| Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean. But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity. | ||
| Leviticus 17:14–16 | ||
| Here, verse 11 is repeated: the life of the flesh is in the blood. Physiologically, this understanding preceded medicine by thousands of years, for it wasn’t until 1628 that an anatomist named Dr. Harvey identified the importance of the red fluid circulating within us. Spiritually, we know that just as our own blood keeps us alive temporarily, the shed blood of the Lamb of God gives us life eternally. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. - 1 Peter 1:18–21 When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for each one of our sins specifically. How could He have accomplished this in only six hours two thousand years ago on Calvary? Peter tells us He was slain before the foundation of the world. And John tells us that when we see Him, we’ll see Him as a Lamb having just been slain (Revelation 5:6). Therefore, from the perspective of the time/space continuum, the work of salvation was indeed complete in six hours on the cross. But from the eternal perspective, where there is no future and no past (Ecclesiastes 3:15), Jesus’ suffering was infinitely greater than anything we can even begin to comprehend. With this being the case, how can I lightly say, “It doesn’t matter if I harbor an unforgiving spirit, have a lousy attitude, or engage in a questionable activity. It’s all forgiven because of Calvary”? The work of salvation is complete, finished, done. Yet as true as that is, it is also true that the price Jesus paid for each of our sins individually is unspeakably more than we can understand this side of eternity. Because the life of the flesh is in the blood, Jesus gave His blood so that we can have life. Pastor Jon Courson. | ||
