The Blood of Christ

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:19-29

There is something about the sight of blood that strikes a sober chord in man. Whether presented with media images of blood-stained clothing or witnessing an accident with badly wounded victims, the visual aspect of spilt blood graphically reminds us of death’s reality. When the Bible speaks of Christ’s poured-out blood, it is invariably linked with His sacrificial death on Calvary for our sins.

The writer of Hebrews went to great lengths to portray Christ as God’s all-sufficient sacrifice. Apart from Christ’s shed blood, there is no gospel, no forgiveness, no justification, no sanctification. It is the blood of Christ, His death, that satisfies God’s justice and provides the means for reconciliation between sinful man and holy God.

P.T. Forsyth, a Scottish clergyman, wrote in the Cruciality of the Cross: “Christ is to us just what His cross is. All that Christ was in heaven or on earth was put into what He did there...Christ, I repeat, is to us just what His cross is. You do not understand Christ till you understand His cross.” The cross of Christ is His death. His death is His shed blood. His shed blood is the only acceptable payment for sin and the only way of access to holy God.

“...for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe...” Revelation 5:9