Posted on 03/20/2008 2:12:36 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“There Will Be Blood” (Exod. 24:3-11; Heb. 9:11-22; Matt. 26:17-30)
“There Will Be Blood.” When God saves a people and takes them for his own, there will be blood. There always has been.
There had been blood on the night of the Passover, the exodus from Egypt, when the Lord God brought his people Israel out of bondage. On that night, death was coming to every household in Egypt. But the Lord provided a way of escape. “Tell the people, Moses, to take a lamb without blemish or spot, slay it, and take the blood of the lamb and spread it on the doorposts. The blood will be a sign for death to pass over that house, and you, my people, you will be spared.” On that night there was blood, the blood of the Passover Lamb, and the result was deliverance from death and liberation from bondage.
There had been blood on Mount Sinai, when the Lord God gathered Israel unto himself, to make them his holy people, to establish his covenant with them. Moses met with the Lord on Mount Sinai and came down with the Ten Commandments, a way of life fitting for God’s holy people. The people said they would keep all these words and do them. Moses then sealed the covenant with blood. He took the blood of oxen, calves, and goats and threw it on the altar and on the people. “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” On Mount Sinai there was blood, the blood of the covenant, and the result was a people belonging to the Lord, to do his will and walk in his ways.
There had been blood at the tabernacle and the temple, where sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of the people. You see, though the people had said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient”--though they had said that, they didn’t follow through. They did not do all that the Lord had spoken. They did not keep his words, do his will, and walk in his ways. They broke God’s good commandments, time and time again. Their sins were an offense against the Lord, and they needed to be atoned for.
Are we any better? How good of a job have we done to keep God’s words, do his will, and walk in his ways? Judged against the mirror of the Ten Commandments, not so good. Have we let other gods get in the way? Have we brought honor or shame to the name we bear as Christians? How well do we hold God’s word sacred and gladly hear and learn it? Do we live according to God’s good order he has established for life in this world? Do we treat our neighbor with the love and care we have for ourselves? To these piercing and penetrating questions of the law, we must confess that we too have sinned against the Lord. We are no better than Israel of old. We need forgiveness as much as they did.
For ancient Israel, the Lord in his mercy provided sacrifices for sins, to be offered first at the tabernacle and then later at the temple. Sacrifices for sins, the blood of bulls and goats and lambs. Offerings of all kinds, whole burnt offerings, with the blood sprinkled on the altar. The tabernacle and temple were like a slaughterhouse, a bloody butcher shop, showing the extent of the people’s sin, the death that sin brings, and the extent of God’s mercy to forgive sin. Sacrifices were offered daily, because the sins of the people mounted up daily. And one comprehensive sacrifice was offered yearly, on the Day of Atonement.
There was blood on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the one day of the year when the high priest, and only the high priest, entered into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. This was the annual comprehensive sacrifice, to cover all the sins of the people, even those that may have been missed in the daily sacrifices. On the Day of Atonement there was blood, to cover and atone for the sins of the people. “Indeed,” as the writer to the Hebrews says, “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
But the very fact that these sacrifices had to be repeated, day after day, year after year--this showed that the blood of goats and calves could not really do the job, once and for all. That would remain for the one to whom all those previous sacrifices pointed. There was one final sacrifice still to be made.
Therefore when we come to Jesus, the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb, the mediator of a new covenant on Mount Calvary, the once-and-for-all final sacrifice for sin--when we come now to Jesus, of course there will be blood. For “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” God had established that pattern from the beginning, and now it is being brought to completion. There will be deliverance from death and liberation from bondage. There will be a holy people belonging to the Lord. There will be forgiveness for their sins. Therefore, there will be blood.
Innocent blood. Christ came doing the will of God, keeping the commandments without spot or blemish. He is Israel reduced to one, the one obedient Son of the Father. Even Judas realizes, too late, that he has betrayed innocent blood. Jesus is the holy, innocent, spotless Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice to be made. There will be blood, innocent blood, shed in these next 24 hours, on the night our Lord is betrayed and on the day when he is beaten, flogged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, and pierced through with a spear. There will be blood.
