The blood of Christ

THE PLAN OF SALVATION

In studying the New Testament we frequently encounter the phrase “the blood of Christ.” In every instance, this term is a synonym for the saving work of Christ on the Cross. It depicts the most important event ever to occur throughout all the ages of angelic or human history. In fact, even in eternity, the fullest expression of God’s surpassing grace (Eph. 2:7) is a result of the salvation work of Christ.

This study is designed to increase your knowledge and appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His matchless achievement on our behalf. In order to provide you with a frame of reference, we should first survey the tremendous implications of the unique event which is described by this unusual and special phrase. The Cross had permanent results toward Satan, toward man, toward sin, and toward God.

Combined with His resurrection, ascension and session at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus Christ’s work on the Cross won the strategic victory over Satan in the angelic conflict. Satan had blasphemously charged that a loving God could not be fair in condemning His own creatures to eternal judgment. But when Jesus Christ provided salvation for mankind without compromise to the justice of God, volition was underscored as the issue, and Satan’s doom was sealed (Matt. 25:41). The Cross not only proved that God can never violate His own perfect character, but it revealed the great love that motivated Him to judge even His own Son on behalf of mankind.

Furthermore, the fact that Christ was free in His decision to go to the Cross (Luke 22:42; Heb. 10:5-7; Matt. 20:22) and that man is free to believe or not, shows that Satan alone is responsible for his own condemnation. In revolting against God, the devil by his own volition brought judgment upon himself!

Directed toward man, the saving work of Christ destroyed the barrier that had separated man from God. This is the doctrine of

reconciliation. Removed forever was the impassable obstacle composed of sin, the penalty of sin, physical birth, relative righteousness, the character of God and position in Adam. Never again are any of these problems an issue for man the only issue is “What do you think of Christ?” At the moment of faith in Christ the believer ceases to be God’s enemy (Rom. 5:10) and immediately becomes a member of the royal family of God forever ‘ Standing entirely upon the merit of the Living Word, Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 2, 14), the believer enters the Plan of God, in which the Written Word or the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) becomes his spiritual food (Matt. 4:4; Ps. 138:2). By his continued positive volition to Bible doctrine the believer can grow to spiritual maturity in time, where he receives and can enjoy the special blessings that God designed for him in eternity past. His life becomes one of meaning, purpose and definition; even death holds only the promise of greater blessings in eternity.

With reference to sin, the doctrine of redemption teaches that on the Cross Christ purchased our freedom from the slave market of sin. He paid the penalty that had already been charged against each one of us (John 31 8).. ‘Now, even though we will continue to sin as long as we live (1 John 1:8, 10), we are nevertheless free from the power of sin. Through the rebound technique we can acknowledge our sins privately to God the Father as “already judged on the Cross” and be immediately restored to fellowship with God (1 John 1:9).

Stated in the doctrine of propitiation, the salvation work of Christ also has permanent results toward God. Once God’s perfect righteousness and justice are satisfied with reference to man, His justice is then free to express itself in .blessing man. No longer is He limited by the fact that man is imperfect and totally unworthy. The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy! His work on behalf of man brings believers who are still undeserving — under God’s Plan of Grace. In fact, the Father’s entire Plan consists of all that He is free to do for man on the basis of the Cross.

THE TECHNICAL TERM

Even in this brief summary of salvation, the celebrityship of Christ and the absolute importance of His work on the Cross are clearly seen. Significant, therefore, is the fact that many times throughout the New Testament this central topic of Scripture is described by the technical phrase “the blood of Christ.”

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your empty manner of life received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Pet. 1:18, 19).

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 (Rom. 3:25).

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him (Rom. 5:8,9).

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13).

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood (Rev. 1:5b).

What is the precise meaning of this term that is so frequently related to such critical doctrines? The blood of Christ is cited in reference to expiation, in which Christ received a judgment that belonged to us all (Rev. 1:5)- Likewise, the doctrine of redemption is taught in terms of the blood of Christ (Eph, 1:7; Col. 1 :4; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19), as is justification which explains that God could not vindicate mankind until the sin problem was solved and God’s own righteousness and eternal life were imputed to us (Rom. 5:9). The blood also teaches the doctrine of sanctification which demands that God be propitiated before being free to place us in union with Christ where we become qualified to live with God forever (Heb. 13:12). How did the blood of Christ become the supremely valuable coin of the realm that purchased our so great salvation?

