Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
‘Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.’ Hebrews 9:21-22
We are saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ. Without the Blood there can be no remission of sins. Nothing could be clearer in scripture that what saves us is the Blood of Jesus.
‘It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:’
Hebrews 9:23
In Heaven there is a Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies. Jesus Christ, after He died on The Cross and was buried and rose again, in His role as High Priest, one-time entered into that most Holy place in Heaven and sprinkled His Blood on the mercy seat before taking His place at the Right Hand of The Father. That Precious Blood is still there to this very day.
The Bible tells us ‘And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.’ Hebrews 12:24
In the famous Old Testament story of Caine and Abel, Abel’s blood cried out from the ground for justice and revenge. The Blood of Jesus cries out Forgiveness, Mercy, Salvation, Redemption.
People living in Old Testament times were saved by looking towards The Cross, today a person is saved by looking back at The Cross. All the Old Testament animal sacrifices point to the Blood of The Lamb. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slayed from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)
The blood of animal sacrifices was an outward showing of the Old Testament believer’s inward faith towards God and His redemptive plan to send a Messiah. In the same way that nowadays we should get Baptised after Salvation and share the Lord’s Supper with other believers after Salvation. This is an outward showing or demonstration of our faith and new life in Jesus.
Those animal sacrifices were a picture of the Blood of Jesus Christ who would one day die on the Cross for the sins of mankind and become The Lamb of God. They were merely a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice to come. They were symbolic of what was to come.
‘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.’ Exodus 12:13
‘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.’
Leviticus 17:11
The whole of the Old Testament points towards the coming Messiah and the saving power of His Blood. People back then were saved by trusting in God's redemptive plan.
There is a false belief system that teaches that people were saved by works in the Old Testament (Dispensationalism) and/or that they will be saved by works during the end times. This is not true. Salvation has always been by Grace through Faith. There has never been, nor will there ever be, Salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look at some verses.
‘Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,’ 2 Timothy 1:9
‘To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.’ Acts 10:43
‘For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.’ Romans 4:3
‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.’ John 8:56-58
‘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.’ John 5:24
Jesus spoke these words before He died on the Cross. ‘Hath everlasting life’ means present tense. When we come to Christ for Salvation through repentance and faith, we hath everlasting life, again present tense. Salvation is not a process (Sanctification is) rather it is a one-time event where in a moment of time we are passed from death unto life.
We are washed in the Blood of the Lamb. We are reconciled unto God through His Blood.
The Blood of Jesus is Divine.
‘But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:’
1 Peter 1:19
‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:’
Colossians 1:14
We are living in a time when many ‘preachers’ want to de-emphasise the Blood of Jesus. While a simple bit of research reveals that many of the modern Bible versions remove the reference. (Colossians 1:14 being a prime example)
One particular ‘denomination’ is known to have said ‘we don’t want to have a bloody religion’ and so they removed many of the hymns about the Blood from their hymnal. But many of the best loved and powerful Hymns to this day are ‘Are you washed in the Blood?’ ‘Nothing but the Blood’
‘There is Power in the Blood’ ‘There is a fountain filled with Blood’ 'Saved by the Blood of The Crucified One’ and many more that emphasise the Saving Power of the Blood of Jesus.
Jesus had to shed Blood, He had to die on The Cross, He had to be buried, He had to rise again. He had to be born of a virgin, He had to live a sinless life. He had to do good works here on earth (For His righteousness is imputed onto us as believers) It’s His role as High Priest, It’s His Second Coming, it is the whole redemptive work of Christ that saves us and keeps us saved and of upmost importance is His precious Blood.
‘But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.’ Isaiah 53:5
By His stripes we are healed. These are Stripes of Blood.
Verse after New Testament verse The Blood of Jesus is emphasised by many different Biblical authors.
‘Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.’ Acts 20:28
‘For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’ Matt 26:28
‘And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.’ Mark 14:24
‘Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.’ Luke 22:20
‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;’ Ephesians 1:7
‘But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.’ Ephesians 2:13
‘And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.’ Colossians 1:20
‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;’ Romans 3:25
It is the Blood of Jesus that saves us…we have to put our faith in it. It is the object of our faith; Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and we are saved through faith in His Blood.
