WHY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS
By Wayne Camp
It is obvious that God has always regarded blood, blood of both human and beast, as precious. Certainly, not as precious as the blood of Jesus Christ, but precious, never the less.
When Cain killed Abel, God said to Cain, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. God had regarded with favor the sacrifice of Abel because it was a blood sacrifice; he had rejected the sacrifice of Cain because it was not a blood sacrifice. And because Cain killed Able, God said to Cain, "Now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from they hand."
God showed his high regard for blood again when he commanded that men are not to eat blood which is the life of the flesh, and when he required the death sentence for any who shed another's blood intentionally. Gen. 9:4-6 "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."
God's estimation of blood and its preciousness is seen again in the land of Egypt. He did not deliver Israel by the power of the plague of frogs. He delivered them by the blood of the Passover lamb. "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." (Ex. 12:12-13, 23)
The preciousness of blood in the sight of God is again set forth by Solomon when he declares that God hates "hands that shed innocent blood" (Prov. 6:17).
The preciousness of blood is seen again in the book of Revelation. "For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy" (REV 16:6). "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration" (Rev. 17:6). "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth" (Rev. 18:24). "For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand" (Rev. 19:2).
Many other things could be cited to show the importance God attaches to blood, even the blood of beasts. But, super abounding above the blood of beasts, the blood of man, the blood of the most godly saint, is the blood of the man Christ Jesus.
Though it was human blood, it was infinitely precious blood. Now let us notice some reasons WHY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BLOOD.
We could not possibly enumerate all the reasons in one message. In fact, I am convinced that we will learn much more about the preciousness of the blood of Christ as God unfolds the riches of his grace throughout the eternal ages.
HIS BLOOD IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE IT IS THE BLOOD OF THE GOD-MAN
Jesus was truly God and also truly man. I like the way Spurgeon put it. "Jesus is God; but Jesus was born, Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose again, Jesus is in heaven, as a man. He is God and man in one person, but there is no confusion of natures; he is neither a deified man nor a humanized God. His Godhead is altogether Godhead, and his manhood altogether manhood. He is as truly man as if he were not God, and as truly God as if he had never assumed the nature of man" (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 22, P. 290). Because of the union of the Divine nature with the human nature in the one person, the God-man, his blood is precious. In fact, everything about Jesus Christ is precious to the believer. Peter stated it clearly and pointedly when he said, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious" (I Pet. 2:7).
The human face from which they plucked his beard is precious. Can you see the precious face of our Saviour after the soldiers so cruelly slapped and spit in his face. They also pulled his beard out of his skin. Such humiliation and pain he suffered on our behalf. That face was a human face, but it was and is a precious face. What a thrill and blessing it will be to one day look upon and into that precious face!
The human hands and feet through which the nails were driven are very precious. When Thomas was doubting and unbelieving concerning the resurrection of Christ, Jesus appeared in his presence and invited him to touch those scars. When he did, Thomas fell down before him and cried, "My Lord, and my God." One day, when he returns in all his glory, the elect remnant of the nation of Israel will look upon him and "one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zech. 13:6). In that day, his wounded hands will become precious to those whose forefathers were behind their being wounded. To those who believe, his nail-scarred human hands and feet are now precious.
The very bones of Jesus must be precious to us also. When they lifted up his cross and dropped it into the socket on the rocky brow of Golgotha, all his bones came out of joint. This was just another aspect of his suffering for us, and every pain he experienced was because of our sins.
He gave his back to the smiters. They beat him and pulverized his back, but it is with his stripes that we are healed. His back is precious. Though it was a human back, it was the back of the God man, and it is precious.
The human head that was crowned with thorns is precious. He wore a crown of thorns that we might wear incorruptible crowns. Imagine the pain of being crowned with thorns! That should make his head precious to every believer.
His human soul was made an offering for sin. During the three hours of darkness, Jesus was not being further abused by man. He was in the hands of an offended God, not because of his own offenses, but for ours. God, clothed the world in darkness and the very soul of Christ was offered up for our sins. That human soul is exceedingly precious.
And, though it was human blood, the blood of Christ is extremely precious because without its being shed there would be no true remission of sins for the elect. Oh, precious is that fountain that was opened for sin and uncleanness. The precious blood of the Lamb of God is what redeems us from all iniquity.
The union of Deity and humanity in Christ elevated everything about his human nature and his manhood. He is the eternal glorious Word made flesh and tabernacling among us (Jn. 1:14). He is the express image of the person of God (Heb. 1:3). He is the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). He is God manifest in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16). He is God blessed forever coming to the earth in human flesh, bones and blood (Rom. 5:9). He is the son of David who is also declared to be the Son of God (Rom. 1:3-4). He is God the Son, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, taking upon him the form and likeness of man in order to taste death for men (Phil. 2:5-8). He is the man Christ Jesus who alone is able to serve as mediator between God and man (I Tim. 2:5). He is the Son of God sent forth and made of a woman, made under the law (Gal. 4:4). He is the miraculously conceived, virgin born son of Mary and the only begotten Son of God (Isa. 7:14; Jn. 3:16). He is God's Son sent in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3). He is Jesus Christ come in the flesh (I Jn. 4:2-3; II Jn. 7). And, let it be born in mind that he who denies the full and complete humanity of Christ does so under the influence of the spirit of Anti-christ.
