What Value Is the Blood of Jesus Christ?

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On a farm, I once saw a hog killed for food. The farmer jumped into the hog pin, hit the hog in the head with an axe, and slit its throat. To see the hog helplessly lying there with blood spurting from its neck was repulsive and made me feel weak and faint. Until Christ died and God tore the thick temple veil in two from top to bottom, Jewish priests slit the throats of thousands of innocent unblemished lambs upon sacrificial alters. Critics decry Judaism calling it a slaughterhouse religion. One Protestant denomination thought the blood songs in their hymnal so repulsive they omitted them.

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In town, I sometimes went to the bus station to give out gospel tracks and tell of my Christian faith. But on one occasion when I was merely passing by I heard a man shouting profanities walking back and forth in front of the bus station. He turned and looked directly at me watching him. If ever a human face could express evil, it was that man’s face. And most unusual and surprising, he screamed out the words “And the blood of Jesus Christ doesn’t mean a thing.” Knowing what the Bible said about demons, I wondered if this man was possessed.

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According to the Bible, all the slain lambs pictured the one final sacrifice to come in the death of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:29). The Jews rejected Jesus as the suffering servant and Messiah because they were looking for a political king.What does the blood of Jesus Christ mean according to the Bible?

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Was His Suffering the Punishment Our Sins Deserved

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He (God) made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor. 5:21

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Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. . .For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18

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Not Jesus’ deity, but his humanity died as our substitute bearing our sin and punishment. All sin is ultimately against God. Jesus’ death exhibited both God’s justice and love—it was the world’s worst evil to bring about humanity’s greatest good. Jesus’ death satisfied God’s justice, demonstrated his love, and sealed our pardon. See also Isaiah 53:11; 1 John 2:2.

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Frees Us from Slavery to Sin and Condemnation

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In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Ephesians. 1:7.

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Redemption is Christ’s death paying the penalty to free us from slavery to sin (1 Pet. 1:18; Rev. 1:5-6). Not just sins committed before salvation, nor only sins confessed since salvation, but all sins past, present, and future. Unless that’s true, Christ could not be our true and sufficient Savior. Believers are no longer judged for sins condemned and paid for at the cross (Rom. 8:1; John 5:24), but judged as God’s fellow workers on the foundation of Christ to receive their rewards for service at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:9-15; Rev. 22:12).  

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Empowers Us to Overcome Sin Daily

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If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-9.

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While we are free from slavery to sin and its penalty of Hell, we never become perfect in this world. We still struggle with sin in our daily lives. First John 3:9 is in the present continuous tense and can better translated habitual sin. The new birth in God’s Spirit makes us new persons with a new sensitivity to wrongdoing. Paul explains the way to victory in the struggle with sin is to yield ourselves to God as his instruments of righteousness and not to sin which leads to death (Rom. 6). A pig and a lamb may fall into mud. The pig enjoys it but the lamb struggles to get free.

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The Lord’s Resurrection Visibly Established the Value of His Shed Blood

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If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 1 Corinthians 15:17.

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If Jesus’ body had not risen from the dead, Christian faith would never have come into being. Jesus would be seen as a false prophet. His death would mean nothing. We would have no proof of life beyond the grave. And human beings have no reason to believe we’re anything more than perishing animals--atheism, or recycled energy--pantheist religions, meaning utter extinction and futility of life.

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Jesus gave his life voluntary and had power to take it up again (John 10:18; Acts 2:23). Arrogant persons brag about their greatness and despise, offend, and degrade others as unworthy of their time and attention. In contrast, Jesus’ greatness is that he left Heaven’s glories, came into our sin cursed world, took the form of a servant, suffered all the indignities men could heap upon him, and died a criminal’s death for us despicable sinners. That’s love! There’s no greater love--and when it touches us, it can melt our hard sinful hearts and fill us with love, gratitude and joy.

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“I will sing of my Redeemer and His wondrous love to me;

On the cruel cross He suffered from the curse to set me free.

I will praise my dear Redeemer, His triumphant power I’ll tell,

Of the victory He gives over sin and death and hell.”

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Enables Us to Live for Him and Not Just Ourselves

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He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:15.

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Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 There certainly are many such thieves in the world today—but not Jesus, nor his true followers.

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“Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do,

Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free, This is the pathway of blessing for me.

Living for Jesus who died in my place, Bearing on Calvary my sin and disgrace,

Such love constrains me to answer His call, Follow His leading and give Him my all.

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O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to You;

For You in Your atonement, did gave Yourself for me;

I own no other Master, My heart shall be Your throne;

My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ for You alone.”
                                       ---Hymn by Thomas O. Chisholm

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Has Broken Down the Hate Walls Between Peoples

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He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. Acts 17:26.

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There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28.

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In Jesus time, Jews hated Gentiles and Gentiles hated Jews; women and slaves were less valued. People hate and devalued each other the world over. And whoever gets the upper hand dominates and enslaves the others. But Christ came to break down these hate walls of separation between races and peoples. Paul rebuked Peter’s separating from the Gentiles saying it was not according to the gospel (Gal. 2:14). Peter by example was building walls between people instead of tearing them down.

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All persons are in God’s image, descended from Adam and Eve and of one blood. Different genes give us different characteristics but we’re a common humanity deserving the same respect. God’s church is one body and he loves us all. We’ll all be together in either Heaven or Hell. So everybody is entitled to the same respect and concern. Christian tear down those hate walls--only the practice of true biblical Christianity can do it.

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 Hymns about the blood are most precious to the true believer.

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“There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains;

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed church of God Be saved, to sin no more.”
                                                       ---Hymn by William Cowper

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Many fine scholarly books are written about Jesus’ cross or atonement. I think the little 127-page book, The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper is best for the average person. It briefly and clearly discusses 50 reasons why Christ died. Jesus' death & resurrection is humanity's only hope & salvation. Do U have a love-trust relationship with the Savior issuing in obedience?

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