‘Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.’ Hebrews 13:12
‘Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.’ Romans 5:9
‘For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.’ Hebrews 10:14
Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, He is Holy and yet He tasted death for every person that ever lived. There is a false belief system called Calvinism and at the heart of it is a doctrine called ‘limited atonement,’ which teaches that somehow Christ only died for a special group of people known as the ‘elect.’ But the elect are so according to the foreknowledge of God, who already knows the beginning from the end. For God sits outside of time.
The final chapter in The Bible (Revelation 22) has already happened as far as God is concerned.
‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.’ 1 Peter 1:2
The elect are simply the saved. God already knows who will come to Him through repentance and faith and who will not, but this does not take away our free-will and capacity to decide on whether to call on Christ or not. It’s a decision we have to make. Let’s look at some verses.
‘…And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’
Revelation 22:17
‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’ 2 Peter 3:9
‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Romans 10:13
‘But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.’ Hebrews 2:9
‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16
Salvation is freely available to everyone.
Another great hymn is ‘To God be the Glory’
One of the verses goes:
Oh perfect redemption, the purchase of Blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Now let’s focus on the Holiness of God.
‘There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee:
neither is there any rock like our God.’ 1 Samuel 2:2
What does the word Holy mean? Set apart, Sanctified, Special.
Jesus Christ is Holy, He is without spot, without blemish, without sin.
The Holy Spirit is different from any other Spirit.
‘To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,’
Hebrews 12:23
For now, we are in our natural/mortal body which is fuelled by our blood.
Just as Jesus Christ’s mortal body was fuelled by His Blood.
The life of the flesh is in the blood the Bible says.
When we (believers) die physically, we don’t enter Heaven filled with blood, rather our new body will be fuelled by our Spirit. Our resurrected body shall be bloodless.
‘Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.’ 1 Corinthians 15:50
We are made in God’s image. 3 in 1. We have a body, soul and spirit. When we reach the age of accountability and then commit sin, (as we all do) our spirit dies and is only brought back to life (reborn) when we put our trust and faith in The Lord Jesus Christ. This regenerated spirit fuels our new identity and allows us to reconnect with God and will later fuel our new Heavenly bodies.
’But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ Romans 8:11
‘This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.’
1 John 5:6
We need the Blood, the Water and the Spirit. All 3 left Jesus’s Body when He died on The Cross. The Blood which saves, the Water that the Holy Spirit washes and covers us with every day that cleanses us in this physical life, (the sanctification process) There is a washing of water by the Word. Spiritual cleansing through the Word of God
The Spirit gives us the power and that comes from prayer, hearing preaching, singing Psalms. Hymns and spiritual songs, fellowship with other believers, reading our Bibles and meditating on the things of God. The Spirit is the Power that comes from The Holy Spirit.
'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'
John 3:6
'God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.'
John 4:24
‘It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’ John 6:63
It is Jesus’s Blood that is of upmost importance. We are saved by faith in His Blood, by believing in His Blood. Through faith in His Blood we are justified, we are redeemed, we are forgiven, we are saved! That is why we could never lose our salvation once we are born again.
We are cleansed from all sin, past, present and future.
‘For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.’ 1 Corinthians 1:18
‘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.’ 1 John 1:7
‘And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,’ Revelation 1:5
Salvation is not a process; it doesn’t come from something happening out of the ordinary in our lives that may seem like an act of God. (It may be an act of God designed to wake you up!)
These things can help guide you on your spiritual journey, they can be seeds planted that are cultivated along the way and that lead you to the door of Jesus. The Holy Spirit has a ministry in this world to lead people to Christ.
Being born again is a one-time event, it comes from a decision to call on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, to let him into your heart.
In a moment of time then you are passed from death unto life.
New life that comes through the Blood of Jesus.
All Glory to Him.