Who is this man called Jesus? He is Lord of the angels who is temporarily made a little lower than the angels so that he could taste death for every man of his elect company. Angels do not die because they are not physical beings with flesh and blood. God, if he would taste death, must become a man with flesh and blood, in order to die. He is our great Goel, our kinsman redeemer, partaking of our flesh and blood so that he might bring us to glory and deliver us from the fear of death (Heb. 2:10-17). He is the man Christ Jesus whose very person is so precious that when he died on the cross the most amazing thing to ever accompany a man's death happened. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, the earth quaked and the rocks were shattered in pieces, graves were opened and the bodies of sleeping saints arose. Those hardened soldiers who had plucked off his beard and smote his face and gambled for his garments, exclaimed, "Truly this was the Son of God." (Mat. 27:51-52).
No wonder his blood is precious; he is eternal God but dying the death of man, for he is truly man.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS MARVELOUS REDEEMING POWER
It has been the one single means of redemption since the foundation of the world. If his blood had been like the blood of the sacrificial animals, Paul says, "then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world" (Heb. 9:26). If, as some teach, salvation was by some other means before the cross why the necessity of Christ suffering often since the foundation of the world? The clear implication is that redemption and remission of sins have always been by the blood of Jesus Christ. If he must repeatedly shed his blood, as animals were repeatedly sacrificed, then he must have come and died often. But, by his one sacrifice he was able to end all sacrifices and put away sin forever. Such precious blood! It was powerful to redeem long before he actually shed it on Calvary. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).
The blood, the precious blood of Christ is the blood of the Lamb of God who was verily foreordained before the foundation of the world. And, his success in redeeming those given to him by the Father was so certain that all their names were written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world, or from eternity (Rev. 17:8). Before he had ever taken on himself our likeness, our flesh and our blood, God looked upon that human blood as so precious and of such power that he would inscribe the names of his people in a book from which no name has ever been erased, the Lamb's book of life written from the foundation of the world.
The blood of Christ is precious to every believer and will be even more precious when we sing of it in that vast multitude in heaven. For every last saint of God, ever single child of grace, every single human inhabitant of heaven, except Christ, shall sing the praises of Christ who has redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kingdom, tribe, and nation (Rev. 5:8). His blood is so precious that it will still occupy our tongues in song in the eternal ages. Praise be to God who gave his Son to made in the likeness of sinful flesh that he might redeem us by his blood.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS ATONING EFFICACY
It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul, according to Lev. 17:11. Apart from blood there is no remission of sins (Heb. 9:22). I may make many sacrifices, I may mortify my body and give it to be burned, I may be baptized and join the church, I may receive the blessing of the pope, and say a thousand "Hail Mary's" per day, I may constantly pray on my knees until they have calluses like the knees of a camel, I may speak in the tongues of men and angels, I may read the Bible through and through many times, I might teach and work and prophesy in the name of Jesus, but I can never come before God in peace, until I come on the grounds of the blood, the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS PURGING POWER
O, the purging power of the blood! "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." That is the promise of God (Isa. 1:18). What possesses such purging power? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It can purge the conscience from dead works and equip us to serve the living God (Heb. 9:14). It is able to cleanse us from all sin, be they ever so bad and the stain so deep. Even if your sin is "written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of your heart" (Jer. 17:1), the blood of Christ can remove every trace of it by it's mighty power to purge.
Yes, dear reader, a fountain has been opened that purges from all sin and all uncleanness (Zech. 13:1). The believer may assuredly confess that he has washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us whiter than snow (Rev. 1:5).
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS WONDERFUL PRESERVING POWER
It is the blood of the everlasting covenant (Heb. 13:1). To qualify for such a wonderful designation, it must have the power to preserve those whom it washes. It is the blood by which Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for his people (Heb. 9:12). What kind of redemption, Paul? That apostle and saint said, "Eternal redemption." A lesser redemption would be beneath the infinite dignity and worth of the blood of Jesus Christ. But Paul tells us more. He tells us that by his one offering Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified. PERFECTED FOREVER? YES! PERFECTED FOREVER! Beloved people of God, that is long enough to be perfected. FOREVER! Is that not long enough. ETERNALLY REDEEMED AND PERFECTED FOREVER by the one offering of the blood of our dear Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS PLEADING POWER
By using the term "pleading power" I do not want to imply that Christ or his blood must be constantly pleading with God to forgive sinners. He loved us with an everlasting love and sent Christ to shed his blood so Christ does not have to beg the Father to forgive his own chosen ones.
