Why Blood?
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
Text: Hebrews 9:15-22
I. Let’s look at Hebrews 9:22
A. Have you considered, “Why blood?”
1. If I wanted to clean something, blood is not the first thing that I would think of using. Blood stains are often difficult to remove.
B. How is it that remission of sin requires the shedding of blood.
C. What makes blood so important?
II. God gives us a hint as to the value of blood
A. Deuteronomy 12:23 - Life is in the blood
B. God connects life to the blood that flows in men and animals.
C. Herein then lies the importance of blood – it represents life.
III. Life, represented in blood, becomes the payment for sin
A. When we sin, we cut ourselves off from God - Isaiah 59:1-4
B. It is easy to imagine the murderer defiling himself with the blood of his victim, but God tells us that all sins are the equivalent of murder in His eyes.
1. The real victim in sins committed is the sinner - Romans 6:23.
2. When we sin, a precious soul has been murdered in God’s sight.
a. Yet it is not eternally lost.
b. It can be bought back or redeemed.
C. Since the creation, man has offered animals on altars.
1. The first instance recorded is the offering of lambs by Abel in Genesis 3.
D. Under the Law of Moses, numerous sacrifices were required.
1. God explains why in Leviticus 17:11
2. In other words, life is offered for life.
E. Despite all the animals sacrificed, the offerings were never enough - Hebrews 10:1-4
1. The writer argues that the requirement to repeatedly offer animal sacrifices proves that they did not remove sins.
2. Instead, all that blood shed continually reminded the worshipers of their sins.
F. There then remained the need for a permanent solution - Hebrews 10:10
1. Ephesians 1:7 - In Christ’s blood we have forgiveness
2. It wasn’t the blood of animals or even of sinful men. God offered the precious blood of His own Son - I Peter 1:18-19
G. Jesus’s sacrifice was not just for those who followed after Him. It also reached back through time - Hebrews 9:15
IV. I John 1:7 - The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin
A. Sin is viewed as filth, which is removed by the blood of the Son of God.
B. Back under the first covenant, items used in the service of God were sprinkled with blood to dedicate them to God - Hebrews 9:21-22
C. The word “sanctification” refers to something set apart to the service of God
1. What is sanctified is considered pure and holy
D. In describing Christian martyrs - Revelation 7:14
1. This is why another term for a Christian is “saint”. A saint has been sanctified by the blood of the Savior. He is set apart for service to God - I Peter 4:1-2
E. The blood of Christ is far more effective for cleaning the conscience and setting one apart from the world - Hebrews 9:13-14
V. Perhaps you noticed that in several of the verses that we have cited that covenants are also connected to the shedding of bloods.
A. Covenants are the predecessor of our modern-day contracts.
1. Covenants contained binding terms. They could be specific tasks to be accomplished, or on-going terms of a relationship.
2. Covenants also had witnesses, something permanent which testified to the existence of the covenant.
a. When men made covenants, they would setup a monument, such as was done between Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:43-54.
b. The witness to the covenant God made with Noah was the rainbow - Genesis 9:12-15
c. The witness to the covenant God made to Abraham and his descendants was the circumcision of the foreskin - Genesis 17:11
3. The parties in a covenant would sit down to fellowship meal, to show their acceptance of one another. It showed that the covenant had settled any dispute and that they were now at peace.
4. But, important for our discussion, covenants were sealed by blood sacrifices.
B. Hebrews 9:18-20 - The covenant brought by Moses was sealed with blood
C. The new covenant was likewise established by shed blood.
1. Jesus, when establishing the memorial meal that we know as the Lord’s Supper - Matthew 26:28
2. Testaments (as in “Last Will and Testament”) come into effect with the death of the testator - Hebrews 9:16-17
3. Christ taught His new covenant while He walked this earth, but it could not go into effect until the lawgiver died
D. And in his death, Jesus purchased the church with his blood - Acts 20:28
E. When the church gathers to partake of the Lord’s Supper, it is eating the covenant meal showing our fellowship with one another and with God - I Corinthians 10:15-17
1. The reason the Lord’s Supper is some times called “communion” is in reference to Christians sharing the remembrance of our covenant formed by Christ’s death.
VI. We are prepared to walk the holy way prepared by Jesus because his blood cleansed us - Hebrews 10:19-22
A. In this passage we see the allusion to Moses sanctifying the tabernacle with sprinkled blood, but how does the washing of our bodies with pure water come into play?
B. Baptism is that washing - Romans 6:3-4
1. Baptism symbolizes Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection.
2. You could say that it is through baptism that we come into contact with the cleansing blood of Jesus.
C. This is why Ananias told Paul to wash away his sins in baptism - Acts 22:16.
1. It is not the water that cleanses, but the blood of Christ, contacted by us in the watery grave of baptism - I Peter 3:21
2. The power is not in the water, but in the blood. And the way to contact the blood is through humble obedience of baptism.
D. Recall also that Christ’s shed blood purchased the church.
1. We enter a relationship with Christ through baptism - Galatians 3:27-29
2. Hence we read that on the day of Pentecost - Acts 2:41, 47
VII. Have you entered into that relationship? Have you been cleansed and set apart to serve the Lord of Life?
Suggested song: Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
