Hebrews 9:1-28

Blood

Blood is not a pretty thing. Blood doesn’t smell very good. The shedding of blood in a religious rite seems somewhat barbaric to our modern Western sensibilities. For this reason there are those within the church who would like to do away with any reference to blood, even the blood of Christ. The writer of Hebrews does not agree with these people and neither do I.

This was the same error as that committed by Cain. Cain’s brother Abel brought a blood sacrifice while Cain brought a bloodless sacrifice. Abel was accepted but Cain was not. Nevertheless, the way of Cain is still very much alive. It is the way which says, “I don’t care what God requires I’ll do it my way and God will accept it because I have a better idea.” That is not the way it works but some people persist in that mode anyway.

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Why? The answer is really quite simple. The law of sin and death is this: “The soul that sins will die.” They don’t die because God gets mad and kills them. They die because sin separates them from the Holy God. Biological death is when your natural body stops, but that really not all that big a deal. Spiritual death is separation from God. That is a very big deal. God can’t cease to be holy and sin can’t exist in His presence. Only the shedding of blood can atone for sin because the price of sin is death and the life is in the blood.

Before Christ the blood that was shed was that of an innocent animal. Tragic and cruel? Of course, sin is tragic and cruel. Yet, the blood of animals could not really take away sin. It was sort of a band-aid if you will. It allowed the worshipper to be able to somewhat draw near for a time. What we really needed was something far more powerful.

And so I ask, “What can wash away my sin?” The writer of Hebrews answers, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”