TOPIC:“The Preciousness of the Blood” (Communion Sunday)
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:I Peter 1:18-25
“Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold…But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18, 19)
One of our well known magazines carried an interesting story a few years ago that caught my attention. It seems that an eight-year old boy was hit by an automobile. The boy was rushed immediately to the hospital for surgery. Because of the quantity of blood lost, an emergency blood transfusion was necessary. Since the hospital did not have in storage his type of blood, a bloodmobile was sent out to receive blood donations from those whose blood was similar. Their search was in vain. They could not find enough people with the same blood. The end result was a lost life. Death had won another victory.
All of which points to this truth: Blood is essential to physical life. Any sudden loss of an enormous amount of this red fluid which circulates in the arteries and veins of your body will cause death. To put it in the words of Scripture: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). For the next few moments let us dip into the pages of the Bible and there behold what it has to say about the subject of blood. Something so precious you can't live without it.
I.
Consider, to begin with, the DRAMA of the blood as found throughout the Word of God. As you look at the Bible, you see that it is red-book from cover to cover. There is a trail of blood running through it from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is forever reminding us that God requires the outpouring of blood to cover over sin. Let me explain to you what I mean.
The drama begins to unfold before our eyes in the early pages of the Word of God. After Adam and Eve had disgracefully disobeyed God, we read this about them: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). Here the blood of an innocent beast is shed for two guilty parents. Their covering of fig leaves was only fatal. It did not remove their sin and shame. This brings to mind those words as found in the book of Hebrews: “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
Then, there were those two brothers, Cain and Abel, who brought their sacrifices unto the Lord. One offering was received, but the other was rejected. . . .