So yesterday I shared a post on Facebook from Dennis Prager, the founder of Prager University, an online source for information “to promote what is true, what is excellent, and what is noble through digital media, we make exceptional video content that advances Judeo-Christian values. By reaching millions of people every day, they educate, influence and changes minds.” Or so their website says. His “Fireside” chat about neither blood nor race mattering in the scope of love was great. And while I agree, and even responded about how much my friend Gloria, a non blood relative meant to me, I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind…
“Blood does matter.”
As I went to sleep last night, that thought was there. As I awoke this morning, that thought was there. Obviously the Lord wanted me to address it.
I married David Johnson, August 16th, 1980. My first and only love. We will celebrate our 40th year of marriage this year. Unbelievable! As they say, it’s not a record, but it’s not the norm anymore. To look back and see how we survived each other is only by the grace of Almighty God. David is not my blood relative. (No matter what they say about West Virginians.) So when Mr. Prager said as a child he realized that love wasn’t about the blood, he was correct. And while his catchy title in this day of argumentativeness over race was effective on getting my attention, blood does indeed matter in the scope of eternity. Not mine. Nor David’s, but the blood of Jesus matters.
Contemporary churches of today have all but removed the blood from the church. They’ve taken it from hymnals, they no longer preach it, they no longer use it for the premise of salvation for it offends the world. Why is that? Why is blood so important in the matter of families, but offensive in the matter of faith?
I will confess that the site of blood makes me queasy. I couldn’t watch the movie “The Passion of Christ.” It was far too graphic for me. I am however glad to have seen images from the movie, because it gives me an greater understanding of the price my Lord paid for my freedom and my eternal relationship with Him. Those images are seared into my mind, but I doubt they do the reality justice. Satan wanted to destroy Jesus. And he thought he had as Jesus hung on that cross suffering, as He was removed and placed in a tomb. As they sealed it up… Oh, I’m sure Satan did a little victory dance. But then the tomb was found empty! Woohoo and Glorrraaaayyy! It was a new day in Dodge! But it wasn’t the Calvary that had shown up to rescue the world, it was the same Jesus that hung on the cross as meek as lamb, but returned with the vengeance of a Lion.
Without the blood of Christ, there would have been no hope of salvation for man. There’s not enough critters in the world to atone for the sins of this fallen society. But the world doesn’t want the blood. Not the blood of animals, not the blood of God. They want Heaven, they want some type of eternal peace, but not the humility of Christ’s sacrifice. If we genuinely see that in the context of the cross, we know, “I can do nothing to repay Christ for His suffering.” His blood mattered.
So how do we explain that to a fallen world who wants nothing to do with the blood or the Savior? How do we explain that it needs to matter to them too?
They must first see the effect of the blood in the lives of the children of God. The evidence of Christ’s love for us was written and testified of throughout the scriptures. The Spirit reveals the truth of it through His word, be it in preaching or reading. Christ set the example of how we are to live and conduct ourselves as children of God, and then closed that chapter with the ultimate sacrifice, that when it was witnessed, His followers were willing to do the same. They had seen the power of the blood. Have we? Has this world?
Some have. Some have witnessed God do miraculous things, I’ve witnessed it. But how quickly those times are forgotten when the world garners our attention with its evil. We forget about the power that is in the blood. The blood that Christ took back to Heaven (Hebrews 9:12)
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
There was no other blood pure enough to enter that holy place, other than the blood of God’s only begotten Son. That blood on that day, took the price and the burden of sins away from all mankind, whether or not they accept it or desire it. And that has to be seen as evidence in the life of a child of God. Even in the face of this adversity we are in, we have got to continue to live in the victory of Jesus, that He will bring us through this crisis. If the world sees Christians falling apart, then they will not see that His blood mattered.
Satan continues to try to rid the church of the blood, to give a counterfeit version of all that God provides, but He cannot find anything that replaces the blood of Jesus. Which is why it’s so important for him to get it out of the church. And why it’s so important for us to fight for it to stay.
When you think of the blood of Christ, how does it make you feel? As I thought about it this morning, I imagined me as the child of a the greatest Warrior and Hero of all time. He is ya know? How do you see Your Savior. Is He Your Savior? Have you accepted the price He paid for your peace and freedom on the cross of Calvary. If not, follow this ????????link, or message me, and I’ll tell you how to to have the greatest day of your life!