OPPOSITION TO LEARNING THE WORD OF GOD

I realize that this is a sensitive subject for many believers. For some, the phrase “blood of Christ” has been associated with a lifetime of emotional experiences. Since childhood they have heard the blood mentioned in hushed, reverent tones; they have vigorously sung the hymns about the “wonder-working power in the blood.” Still, the subject of the blood of Christ is almost totally buried in ignorance, and believers who fail to understand its true connotations cannot fully appreciate what Christ has done for them and are in danger of accepting false and even blasphemous ideas.

Some believers are ignorant from a simple lack of expository teaching, but others are ignorant as part of a devastating system of hidden arrogance in their souls. The first category of individual has enough objectivity to listen and learn; he simply needs information. The other type, however, is affected by a much more serious and complicated syndrome. Instead of being interested in what the Bible has to say, he has expanded his opinion of himself so far out of proportion that he considers his own view of the blood to be more important than God’s view! He would rather resist the Word of God than permit his pride to be deflated! To such a believer, the true doctrine is not simply a matter of learning something new and important; it is a challenge to his colossal arrogance. As the old saying goes, “Don’t confuse me with the facts!”

The antidote is acceptance of the authority of the pastor-teacher who consistently teaches the Word of God. Bible doctrine will deflate pride and will establish true growth on a solid foundation. Even though there is so much ingrained opposition to a detailed study of the blood of Christ, this subject deserves an objective and thorough treatment.

SALVATION PRIOR TO THE CROSS

A principle taught in Romans 3:25 clarifies the means of salvation before the Cross occurred historically.

[Jesus Christ] Whom the God [the Father] has predetermined to be the place of propitiation [i.e., the mercy seat] by means of His blood for a demonstration of His [the Father’s] righteousness because of the passing over of the previously committed sins by the clemency [delay in judgment] of the God (Rom. 3:25; corrected translation).

Throughout all of human history, from the Fall of Adam to the end of the Millennium, there is only one way of salvation: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6). But how could those who lived before Christ died on the Cross be saved by something that had not even occurred? Romans 3:25 explains that God suspended judgment on sin until the Cross. He passed over all previously committed sins, waiting until the fullness of time when He would judge all the sins of the world in His own perfect Son. Salvation was accomplished for all mankind in the three-hour period during which Christ was judged for sins. In the same way that we look back through faith to the historical Cross, the believers who lived before the death of Christ looked ahead through faith to the coming Savior.

In the entire history of the human race there has never been a single individual who did not have the opportunity to be saved d God always provides the necessary information whenever and wherever positive volition exists, and throughout the centuries before the Cross, Jesus Christ, the future Savior, was revealed in many ways. Our subject, the blood of Christ, describes His Person and work in terms of the manner in which they had been revealed since the time of Adam — animal sacrifices.

ANIMAL SACRIFICES

Prior to the Cross and the completion of the canon of Scripture, God ordained specific rituals as expressions of worship and as training aids for communicating Bible doctrine to people who were by and large illiterate. Among these observances, certain animal sacrifices were used to teach the doctrines of salvation and rebound. Beginning with the very first presentation of the Gospel, immediately after the Fall of man (Gen. 3:21), continuing through the family offerings (Gen. 4:4; 8:20; 22:1-14) and finally taking the form of the Levitical offerings (Lev. 1-5) and special holy day offerings in Israel (Lev. 23), the shedding of animal blood illustrated the future salvation work of the coming Savior 7 These sacrifices depicted the principle of salvation: someone who was acceptable to God would have to die in place of sinful man.

The innocent animal’s blood was an apt representation of a life given on behalf of others because the animal’s blood is its life. When the Scripture states that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev. 17:10-14), it refers to animal flesh only. The Hebrew word nephesh sometimes means “life” and sometimes “soul,” but when used of animals it obviously refers to animal life not to human life. The seat of man’s physical life is his soul resident in his body, but the animal does not have a soul. Therefore, such passages as Leviticus 17:10-14 teach us that the life of animal flesh is in the animal’s blood.

