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Rev. Langerak is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed
Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Blood is an amazing fluid. Blood
is the life of all flesh (Gen.
9:4). From one blood, God made all
nations on the earth (Acts
17:26). The blood of grapes is
life-giving juice (Gen.
49:11). Taken by faith, the blood of
the New Testament grape enlivens the weak and sickly (I Cor. 11:30).
Since blood is the life of animals, it could not be eaten with their flesh;
God gave it as an atonement for souls (Lev.
17:11-14). The old covenant blood
purged almost all things: It was splashed on door-frames, sprinkled on the
altar, law, instruments of worship, ears and garments of priests, and on men,
women, and their children (Heb.
9:19-21). Yet, this blood of bulls
and goats could not take away sin (Heb.
10:4). The Lamb’s blood must be
sprinkled (I
Pet. 1:2). We must have faith in
that blood (Rom.
3:25). And when we eat His flesh, we
must also drink His blood (John
6:55), so His life dwells in us and
we in Him (John
6:56).
Rightly we associate murder with blood. But all sin against our neighbor
sheds blood; not only by killing, but by swearing, lying, stealing, and
adultery, blood touches blood (Hos. 4:2). The
sinner has blood in his mouth (Zech.
9:7), is polluted with blood (Hos. 6:8), is a
bloody man (Ps.
59:2), lies in wait for blood (Prov. 12:6), and
builds with blood (Hab. 2:12).
David, guilty of adultery and murder, rightly cried out to be delivered from
blood-guiltiness (Ps.
51:14). He knew blood is an
infallible and everlasting witness to sin. It cries out with a loud voice
that reverberates in God’s ears from the ground where it is spilled (Gen.
4:10). It leaves an indelible stain.
Long after their murder, God still saw the blood of Naboth
(II
Kings 9:26), Abner
and Amasa (I
Kings 2:5-31), the Gibeonites (II
Sam. 21:1), the prophets slain by
Jezebel (II
Kings 9:7), and the blood of every
saint from the A in Abel to the Z in Zacharias (Luke
11:51), which is precious in His
sight (Ps.
72:14). The blood-stain of the
murdered promptly transfers to the head of the murderer (II
Sam. 1:16), to his hands (Gen.
4:10; Isa. 59:3), and
to the congregation that tolerates him (Deut.
19:13). For his part in killing
Jesus, Judas was buried in the field of blood (Acts
1:19). While Pilate vainly tried to
wash away Jesus’ blood, the multitude gladly said, “Let it be on us and our
children” (Matt. 27:24-25). It was theirs anyway, because all who reject Jesus are
guilty of His blood (I Cor. 11:27; Acts
18:6) and count the blood of the
covenant an unholy thing (Heb
10:29).
God avenges all shedding of innocent blood, either by man or by beast (Gen.
9:5). It is one of six abominations
before Him (Prov. 6:16-17).
He pleads against the wicked with blood, makes blood pursue them, waters
their land with blood, and sends blood into their streets (Ezek.
28:23, 32:6, 35:6, 38:22). When
Christ returns, it will be a day of bloody vengeance. Announcing His return,
the seas and the moon will become as blood (Rev. 6:12, 16:3). He will make the
wicked drink waters of blood for the blood they shed (Rev.
16:6). His clothes will be spattered
with blood (Rev.
19:13; Is.
63:3) as He treads the winepress of
the earth wherein is found the blood of the prophets and saints (Rev.
14:20, 18:24) who cry out from
heaven, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our
blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Rev.
6:10).
But the saints are saved by His blood. Inasmuch as we are flesh and blood,
Jesus took part of the same (Heb.
2:14). But since flesh and blood
cannot inherit His kingdom, those given to Him are born not of blood, the
will of the flesh, or of man, but of God (John
1:13). For them, Christ drained His
life-blood. It dripped from His head (Luke
22:44) and came from His side (John
19:34). His blood is most precious (I
Pet. 1:19). His blood justifies (Rom.
5:9), sanctifies (Heb.
13:12), purchases (Acts
20:28), cleanses from all sin (I
John 1:7), obtains eternal
redemption and forgiveness (Col.
1:14; Eph.
1:7), brings us nigh (Eph.
2:13), allows us to enter into the
holiest place (Heb.
10:19), purges our conscience from
dead works to serve the living God (Heb.
9:14), reconciles all things in
heaven and earth to God (Col.
1:20), gives eternal life (John
6:54), and makes our robes white
when washed therein (Rev.
7:14). Let us sing a new song to God
for Jesus, who by His blood has done all this for us—a people otherwise
stained head to toe with blood—and redeemed us to God out of every kindred,
tongue, and nation (Rev.
5:9).
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