The Blood (II)
(…continued from part one…)
2) Abraham had in his hand, the knife, to slit the throat of his beloved son, Isaac. God’s intervention restored the life of Abraham’s only begotten son. This scenario does adumbrate the future exchange which would involve the death of God’s Son, on the cross, for the entire sinners of the earth –past, present and future. If Abraham was ready to spill his son’s blood, in obedience to God’s call, then the earth was ready for the goriest immolation –the blood of the Sinless Jesus Christ: for the remission of the sinful Adamic race. While the blood of Abel calls for vengeance, that of Jesus sang the kerygmatic tunes of exculpation over and over. “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]. The word ‘mediator’ is mesites (mes-ee’-tace) in Greek and it means: ‘1. a go-between 2. (simply) a spokesman 3. (by implication) a reconciler (intercessor).’ The Greek for ‘better things’ is kreitton (kreit’-tōn) ‘1. stronger. 2. (figuratively) better, i.e. nobler.’
“…when I see the blood, I will pass over you…”
Exodus 12:13 “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.” The blood, a go-between, turned the wrath of God away from destroying the Israelites. The blood spoke words of familiarity, understood by the raging anger of the consuming Jehovah. The word ‘token’ is the Hebraic ‘owth (oth): ‘a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.’ It happens to be a feminine noun. The femininity of this ‘owth is a pointer to the Christian –the Church, who is the Bride of the Lamb of God. Joshua’s spies had to tell Rahab of Jericho to bind a red cord on her window if she would be saved, when Rahab asked of a ‘token’ which is the same Hebraic ‘owth. In Joshua 2:12, her exact words were, “give me a true token” where the ‘token’ an adverb is: ’emeth (eh’-meth) ‘1. stability. 2. (figuratively) certainty, truth, trustworthiness.’ The scarlet cord pointed to Jesus the one and the only True Redeemer.
God’s insistence on the blood is not borne out of a proclivity that leeches on sanguinaceous gourmandism. He had kept life inside the red fluid. At the appointed time, He had to step into our world with blood in His human veins. It was time to make an eternal reenactment of Isaac’s life’s exchange with the ram’s on Mount Moriah, this time on Golgotha, with Jesus, the Lord of glory, standing as the Gladiator and the Lamb of God, the Saviour. Hallelujah!
Rev. Chris Okotie, the presiding Pastor of The Household of God Church, in one of his sermons, he asked, “Wonder why you never read of drinking in the Garden of Eden? It is always eating and eating.” He answered by saying, “Drinking is associated with sin. They were sinless in Eden;” was the erudite Reverend’s conclusion. If the blood has a reference to the juice of the vine, then it is of the Holy Spirit, the Energizer of the believer. The Comforter. The active Matron of the regeneration of the believer. As the wine, the Holy Spirit sits in the spirit compartment of the tripartite human, God forever more. Amen.
“This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many” [Mark 14:24].
The blood is so significantly apropos that He had to present it at the last supper. Mark 14:24 says, “And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.” The blood must be the element of the covenant between God and man. What happened in the Gethsemane garden, a scriptural replica of Eden? The One who walked into it every cool of the evening (Genesis 3:8) is the same Person leading them, albeit, not to judge, but to give Himself a ransom, poured forth water and blood as He prayed the most intensive prayer ever. Water, signifying the Word of God even the Eternal Son, the blood is His humanity. Luke 22:44, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The blood speaks of Jehovah’s mercy –the solution to the sin question. Amen.
THE BLOOD! –OF REDEMPTION.
Be cleansed of your sinful nature. Get born again. Say this prayer, believing it with all your heart:
“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him as my Lord and as my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen.
(…to be concluded…)
Read part one here
Click here to read the concluding 3rd part
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