Blood is a precious, valuable and powerful commodity in our world. Today I want to share a few thoughts about how BLOOD testifies to Jesus as our Savior.

1 John 5:6–8  This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

I read about a 3-year-old girl who needed a blood transfusion. Her parents discovered that her six-year-old brother was a perfect match, so they talked to him about it. They said, “If we take your blood and put it in your sister, it will make her better.” His eyes got really big as he listened and tried to take it all in. After sitting quietly for a minute he said, “OK, I’ll do it.” They took him to the hospital where his sister was, placed him on the gurney, and the technician stuck a needle in his arm to withdraw the blood. His parents were right there telling him how proud they were of him and that he was a brave little man. The technician removed the needle and announced she was all done. The little boy looked at her and asked, “Will I start to die right away?” Everyone in the room was stunned. This little boy thought that giving his blood to his sister meant that he would die, but he was willing to do it anyway.

Can you imagine a love like that? You don’t have to imagine it. It is very real. You have experienced it in Jesus laying down His life for you.

John 15:12-13 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

Blood has always been thought of as life. The sacrifices in the Old Testament, which were all pointing to the sacrifice that Jesus would offer, were substitutionary. Listen to the rationale for those sacrifices

Leviticus 17:11  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.

When you take the blood out of something, it cannot live. When Jesus laid down His life, blood flowed from Him throughout His suffering and crucifixion. He was the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by laying down His life for us, His friends. And it had to happen this way to fulfill God’s plan.

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

That is why is was necessary for the blood of Jesus, His life, to flow for us. That is where our cleansing comes from. It was God’s doing, not ours.

1 John 1:7b-9 (ESV) … and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The blood of the lamb was the essential ingredient in the deliverance of God’s people from their slavery in Egypt. It was the sign that they believed His promise and gave them life instead of death. In the same way, the blood of Christ is essential in our deliverance from our slavery to sin. The blood of the Lamb of God spares God’s people from eternal death.

And the blood of Jesus continues to flow to us today in a very real sense. In the Sacrament of the Altar, the body and the blood of Jesus are given to you with the bread and wine to assure you that the death of Jesus was your death for sin. God offers the forgiveness earned by Jesus. We are told to do this in remembrance of Him and all that He did to ensure that we could be forgiven. Specifically, we are to remember that His death was to pay for our sins. It is in that sense truly a memorial meal.

But it is so much more than a memory. It is a participation of the death of Jesus, where His blood flowed to wash away sin. And the emphasis is not on us and what we do by coming and eating and drinking. God is the one doing something in Holy Communion, giving us the true body and blood of His Son to assure us of our forgiveness. Just as in Baptism we are joined to all that Christ did in payment for our sins, so we are joined to Him in Holy Communion. We receive the actual body and blood He used to make payment for our sins to assure us that His death was indeed for us. It makes it something personal, which it has to be for anyone to receive the benefit.

You receive God’s forgiveness as the blood continues to flow through this means of grace.