‘Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.’ Hebrews 9:21-22
We are saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ. Without the Blood there can be no remission of sins. Nothing could be clearer in scripture that what saves us is the Blood of Jesus.
‘It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:’
Hebrews 9:23
In Heaven there is a Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies. Jesus Christ, after He died on The Cross and was buried and rose again, in His role as High Priest, one-time entered into that most Holy place in Heaven and sprinkled His Blood on the mercy seat before taking His place at the Right Hand of The Father. That Precious Blood is still there to this very day.
The Bible tells us ‘And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.’ Hebrews 12:24
In the famous Old Testament story of Caine and Abel, Abel’s blood cried out from the ground for justice and revenge. The Blood of Jesus cries out Forgiveness, Mercy, Salvation, Redemption.
People living in Old Testament times were saved by looking towards The Cross, today a person is saved by looking back at The Cross. All the Old Testament animal sacrifices point to the Blood of The Lamb. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slayed from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)
The blood of animal sacrifices was an outward showing of the Old Testament believer’s inward faith towards God and His redemptive plan to send a Messiah. In the same way that nowadays we should get Baptised after Salvation and share the Lord’s Supper with other believers after Salvation. This is an outward showing or demonstration of our faith and new life in Jesus.
Those animal sacrifices were a picture of the Blood of Jesus Christ who would one day die on the Cross for the sins of mankind and become The Lamb of God. They were merely a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice to come. They were symbolic of what was to come.
‘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.’ Exodus 12:13
‘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.’
Leviticus 17:11
The whole of the Old Testament points towards the coming Messiah and the saving power of His Blood. People back then were saved by trusting in God's redemptive plan.
There is a false belief system that teaches that people were saved by works in the Old Testament (Dispensationalism) and/or that they will be saved by works during the end times. This is not true. Salvation has always been by Grace through Faith. There has never been, nor will there ever be, Salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look at some verses.
‘Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,’ 2 Timothy 1:9
‘To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.’ Acts 10:43
‘For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.’ Romans 4:3
‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.’ John 8:56-58
‘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.’ John 5:24
Jesus spoke these words before He died on the Cross. ‘Hath everlasting life’ means present tense. When we come to Christ for Salvation through repentance and faith, we hath everlasting life, again present tense. Salvation is not a process (Sanctification is) rather it is a one-time event where in a moment of time we are passed from death unto life.
We are washed in the Blood of the Lamb. We are reconciled unto God through His Blood.
The Blood of Jesus is Divine.
‘But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:’
1 Peter 1:19
‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:’
Colossians 1:14
We are living in a time when many ‘preachers’ want to de-emphasise the Blood of Jesus. While a simple bit of research reveals that many of the modern Bible versions remove the reference. (Colossians 1:14 being a prime example)
One particular ‘denomination’ is known to have said ‘we don’t want to have a bloody religion’ and so they removed many of the hymns about the Blood from their hymnal. But many of the best loved and powerful Hymns to this day are ‘Are you washed in the Blood?’ ‘Nothing but the Blood’
‘There is Power in the Blood’ ‘There is a fountain filled with Blood’ 'Saved by the Blood of The Crucified One’ and many more that emphasise the Saving Power of the Blood of Jesus.
Jesus had to shed Blood, He had to die on The Cross, He had to be buried, He had to rise again. He had to be born of a virgin, He had to live a sinless life. He had to do good works here on earth (For His righteousness is imputed onto us as believers) It’s His role as High Priest, It’s His Second Coming, it is the whole redemptive work of Christ that saves us and keeps us saved and of upmost importance is His precious Blood.
‘But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.’ Isaiah 53:5
By His stripes we are healed. These are Stripes of Blood.
Verse after New Testament verse The Blood of Jesus is emphasised by many different Biblical authors.
‘Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.’ Acts 20:28
‘For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’ Matt 26:28
‘And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.’ Mark 14:24
‘Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.’ Luke 22:20
‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;’ Ephesians 1:7
‘But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.’ Ephesians 2:13
‘And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.’ Colossians 1:20
‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;’ Romans 3:25
It is the Blood of Jesus that saves us…we have to put our faith in it. It is the object of our faith; Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and we are saved through faith in His Blood.
