Trail of Blood
The blog this week is going to be a little long because of the Scripture passages that are included, but I wanted to include them in the body of the text.
Hebrews 9:22 - In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
The writer of Hebrews is making the case that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. Blood must be spilled to forgive sin, and Jesus was the final and ultimate sacrifice. In order to understand what was going on at the cross, we must look back at the Old Testament and see the trail of blood that led to Jesus. We’re going to start in Genesis with Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God.
Genesis 3:1-13, 21
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
“Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
Fig Leaves and Animal Skins
This story is pretty simple. God said no, Adam and Eve ignored God, and they suffered the consequences. When they realized what they had done, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Personally, I think the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a fig tree because it is so much like us to try to hide our sin with our sin.
Regardless, something significant happens in verse 21. Adam and Eve had tried to deal with their sin in a way that made sense to them, but God said that wasn’t good enough. He makes the first sacrifice in order to provide them with clothing. The blood of those animals covered their sin.
Now we’re going to jump forward quite a few hundred years to a man named Abram. God had called him from his hometown and had promised him a child and a mighty nation. Let’s look at what happens in Genesis 15.
Genesis 15:7-21
Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end, they will come away with great wealth. (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
The Blood Path
This ceremony is common in Middle Eastern cultures. In fact, some tribes still practice something similar today. When two parties would make an agreement, they would slaughter an animal, drain its blood, and then both parties would walk through the blood. In doing this, they were saying, “May this happen to me if I break my end of the bargain.”
God had made many promises to Abram and asked only one thing in return… that Abram and his family would serve Him. When God told him to select these animals and arrange them in a blood path, Abram knew exactly what was going on. No wonder he was terrified! He knew he would never be able to keep his end of the bargain.
God finally appears. The Bible says He appeared as a smoking pot and a flaming torch. Where else do we see God’s presence manifested as smoke and fire? If you said in the 40 years of wandering that Israel did between Egypt and the Promised Land, you would be right!
Then God does something unprecedented. He sets Abram to the side, passes through the blood path, and then passes through again. What was He saying? If I fail to fulfill my end of the bargain, I will die, but if you fail to fulfill your end of the bargain, I will still die. Amazing!
Now we skip forward about 400 years. Israel has been enslaved by Egypt. God has brought 9 plagues upon the Egyptians, and the 10th one was going to be the biggest. The firstborn of everything would die. In order to protect themselves, God gives instructions to the Israelites in Exodus 12.
Exodus 12:21-27
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning. For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.
“Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.
Passover Lamb
The lamb had to be perfect… flawless and without blemish. How do you keep an outside animal in perfect condition for an entire year? I was studying this a few years ago and was bowled over by this realization. In order to do this, they would have to bring this lamb into their house almost from birth. They would have to raise it and protect it all of its life. Now it’s not just a food animal, it’s a pet. Then they would have to take that lamb and slaughter it in their place. We often give ourselves a pass on our sins, but imagine if every year, you had to kill your dog or cat because of your sin. That would make it much more real, wouldn’t it?
When the Israelites brushed the doorposts of their houses with the blood, it made a shape. What is it? It’s the shape of a cross. Deliverance comes through the blood of that which is innocent. Just a few years later, Israel is in the wilderness of Arabia. They decide they don’t like it and decide to complain. Let’s look at Numbers 21.
Numbers 21:4-9
Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”
So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!
Bronze Serpent
You would think that by now, they would have learned to quit complaining! This event would not have been such a prominent story, except that Jesus refers to it directly. He said, “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”
The pole used to raise up the serpent looked just like this…T. As it turns out, the cross on which Jesus was crucified also looked just like that. We’ll talk more about that in a second.
Finally, I want to jump forward many hundreds of years to David. He writes a Psalm, Psalm 22, which is universally accepted as referring to Messiah. Let’s take a look at a few verses from there.
Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 12-18
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, “Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!”
My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey. My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead. My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.
Crucifixion
David is writing about a situation in his own life, but over 1,000 years before it happened, he is talking about the events of the crucifixion of Jesus.
1. Jesus quotes the first verse of the Psalm on the cross, letting people know that what was happening right then had been written about already!
2. In verses 6-8, it talks about people mocking and saying, “Let the Lord save him.” People mocked Jesus and said those exact words.
3. Verse 12 speaks of “bulls of Bashan.” Bashan was a nation that fought against and oppressed Israel when they were in the wilderness. As I was studying this, God gave me a thought and I researched the location of the Roman Legions during the time of Jesus. Legion X Fretensis was the primary legion in the area when Jesus was crucified and guess what their symbol was…the bull!
4. Verses 14-17 describe crucifixion, over 1,000 years before the practice was invented. You can find any number of descriptions of crucifixion online, but suffice it to say that it was horrible beyond our imagination. It was so bad that a word was invented to describe it: excruciating. It literally means, “pain as if I were being crucified.” At the moment Jesus died on the cross, the Passover Lamb was sacrificed in the temple.
There are a few important things we need to remember from today.
1. God has a plan. I say this a lot, but I think it bears repeating because when we’re in the middle of difficult and painful circumstances, it is a temptation to freak out. In the middle of what seemed like the worst moment in history, God had a plan. We have a choice…we can trust God’s plan or not. Adam and Eve chose not to trust God’s plan and set the world on its head.
2. God doesn’t need our help. The story of the Bible is frequently the story of how people tried to help God with His plan. Adam and Eve made their own clothes to cover their sin. Immediately after God made His promise of a son to Abram through the blood covenant, Abram and Sarai tried to make the promise happen their own way. I could go on and on. God doesn’t help those who help themselves. God helps those who trust in Him and allow His plan to work itself out.
3. We need to practice gratefulness. I don’t think that most Christians really understand the significance of what Jesus did for us. Oh yeah, we say we are grateful for our salvation, but I believe that deep down in our hearts, we don’t think we’re really all that bad. Until we realize the utter depth from which we were saved and the incredible price paid to redeem us, we will not be grateful. Until we bring Jesus into our homes and know Him intimately, His sacrifice will mean little to us.
Songs for this Sunday:
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQDTZcJ_ntA
Glorious Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklJ2XZwDHc
Crown Him with Many Crowns (You know it!)
King of Kings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of5IcFWiEpg
How Deep the Father’s Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfhRs5g5t8M
Christ is Risen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExdrZGQVeI&t=180s
In Christ Alone