, and it was sufficient to pay for the sins of the world—it’s that powerful, as the old hymn expresses it,

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

In our modern era such talk of blood is considered to be archaic, crude, or brutish. But the Bible is unequivocally clear, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life”—Leviticus 17:11. And we read again in the New Testament, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”—Hebrews 9:22.

In the Old Testament, it was the blood of goats and bulls that was required, but it was insufficient to take away sin completely, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”—Hebrews 10:4. If the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sins, then what kind of sacrifice would be sufficient? It could only be the blood of the perfect lamb, Jesus Christ!

Without the shedding of Christ’s blood we cannot have forgiveness! He had to die and His blood had to flow freely at Calvary’s tree! Failure to teach about the blood is to minimize Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and negate one of the greatest doctrines of our redemption! We have been “ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”—1 Peter 1:18-19.

The only way we will be victorious over Satan is “by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). May we marvel at the blood of Christ flowing so freely at Calvary! May we see once again the sacred head now wounded, bowed upon the tree. May we see His blood flowing freely from His head, hands, feet, and side! May we be able, like Thomas, to touch the scar marks of our redemption from where the blood flowed! And may we live as men and women whose pasts are under the blood of the Lamb, and through His crucifixion and resurrection, we are now able to walk in newness of life to the praise of His great and awesome name! Amen.