‘Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.’ Hebrews 13:12
‘Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.’ Romans 5:9
‘For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.’ Hebrews 10:14
Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, He is Holy and yet He tasted death for every person that ever lived. There is a false belief system called Calvinism and at the heart of it is a doctrine called ‘limited atonement,’ which teaches that somehow Christ only died for a special group of people known as the ‘elect.’ But the elect are so according to the foreknowledge of God, who already knows the beginning from the end. For God sits outside of time.
The final chapter in The Bible (Revelation 22) has already happened as far as God is concerned.
‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.’ 1 Peter 1:2
The elect are simply the saved. God already knows who will come to Him through repentance and faith and who will not, but this does not take away our free-will and capacity to decide on whether to call on Christ or not. It’s a decision we have to make. Let’s look at some verses.
‘…And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’
Revelation 22:17
‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’ 2 Peter 3:9
‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Romans 10:13
‘But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.’ Hebrews 2:9
‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16
Salvation is freely available to everyone.
Another great hymn is ‘To God be the Glory’
One of the verses goes:
Oh perfect redemption, the purchase of Blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Now let’s focus on the Holiness of God.
‘There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee:
neither is there any rock like our God.’ 1 Samuel 2:2
What does the word Holy mean? Set apart, Sanctified, Special.
Jesus Christ is Holy, He is without spot, without blemish, without sin.
The Holy Spirit is different from any other Spirit.
‘To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,’
Hebrews 12:23
For now, we are in our natural/mortal body which is fuelled by our blood.
Just as Jesus Christ’s mortal body was fuelled by His Blood.
The life of the flesh is in the blood the Bible says.
When we (believers) die physically, we don’t enter Heaven filled with blood, rather our new body will be fuelled by our Spirit. Our resurrected body shall be bloodless.
‘Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.’ 1 Corinthians 15:50
We are made in God’s image. 3 in 1. We have a body, soul and spirit. When we reach the age of accountability and then commit sin, (as we all do) our spirit dies and is only brought back to life (reborn) when we put our trust and faith in The Lord Jesus Christ. This regenerated spirit fuels our new identity and allows us to reconnect with God and will later fuel our new Heavenly bodies.
’But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ Romans 8:11
‘This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.’
1 John 5:6
We need the Blood, the Water and the Spirit. All 3 left Jesus’s Body when He died on The Cross. The Blood which saves, the Water that the Holy Spirit washes and covers us with every day that cleanses us in this physical life, (the sanctification process) There is a washing of water by the Word. Spiritual cleansing through the Word of God
The Spirit gives us the power and that comes from prayer, hearing preaching, singing Psalms. Hymns and spiritual songs, fellowship with other believers, reading our Bibles and meditating on the things of God. The Spirit is the Power that comes from The Holy Spirit.
'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'
John 3:6
'God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.'
John 4:24
‘It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’ John 6:63
It is Jesus’s Blood that is of upmost importance. We are saved by faith in His Blood, by believing in His Blood. Through faith in His Blood we are justified, we are redeemed, we are forgiven, we are saved! That is why we could never lose our salvation once we are born again.
We are cleansed from all sin, past, present and future.
‘For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.’ 1 Corinthians 1:18
‘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.’ 1 John 1:7
‘And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,’ Revelation 1:5
Salvation is not a process; it doesn’t come from something happening out of the ordinary in our lives that may seem like an act of God. (It may be an act of God designed to wake you up!)
These things can help guide you on your spiritual journey, they can be seeds planted that are cultivated along the way and that lead you to the door of Jesus. The Holy Spirit has a ministry in this world to lead people to Christ.
Being born again is a one-time event, it comes from a decision to call on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, to let him into your heart.
In a moment of time then you are passed from death unto life.
New life that comes through the Blood of Jesus.
All Glory to Him.
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