Remembering that the important thing is not right doctrine, but rather knowing and experiencing God, I want to look at the blood of Jesus.
People go around pleading the blood
; countless songs have been written about the efficacy of the blood; and the Christian religion has been labeled gory
and bloodthirsty
by many.
The Bible states that the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.), that there is no remission of sin without shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.), that it is the blood of Jesus which gives us the boldness to become intimate with God (Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus), and that His blood also cleanses us from sin (1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.).
What if God has to show us truth by giving us pictures of what we can perceive with our senses, since we are carnal and not spiritual? What if we and even the animal kingdom all have blood in our material bodies, blood that when flowing out from that body causes it to die,
to illustrate to us that the life
of the creature is indeed in the blood of that creature.
Now we are told repeatedly that God is Life; Jesus said I am the Life,
(John 11:25 ) Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.) and that when when we believe on the One who sent Jesus, the One who is Love (1John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1John 4:16 (KJV) And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.), we pass from death unto life
(John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 1John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.)
Suppose blood is the symbol or parable for the life of God —to enable us to understand the necessity of our partaking of this Life to come out of sin
or carnal thinking. Suppose the whole system of Old Testament sacrifices was a graphic illustration to the people, not that God would need the sacrifice of His sinless Son to appease His anger against us or our sin (Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.), but rather that no one could ever come out of carnal thinking into the knowledge of the true
God (John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.) until the Life of God flowed from Him to us. Suppose that is what God is saying in
Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Suppose when the blood flowed from the body of Jesus and the form Jesus
died
and the form that could assume any form arose from the dead
–God was showing us that we too must die
to our little personality self (having our identity in our humanity) to awake to the truth of who we really are in Christ
? (See Purpose of the Cross)
John 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Suppose it doesn’t matter if my picture is like your picture, so long as we both get the picture
necessary to enable us to believe
and pass from death unto life
?