Precious blood. Judas, you settled for too cheap a price! Thirty pieces of silver does not come close to even one drop of this holy precious blood. For this is the blood of the holy Son of God come in the flesh. This blood has infinite, surpassing worth. There is nothing to compare. If God, the Son of God, sheds his own blood on behalf of sinners, this has more value than all the silver and gold piled up high to heaven. This holy precious blood brings to completion what all the blood of goats and bulls and calves and lambs could only point ahead to. “I believe that Jesus Christ . . . has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.”
There will be blood, forgiving blood, redeeming blood, to plead for you before the throne of God, when your sins come before his face. Jesus your high priest has entered into the heavenly holy places and he presents his holy blood as the perfect sacrifice for your sins. Jesus is pleading your case for you! The blood of Jesus pleads to the skies and for our pardon cries! Do not let your sins cause you despair. Your sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ! There will be blood interceding for you before the throne of heaven on the day of judgment. And you, my friend, you will be declared not guilty, cleansed and free, and you will be welcomed into heaven forever because of this forgiving blood of the Lamb!
And to assure you of this, there will be blood, even now, here in this Sacrament. On this night when our Lord was betrayed, he instituted this blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood--so that you would know and believe and receive into your dying body his own life-saving body and blood. “Take, eat; this is my body. Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus’ solemn words tell us what he is giving us here and what we are receiving into our mouth: His very body, his very blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. No greater gift could he give us. This is just what sinners like you and me need: forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation, given and guaranteed by the all-availing sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood.
Yes, there will be blood here at this altar tonight. Innocent, precious blood. The blood of the Lamb who was slain. Therefore there will be deliverance from death. There will be a holy people of God. There will be forgiveness for sins. It is all here, for you. There will be blood--the blood of your Savior, Jesus Christ!
Ping.
“Glory be to Jesus”
Italian, 18th Century
Translated by Edward Caswall, 1814-1878
1. Glory be to Jesus,
Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the life-blood
From His sacred veins!
2. Grace and life eternal
In that blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind!
3. Blest through endless ages
Be the precious stream
Which from endless torments
Did the world redeem!
4. Abel's blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.
5. Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Angel hosts rejoicing
Make their glad reply.
6. Lift we, then, our voices,
Swell the mighty flood,
Louder still and louder
Praise the precious blood!
The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #158
Text: 1 Pet. 1:19
Author: Italian, 18th Century, cento
Translated by: Edward Caswall, 1857
Titled: “Viva! viva! Gesu”
Composer: Friedrich Filitz, 1847
Tune: “Wem in Leidenstagen”
Yes, we sang that hymn tonight. It fit in perfectly with the sermon.
Thanks for the ping. We had a sparse crowd last night, but a number of people probably didn’t get home from work. I barely made the service in time.
The altar guild followed the old custom of stripping the altar at the end of the service. The congregation walked out in total silence. Talk about eerie.
The people normally talk to and hug other worshipers but last night it was a very somber end to the service.
Talk about eerie.
At a point in my life, I was a member of the Freewill Baptist faith.
One night at worship, we were doing the washing of feet, which the Freewill follow to the tee, a very humbling experience!
After the towels and water were put away the pastor ups’ and walks out of the service singing. We all just sit, and looked at one another in bewilderment. Then, it dawned on us, (they arose and, walked out with a song). I had been in these services before, but never was it conducted in this manner, which is the correct way of this service.
I haven’t been to many Baptist services, so really don’t know much about their customs.
Pastor came out in just a black cassock (I don't know if that is the right word), and the ushers assisted him in quietly taking off the altar cloths and the other articles. I was a young boy and didn't really know what was going on.
I can remember wondering “Why is everyone so sad?”. After the altar was stripped, everyone filed out of the church into the night without saying a word. It gets real quiet in rural Nebraska, so all you could hear at first was a few dogs barking in the distance and the bang of a hog feeder from the farm to the north.
Tonight, I am going back home to what may be one of the last Good Friday services in that old church. The congregation is shrinking as more and more people leave for work elsewhere. But I will never forget that first Good Friday.
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