THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Exodus 29:1-30:10; Matthew 26:14-46; Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 8:14-26

“Now take the other ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head.  Then slaughter it, and apply some of its blood to the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons. Also put it on the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar.  Then take some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and on their garments. In this way, they and their garments will be set apart as holy.”

“And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, ‘Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.’”

Those who are not believers sometimes accuse Christians of worshipping a barbaric God.  Admittedly, all our talk of blood and sacrifice can be upsetting to those who don’t understand or won’t accept that sin has already bloodied us.  Sin is what assures our spiritual, along with our physical, mortality.  Therefore, if something, Someone, does not take our place, does not pay the price for our sin, then we have no hope.  From that viewpoint, the idea of substitutionary sacrifice starts to sound like a pretty good deal… that is, until we remember we are commanded to follow the example of Christ in giving of ourselves.

Our human aversion to sacrifice of any kind derives from a sense that sacrifice is a penalty, instead of an opportunity.  But sacrifice, done right – as Christ epitomized it – allows the Holy Spirit a unique chance to be in and work through us more fully than in any other situation.  We were never made to live apart from the Spirit.  That’s why Jesus encouraged us to give up our selves to find our lives as they were meant to be, joined to and powered by the Holy Spirit.

Let’s not sugarcoat or try to talk around the reality that God requires blood sacrifice.  Integrity demands honesty.  But let’s also be clear that the only reason blood is required is because we sacrificed ourselves to sin first.  Sin’s penalty is inevitable and unavoidable.  Thank God we can give Christ the opportunity to reclaim us through His sacrifice.