Calvary Church

Bloodlines

There were seven blood sheddings of Jesus from the Garden to the Cross, and when we see them the cross becomes more than sentimental - it’s powerful.

We can’t really understand the Bible or the Cross without first understanding the bloodline of Scripture.

Genesis 3:21
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

First blood to fall upon the earth is the blood of an animal sacrificed on behalf of the sinner.

Observation 1 - There’s no covering for sin without blood.

Genesis 4:8-11
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

First human blood is shed upon the earth. Abel, righteous and innocent, yet slain by his brother.

Observation 2 – The blood cries out to God.

Genesis 8:20–21
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

Noah’s first act is to present an offering, a clean animal as a burnt offering. Literally, it was ‘soothing’, it brought peace and rest.

Observation 3 - There can be no peace with God without blood.

Genesis 22:13
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Abraham learns this God doesn’t demand a sacrifice, this God provides the sacrifice for sin!

The blood of the ram preserved the life of Isaac, thus bringing about the family of faith.

Observation 4 – There’s no family of faith without the blood.

Exodus 12:7,12-13
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it… For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Observation 5 – There is no freedom without blood.

Exodus 24:8
Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Observation 6 – There is no covenant without blood.

The Tabernacle would be the place where Israel would enjoy the presence of God dwelling among them. At every point in the Tabernacle, blood was visible.

Observation 7 – There is no approach into God’s presence without blood.

Given the significance of blood through the Old Testament, no surprise that Jesus’ life surrounded by the same theme.

John 1:29
“The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

1 Peter 1:18–19
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

The saints ‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:14)

The saints overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:10)

Andrew Murray
From the beginning to the end of Scripture; from the closing of the gates of Eden, to the opening of the gates of the Heavenly Zion, there runs through Scripture a golden thread. It is ‘THE BLOOD’ that unites the beginning and the end; that gloriously restores what sin had destroyed.

The Bible wants us to see all that the blood imperfectly performed for them in the Old Testament, Jesus’ blood has now perfectly fulfilled for us at the Cross.

What difference does Jesus’ blood make for us?

1. Jesus’ blood is the covering for our sin.

2. Jesus’ blood cries out to God on our behalf.

Hebrews 12:24
… and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

3. Jesus’ blood secures our peace with God.

Colossians 1:19–20
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

4. Jesus’ blood brings about the family of faith.

Without the blood of the Cross, there would be no Church.

The elders worship Jesus because He ransomed people from every nation, tribe and tongue with His blood (Revelation 5:9)

Christ purchased the Church with His own blood (Acts 20:28)

5. Jesus’ blood brings our freedom.

1 Corinthians 5:7
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.

We are free from sin, not by willpower or our own strength, but by faith in the work of the Cross.

6. Jesus’ blood establishes our covenant with God.

Matthew 26:28
for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

By virtue of a blood covenant, God forgives our iniquity and remember our sin no more. Our forgiveness is promised and our relationship secure.

7. Jesus’ blood is our confidence to approach God.

Hebrews 10:19–22
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great 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 with pure water.

We have confidence by the blood of Jesus.

We have a full assurance of faith because of the blood of Jesus.

Our faith is not in ourselves and our work, but in Jesus and His work.