Science has attacked this statement of Scripture, supposing erroneously that the passage referred to human flesh. The folly of that misinterpretation came under fire, and rightly so! While it is true that a person can bleed to death, he actually dies because his soul is forced out of his body through a greater loss of blood than his body can sustain.

Remember that the soul is located in the cranium. Therefore, the heartbeat is not a reliable and conclusive sign of the presence of life. Medically speaking, instead of the electrocardiogram (EKG), the electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures the electrical impulses generated in the brain, is the true indicator of life or death. The heart can stop completely even though the soul is still in the body! When a patient’s heart ceases to function, a physician will often try electrical shock, heart massage or some other technique to reactivate the pulse — often with success. But once the EEG registers negative, the soul has vacated the body, and the person is dead.

While man’s physical death is the separation of his soul (and his human spirit in the case of a believer) from his body, the lives of animals are terminated when their physical function is destroyed. The animal’s loss of blood, therefore, pumped out of its severed carotid artery, was a true indication of its death. The blood of the bulls, goats, lambs, turtledoves and young pigeons used in the offerings, was a literal, red liquid that constituted the life of the animal poured out in its death. Its blood was a perfect visual training aid. No one could see God’s actual future judgment of sins, but the animal’s death was a vivid sight! Its life-blood could be collected and carried through the detailed rituals that pictured salvation and rebound. Accompanied by the priest’s explanation, these rituals were lucid analogies depicting the real event that would occur in the future on the Cross.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect (Heb. 10:1).

Because the blood of animals was only a picture of the reality that was yet to come, animal sacrifices themselves were never able to provide salvation, something that only Christ could afford. The Levitical offerings were part of the Mosaic Law. But no one has ever gained salvation by keeping any part of the Law, whether it be the Ten Commandments of the Freedom Code (Codex 1)18 the social and political rules of the Establishment Code (Codex III) or the rituals of the Spiritual Code (Codex II). Instead of providing salvation, these rituals formed a complete shadow Christology which, through repetition, taught the Jews to appreciate their (and our) matchless Savior.

Thus, man’s sinfulness is a maladjustment to divine justice, and justice demands that justice be done! The violence and bloodshed involved in the Levitical offerings was designed to shock the observers into recognizing the reality of God’s immovable character. The death struggle of a magnificent animal tore away all sweetness and sentimentality, and cast a stark light on the absolute standards of God. But even so, the animal’s suffering gave the Jews only a glimpse of the appalling

judgment that Jesus Christ would bear, when as our Substitute, He would pay the price that divine justice demanded of us. Because of Christ’s spiritual death, we are now free to make an instantaneous adjustment to God’s justice by faith in Christ. When we believe, God’s justice is then free to give us the blessings of eternal salvation and still be fair to His own essence.

THE PERSON OF CHRIST IN SALVATION

Before we note the manner in which the specific offerings in Israel portrayed the work of Christ, we should examine the mechanics by which Jesus Christ provided our salvation. This will facilitate our understanding the blood of Christ. If the animal sacrifices were the shadow side of the analogy, the events on the Cross are the reality that they represent.

God’s absolute righteousness can have nothing to do with man’s relative righteousness, and even man’s finest and noblest efforts can never impress God (Isa. 64:6; Titus 3:5).9 Because God cannot compromise His character, when He looks at sinful man, He can only reject him. The basis for this rejection is that since the Fall of man, every human being is born with an old sin nature and the imputation of Adam’s sin; he therefore enters the world spiritually dead, which means no relationship with God in time. The human race is born into what is tantamount to a slave market! How can we get out? A slave is in no position to buy his own freedom, let alone purchase the freedom of other slaves. Only a free man can redeem a slave, and Jesus Christ is the only Person ever born outside of the slave market. He was born spiritually alive! As the means of providing the only Man qualified to redeem mankind, the virgin birth is therefore extremely important.

