One of my favorite hymns is “Nothing But The Blood”. Every time I sing the words “what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus” my soul is pierced.
- Someone needs blood every two seconds
- A newborn baby has about a cup of blood in his/her body.
- There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in an adult body.
- Your heart will pump nearly 1.5 million barrels of blood during your lifetime.
Blood is vital to the human existence; without a sufficient about of blood, our bodies become lifeless shells.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’” – Leviticus 11:17
If we didn’t have the medical community to remind us, scripture reminds us of how important the blood is. After sin infected the Garden of Eden, God required blood as an atonement (reparation) for sin; to some people, this seems unreasonable or extreme or even disgusting, but to God, it was a foreshadow of the blood that was to come.
The plan of redemption would only be made perfect by blood; not the blood of sheep and goats, not the blood of doves, not the blood of rams…the perfect, royal blood of Jesus Christ.
This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God,which he has given about his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. – 1 John 5:6-12
Science teaches us why our bodies need blood, but the Bible teaches us why our souls need blood. We needed the gift of Jesus’ sacrificial blood because without it we were hopeless and without a way back to God. The blood of Jesus is our gift, every single day, and when we are covered by the blood through baptism we are forgiven of our sins.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus can cleanse us and make us whole again and again and again.