The blood of slain Able cried out to God from the ground. It called for vengeance and justice. But, the blood of Christ cries out from the ground of Golgotha's brow for the salvation of every one of the sheep (Jn. 10:11-18). It stands as witness of redemption accomplished. It stands as a seal of atonement made. It is evidence of reconciliation complete.
The Father loves to grant the plea of his Son's blood and give salvation to all for whom he laid down his life and shed his blood. And the Father loves him because he shed that blood and laid down his life for his sheep (Jn. 10:17). His blood does not cry for vengeance, as did the blood of Abel. His blood speaks of much, much better things--justification, expiation, reconciliation, sanctification, salvation, and glorification. God heard the voice of the blood of Able; he hears, yes, he hears the sweet voice of the blood of his Son.
His blood not only speaks to God, it speaks to sinners. I recall those days before my conversion when God was preparing my heart to answer his call to salvation. Some of the sermons I remember most vividly were sermons on the blood, the precious, cleansing, preserving blood of Jesus Christ.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS PROPITIATING POWER
When God looked upon the sufferings of his Son on the cross as he poured out his soul and his blood for sinners, he was satisfied, propitiated (Isa. 53:10-11). The propitiating benefits of the precious blood of Christ are applied to the sinner when he trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ and his precious blood for his salvation. God has set forth Jesus Christ "to be a propitiation through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:25).
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS MELTING INFLUENCE ON SINNERS
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (Zech. 12:10). The following verses reveal that this mourning spreads to the remnant of the tribes of the nation of Israel. It is prophetic of a future time when God shall save a remnant of the nation of Israel.
But, what triggered this mourning? Of course, our first answer to this question must deal with the matter from the Divine side. They mourned as a result of God pouring upon them the spirit of grace and of supplication. In any true repentance, God first moves and then the sinner moves.
The second answer is that the mourning was triggered when they looked upon Christ whom they pierced. This piercing resulted in the shedding of his blood. That is why their hearts were melted. Two reasons: the spirit of grace and supplication was poured upon them and they looked upon the pierced Christ.
Allow me a personal note. Among the sermons that I remember in the days shortly preceding my own conversion, are sermons on the blood of Christ. A well-meaning friend, upon learning that I had surrendered to preach, offered me some advice. He said, "First, don't preach over 20 minutes. Second, don't preach hell fire and brimstone. Third, don't preach a 'butcher shop' religion." By the last he meant that I should not preach on the blood of Christ. Needless to say I have not taken any one of the three points of advice. God blessed the preaching of his Son's precious blood as the means for cleansing from sin. The shed blood of Christ has a melting effect on sinners upon whom God has poured his spirit of grace and supplication.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS JUSTIFYING POWER
God is one who justifies the guilty. What a marvelous blessing that God would justify sinful, guilty, condemned sinners. The question arises, "What is the grounds for this justification?"
Let me remind all that God is absolutely just and will not prostitute his justice nor sully his holiness in order to justify the ungodly. There must be a payment of the sin debt if he is to justify and deal with sinful men as though they had not sinned. The ground of our justification is the shed blood of Jesus Christ and all that is implied in its shedding. "Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Rom. 5:9).
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS OVERCOMING POWER
Satan was defeated at the cross. Oh, he thought that he had won a victory when he bruised the heel of Jesus Christ. He thought he would finally succeed in his ages long struggle against the plan and purpose of God. Had he known the mystery of God he would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. But, that which he meant for evil, God meant for good.
God's people overcome Satan, and they do it and will continue to do it, by the blood of Jesus Christ. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11). The precious blood of Christ has overcoming power.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE OF ITS POWER TO SLAY ENMITY
At one time all the Gentiles were cut off from the covenants of promise, being aliens and strangers to these blessings (Eph. 2:11-12). In our minds and hearts we are still enemies to these blessings and to the God from whom these blessings flow (Rom. 8:7- 8). The precious blood of Christ has slain the enmity, it has torn down the wall of alienation, and we are made nigh by that blood (Eph. 2:13-16). Through Christ, his finished work, his precious blood we now have access to God and his grace (Eph. 2:17-18). We can, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace when we come on the grounds of the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
We have hardly scratched the surface of our subject. We can joyfully sing of the precious flow which makes us white as snow, the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We, the children, were partakers of flesh and blood, therefore, our great God and Saviour, in infinite condescension, came down and was clothed in flesh and blood that he might taste death in our behalf. God, made flesh, and tabernacling among men! Such a marvel of grace. And, such precious blood that he shed for our sins.
Is he precious to you? Is his blood precious to you. Have you trusted him as your Saviour and Lord? Can you trust him? Will you trust him? By faith plunge into this flood that washes white as snow.
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Last updated on Saturday, July 30, 2011