The need for the virgin birth is as old as the Fall. When Adam and the woman lost their fellowship with God, they immediately attempted to compensate for their loss by adjusting to each other in a system of human good — they originated Operation Fig Leaves (Gen. 3:7). However, their “solution” was totally rejected by God, whose policy permits a relationship between creature and Creator on God’s terms only. On His own initiative. He sought them out, and both responded to His offer of salvation through faith in Christ, the “Seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15). Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, who even then was speaking to them as a Theophany, depicted His own future work by the first animal sacrifice replacing their human good fig leaves with divine good “coats of skins” (Gen. 3:21).

Although salvation changed their status from that of spiritual death to one of spiritual regeneration, the fact remained that the man and woman now possessed old sin natures. Both were sinners; both had exercised negative volition at the Fall. Yet there was a difference in the ways in which they had sinned; the woman was deceived, while the man sinned knowingly and deliberately.

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression (1 Tim. 2:14).

Both parents would transmit genes to their progeny, but in addition, because of his deliberate sin the father would pass down the old sin nature. That Adam’s sin is imputed through the man and not the woman is directly stated in Scripture (Rom. 5:12) and is substantiated by the prophecy and fact of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ (Gen. 3:15; Isa. 6:14; Luke 1 :26-37). In order to be born spiritually alive, without an old sin nature and outside the slave market of sin, our Savior could not have a human father. While both Joseph and Mary were born spiritually dead, separated from God, in need of salvation, their old sin natures were not passed down to Christ because there was no male

involvement in His conception.

Jesus Christ was born true humanity, but without the sin nature; He was therefore born without the imputation of Adam’s sin. His birth was unique! In addition, He lived for thirty-three years without an act of personal sin. His life was unique! But, since He was the God-Man, how could He have possibly sinned? Just like the first Adam could! Christ had volition, and the free will of His humanity was put to the test time and time again (Matt. 4:1-11). Only as long as He stayed on positive volition to the Plan of the Father would He remain without personal sin, and He remained on positive signals all the way to the Cross (Luke 22:42). Adam was created spiritually alive, and through his volition he became spiritually dead. But Jesus Christ was the only Person ever born spiritually alive, and He deliberately chose to go to the

Cross.

By His virgin birth and impeccable life, Jesus Christ was qualified to purchase our salvation. In effect, the Father said, “Acceptable!” when He looked at His own Son. The perfect Person of Christ satisfied the righteousness of God!

THE WORK OF CHRIST IN SALVATION

Even though He was personally acceptable to the Father as the perfect God-Man, Jesus Christ still had to pay the price that would free the human race to walk out of the slave market. What was the payment that God’s justice demanded? The penalty for sin was first stated even before the Fall of man.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil [representing Satan’s plan as opposed to God’s Plan] thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2:17).

The Hebrew verb muth, “to die,” occurs twice. Literally translated “dying you will die,” this phrase is actually an idiom that indicates the intensity of the death. We might translate it, “you will be dead, dead. If Adam or the woman disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition, the penalty would be immediate, intensive death! God was speaking of spiritual death — immediate separation from Himself, total loss of fellowship with their Creator. We know this from what happened when Adam (typical of mankind) eventually got around to eating from the forbidden tree.

The first man rejected God’s Plan and disregarded the Lord’s grace warning, but when he bit into that fruit, did he suddenly keel over and die? No. In fact, Adam lived for 930 years after he first sinned (Gen. 5:5)! The wages of sin is not physical death (Rom. 5:12; 3:23; 6:23), but Adam did immediately lose his relationship with God as we have seen in Operation Fig Leaves. Out of fear, he actually tried to hide from the One with whom he had enjoyed great rapport and daily fellowship for the entire time that he had been alive! The wages of sin is spiritual death, and Adam and his wife died spiritually the moment that they ate of the forbidden fruit.

Physical death is an eventual result of spiritual death, but physical death is never the same as spiritual death. If it were, members of the human race would all die physically at birth since we are all born spiritually dead. The Scripture is very clear that every human being (with the exception of Jesus Christ) is born with an old sin nature and is therefore alienated from God upon arrival (Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:1). In order to purchase our salvation, therefore, Christ had to pay the price of spiritual death. The great difference between the spiritual death of Christ and His physical death cannot be emphasized too strongly! The fact that Christ died twice on the Cross is borne out by the use of the Greek and Hebrew words in several passages.

