Godlythinking         

Shedding Of Blood.

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22

The Old Testament had requirements for the shedding of blood for the salvation of mankind. The issue of blood is a central point made in both the Old and New Testaments for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin right standing with God and covenant with God.

Blood plays an important role in our relationship with God and your life. The creator and father of life demands respect from its creation. God created man to respect life and gave him restrictions that limit what he can do and what he can't do. However, sin robs you the better life you are struggling to obtain. The limitations in Gods law help to promote a better life in the long term. Disobedience to God is sin and sin destroys the life you are trying to build.  

Because of sin Adam and Eve brought the penalty of sin and the curse of the law, man is under till this day.  

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:17

Most Christians know the story of original sin and how Adam and Eve died a spiritual death eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were driven out of the garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life, so they would not live forever. Does the knowledge of good and evil things prolong your life? The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, so knowledge was not the sin but what you do with that knowledge. Adam and Eve knew that by eating from the tree God told them not to eat from that they would die. Adam and Eve paid the price for disobedience, yet Adam and Eves judge preferred mercy over the penalty of the law 

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Leveticus 17:11

The judge of eternal life preferred to allow the blood of another creature to be substituted for the penalty of Adam and Eve’s sin. God approved the lamb, the oxen, and dove, all ceremonial clean animals to be sacrificed as a substitute for the penalty demanded by his law. When these animals were slaughtered, their blood was collected into bowls and taken to the altar. The blood being the evidence that the penalty of sin, death took place. Some of the blood was splashed against the side of the altar and the rest was poured out before the altar. The carcass was then skinned, cut into pieces and arranged in a prescribed order.

Try to describe a picture of what the priest working at the altar must have looked like. The blood was on his feet, on his robes, both hands from handling the blood of the sacrifice. As bloody as it was, it is important to recognize that this gives a picture of Christ in the future.  

Christ was scourged, his back was ripped open by the Roman whips that were laced with sharp objects. Chunks of his skin were missing that started a flow of blood down his legs leaving a trail behind him. With his wounds still screaming with pain he was forced to carry his cross while bleeding to Calvary.  So weaken by his wounds another man took his cross the rest of the way to the place Christ would be executed. Christ was then placed in a specific manner on the cross so he would have the most painful death man had ever devised by man. Even as he was dying the people of Israel they turned away and trampled his blood into the ground on their way back to Jerusalem. 

In the days of Abraham, covenants were made between men with the blood of animals. When the two parties came to an agreement, they dug a V shaped trench, slaughtered the animals on to each side of the trench and allowed their blood to mingle at the bottom of the trench. The two parties would walk through the blood and take an oath may you do this if I fail to keep my part of the agreement. In other words the offended party had the right to slaughter the offender and wade in his blood. Needless to say few ever broke their part of the agreement.

This is the kind of agreement God made with Abraham Genesis in 15:9-18 as God passed between the pieces. A similar agreement was made to God in Jeremiah's time.

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, declares the LORD--' freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. Jeremiah 34:17-20

Let us consider the blood covenant we have with God. Jesus said,

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28

The blood covenant we have with God goes into affect when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and received the forgiveness of your sin. We didn't deserve the death of Christ, or his blood he gave as atonement for our life. Jesus in the form of man offered is own blood to reconcile us to God. His blood paid the ransom for your life and freed you from the bondage of sin. However, God prefers a different kind of Sacrifice from you. 

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51:16-17

God prefers a sacrifice that only you can do that begins with the condition of your heart. Are you at the heart level, truly repentant?  

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?  Jeremiah 17:9

While you may believe that you are truly repentant will you offend God again with the same sin? Asking for forgiveness for the same sin is a good sign that your heart has deceived you. Sorrow should accompany repentance including making amends for your sin. If that doesn't work then tell God what you have done to correct the problem and ask his help.

There is still another portion of the blood covenant yet to come that we have not spoken of. God takes his covenant seriously and deals with sin harshly. Could it be that God would choose to exercise his rights of the covenant he made with man? 

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. Revelation 22:12

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. Revelation 19:11-15

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great wine press of God's wrath. They were trampled in the wine press outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. Revelation 14:19-20

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the wine press? "I have trodden the wine press alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. Isaiah 63:1-4

Jesus Christ will return for his elect one day and robes will be stained with the blood of the slain, those he slaughters on the day of his vengeance. The scriptures above show Christ’s intentions to trample the blood of those who refused to repent or accept the mercy of God. Salvation is a gift but you have to accept it with all your heart.