Nothing But the Blood

Intro.

The human body can, and often does, get quite dirty. We find ourselves sweaty, grimy, muddy; covered in paint, mud, or muck; our dead skin cells accumulate until they’re cleaned off. On top of all this, we begin to stink with all this piling up on top of each other!

When the human body gets in that place, it is the understandable consequence that people would want to avoid us! So, what do we do to keep ourselves from getting that way? We shower! We clean off the physical body from uncleanness which makes us unpresentable to polite society, right?

This is, in a sense, a physical representation of what we are talking about this morning. Today, we are going to dive into the Old Testament a little, and we will see the reality of these things as they apply to us in the New Covenant.

Purifying the Flesh

In the Old Covenant, it was mandatory that sacrifices for sins be made. There is no atonement for sin without blood, and thus, so Israel could dwell in fellowship with God and one another there was the need for sacrifices. On the yearly day of atonement, as one example, there was blood sprinkled onto the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant of God (the space where God’s presence was said to reside). On the day of Atonement, the articles of the Tabernacle were sprinkled to set them apart from the impurities of the people.

However, before all this, there was on moment where the people of Israel themselves were sprinkled with blood...

Exodus 24:3–8 CSB

Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he splattered on the altar. He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.” Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”

The reason for this sprinkling with blood is very important — did you catch it?

“This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you concerning all these things” — this is what Moses says as the people enter into covenant with God at this time. They were sprinkled with the blood on their skin, and the blood was ceremonially sprinkled in sacrifice, so that they would be presentable to God as His people — the filth of their sin was atoned for in the sacrifice. Yet, it was only atonement for a limited amount of sin. Hence, why these sacrifices had to occur over and over again.

Purifying the Conscience

But, how does this affect us at all today? Well, I believe that this moment is a type, a shadow, of the spiritual reality which we find in our Lord Jesus.

Lately, we’ve been diving into Peter’s theology in 1 Pet. 1.2

1 Peter 1:2 CSB

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

This verse is important because it shows the whole Trinity directly active in our salvation. Last week we talked about the Sanctification of the Spirit. What it means and how it is relevant to our salvation. This week we will focus primarily on the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.

As we just saw, the people of Israel were sprinkled with the covenant blood which made them God’s people. That blood was of an animal, and the sacrifices continued on and on until that Old Covenant was done away with by the new and better covenant in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, we are sprinkled by His blood! The blood which cleanses us and atones for our sins is that of Christ Himself.

Hebrews 9:11–14 CSB

But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

Remember we talked recently about the sacrifice of Christ being all sufficient — sufficient for all people, through all time, to cover all sins. There needs to be no other sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. We are purified and forgiven through His blood, and that on a much deeper level than the Israelites would be through the blood of animals — because the animal blood couldn’t completely remove all sin and guilt from them forever!

Hebrews 9:26–28 CSB

Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Hebrews 10:4 CSB

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Sprinkled Clean

It is the blood of Christ that purifies us! And the blood of Christ alone! His precious blood not only makes us clean outwardly so that we are presentable to God, but also cleanses our very consciences! When exactly does this sprinkling occur? Is it even a one-time ordeal?

Heb. 10.22 mentions, in the same sentence as this sprinkling clean, being “washed in pure water.” Titus mentions the “washing of regeneration.” Acts 22.16 says baptism is where sins are washed away! Initially, we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ and separated out as His people in Covenant (Like Israel in the wilderness) when we commit ourselves to obey Him and are baptized!

But that is not the only time we come into contact with the blood of Christ. 1 John 1.7 says we are continually cleansed by His blood, so long as we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light! So, not only are we at one time separated from the world and made God’s possession by the blood of the covenant, but we are continually in contact with the blood poured out through the all sufficient offering of our Lord as long as we are faithful!

God will always remain faithful to His covenant and to His people! If we walk in faith, God will continue to bless us and perform His covenant promises; if we live faithlessly, He will also perform what He assured is coming to those who disobey.

Inventory

Hebrews 10:19–24 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,

Family, you are God’s covenant people. You are the holy Bride of the Living Son of God. He has made you pure unto Himself more than in your flesh, but from within you as well even to the conscience because He forgave all your sins by the shedding of His blood! You were sprinkled and are still being cleansed through in obedience to the Lord! Even Peter sets these two things right next to each other as the end either of being chosen or sanctified (maybe both in a sense). Since, then, God has set you apart and purified you, should you not be pursuing a holy life unto the Lord? Should we not offer our bodies to His service in doing good works to the praise of our Father?

Matthew 5:14–16 CSB

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Just as a city on a big hillside cannot hide itself, or like a lamp is not lit to be obscured, neither are the lives of God’s people! Let your lights shine before men! Be bold and zealous for doing good! In so doing you will bring praise and glory to God our Father. This is my challenge. Same as last week — foster within yourself through faith in power of God a zealousness for good works. May we not cower into shadows and obscurity, but step out boldly and do good to our neighbor.