For example I used to struggle to comprehend that God, (Yahweh or Jehovah) has no beginning and no end – how God ALWAYS existed. It wasn’t until I came to a place of understanding God was not a part of our created order, yet time is, that I could begin to fathom God’s immensity and sovereignty over ALL of creation including time which we personally are constrained to as a part of creation.
I’ve had some really cool conversations with a beautiful friend of mine recently discussing her question as to WHY God requires a blood sacrifice at all. She asked openly and honestly why God couldn’t just absolve sins without any blood sacrifice? I loved her question and said that I too had pondered this question in my own mind – I even know of some who believe this theological understanding of God or doctrine to be non-Christian and stemming from pagan rituals. That Jesus died only because of corrupt people.
Yet I believe if I asserted this I would not be holding onto the belief that scripture is inerrant; (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17) or to the Gospel that Jesus' death and resurrection to life are true and necessary. For scripture states Jesus was the perfect and needed sacrifice for the atonement of sin – It is by His blood alone that we are cleansed and His righteousness that is imputed to us when we repent of our sins and call upon The Lord God in the Name of Jesus. Here are some foundational scriptures for consideration:
A segment of Isaiah 53: ‘But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ NRSV 53:5-6.
Romans 4:25: 'He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.'
1 Peter 2:24-25: 'He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.'
Hebrews 9:22:‘Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.’ And remember Jesus did not come to do away with the Law but fulfill it see Matthew 5:17.
This blog post is not intended to be a thorough paper I would write for Bible College, as my blog has never intended to publish such works like that of mine – Rather on here I write predominately for non-church people, to give them some things to ponder in an easy to understand manner. Therefore I would highly recommend reading all of Hebrews 9 for a better understanding of the Old Testament sacrifices and Christ’s final one.
Okay, so if I take the New Testament as God’s Word that Jesus was allowed to suffer under the hand of man to die the death my sins rightly deserve I still then have the question of why…Why is blood necessary, why isn’t a wash in water like a baptism of repentance enough? Is God bloodthirsty? Yet how could this be when God is called LOVE?
So I come to a place of wondering, even scientifically about blood and about God’s character.
When I read scripture I see God as good and just. I see our created universe as good by having order, yet broken by the consequence of sin.
I see a loving creator who wanted relationship with those made in His image. He made us immortal, immensely creative, with our own free will and with the ability to pro-create to steward this world…How awesome is that?
I see our Heavenly Father as One who is Holy and perfect (by the standards He teaches us) and as One who is therefore a just judge. We know that justice is right by our own conscience. We know for example that harming the innocent needs punishment…Yet we struggle when we have to look in the mirror at ourselves thinking; surely my sin isn’t THAT bad? Yet to God’s standards sin is sin, it is ultimately rebellion and results in separation from Him as He cannot have sin near Him – think of those who touched the arc of the covenant where God’s presence was – they died instantly. Remember the need for the huge curtain veil covering the holy of holies in the temple? You see sin = death. It’s like a math equation. It’s a part of our created order and a good judge doesn’t bypass established law.
So if I understand that God cannot have any sin in His presence, yet desires a relationship with us as He intended from the beginning of creation, without taking our free-will away from us and will not disturb our created order and sin = death; I can understand why Adam and Eve HAD to leave His presence in the garden and of why mankind became mortal and therefore of WHY God made the first blood sacrifice in the garden when He killed the animal to make clothing for Adam and Eve before they left, for blood is the life-source of man, not water; see Deuteronomy 12:23 and Leviticus 17:11-14.
Blood is the life source of mankind and animals. Yes we need water to survive, food too, but white blood cells contain our DNA!
Losing blood results in the loss of life and sin = death, the loss of life.
It helps me to think of how a woman sheds blood after ovulation if she doesn’t conceive. Blood is shed for cleansing. A new lining replaces the old for a new cycle of ovulation and a possible new life. The womb needs cleansing for new life to grow there, the blood ‘life’ lining is shed to cleanse the woman internally, for the blood contains life and in my opinion is a way of God showing us that blood cleansing is necessary. It stumps evolutionists as to why human females menstruate when the vast majority of animals do not.
A woman sheds blood for new life to grow inside her, what a wonderful gift that is.
God is not bloodthirsty. He is LOVE and loves us so much He became a human being and shed His blood for us, for the forgiveness of our sins when we call upon the Name of Jesus, resulting in NEW LIFE a cleansed spiritual re-birth which results in life for all eternity in His presence.
One more point relating to the necessity of blood. Because blood is a person’s life-source, it is also an oath. Think of how as children some people used to ‘blood swear’. The shedding of blood is like the ultimate oath or signed agreement. This is why when God in the Old Testament made His covenant agreements there was an animal sacrifice He passed through as Spirit (see Genesis 15) and this is why Jesus blood is God’s promise of the new covenant He is openly offering to ALL people by simply verbally acknowledging their need for forgiveness and re-birth – we don’t need to swear by our blood, the blood’s already been shed by God Himself when He became a physical human being. It’s like the ultimate contract is sitting on your kitchen table and all you have to do is commit – yet the enemy tries to hide it under your bills and junk mail…
Yes, God is a good judge and He is waiting for all His children to repent and trust in Jesus as their God before He returns to judge righteously all those who reject Him and belong to the enemy.
I hope this post has been helpful, especially for my beautiful friend whom asked me to write it and is easy to understand.
Love Melanie.
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