For example, in Colossians 1:22 the word “death” is in the singular — one death. The Greek noun thanatos refers to His spiritual death. When it comes to His physical death, the Greek word is nekros.

When the resurrection of Christ is mentioned, it is often from nekros, not from thanatos. The only time that nekros is used for spiritual death is when it is found in the plural, as the object of the preposition ek, as is Colossians 2:12, “ .. . God having raised Him out from the deaths.” Another example is the plural of meweth, “deaths,” in the Old Testament.

And he made his grave [literally, the Father assigned Christ’s grave] with the wicked [the two thieves], and with the rich in his death [deaths] (Isa. 53:9).

The plural use of “deaths” is not generally understood, and therefore, the meaning of the blood of Christ is obscured. Our Lord was on the Cross for six hours, from approximately nine o’clock in the morning until about three o’clock in the afternoon. He was physically alive during the entire period, but the three hours from 12:00 noon until 3:00 P.M. was the period of His spiritual death. He had no sin of His own. He came to the Cross without spiritual death. But as the impeccable God-Man hung upon the Cross, the sins of the world were poured out on Him, and the Father judged our sins in Him. This was His spiritual death. While being judged in our place. His humanity was separated from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. It was His substitutionary spiritual death that was efficacious for our salvation.

We know that He was physically alive while being judged because He kept screaming, “My God [the Father] , my God [the Holy Spirit] , why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). He was quoting Psalm 22:1 where the verb in the imperfect tense indicates that He shouted this over and over again. Christ was forsaken because “...he [the Father] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

When His spiritual death was complete, Jesus Christ shouted, “Tetelestai!” — the perfect tense meaning, “it is finished in the past with results that go on forever!” (John 19:30). Note that our Lord was still speaking after salvation was completed. Obviously He could not have spoken if He were physically dead! And certainly if He was still physically alive on the Cross after salvation was complete. His physical death could have nothing whatever to do with the payment for sin!

Throughout the long history of SPQR, Jesus Christ was the only One who died twice on a Roman cross, and only His unique spiritual death paid for the sins of mankind.

THE PHYSICAL DEATH OF CHRIST

The Old Testament rituals that so graphically depicted the saving work of Christ all pictured His spiritual death the source of our salvation. Therefore, the physical death of the sacrificial animal represented the spiritual death of Jesus Christ. The analogy between something physical and something spiritual will not be confused if we understand the nature of the Lord’s physical death and see that although it has great significance it was not the means of salvation. We must understand that

the animal’s physical death was not a picture of Christ’s physical death. If it were, the animal would have been nailed to a cross, which it was not, or Christ would have been offered on an altar, which He certainly was not!

We have noted that Jesus Christ remained physically alive until after His salvation work was finished, but once His mission for the First Advent was accomplished. He died in a magnificent and honorable way. In spite of all that He had endured there was no last-moment letdown or panic for our Lord. His physical death was worthy of His true royalty and worthy of the resounding strategic victory that He had just won. First, with a powerful voice He stated in His dying words the spiritual legacy that He was leaving to believers on earth. Second, at the end of this “last will and testament,” He died physically by His own volition no one took His life! His work on earth was finished, the Father’s Plan called for Him to depart and He dismissed His own spirit. His birth was unique. His life was unique. His spiritual death was unique, and now, even His physical death was unique in that He was the only Person ever authorized to dismiss His own life when His assignment was complete. By an act of His own volition. His soul and human spirit left His body, and only then was He physically dead.

Matthew records the fact that Christ made a final statement before He sent away His soul. Jesus, when He had shouted again with a loud voice, sent away His breath (Matt. 27:50; corrected translation).

While Matthew makes no mention of the content, he emphasizes the strength and self-control necessary for Christ to shout His last words. Mark relates another aspect of this event.

And Jesus shouted with a loud voice, and exhaled His breath (Mark 15:37; corrected translation).

By using the verb ekpeneo, “to exhale,” Mark focuses attention on the Lord’s fantastic breath control Christ exhaled a final statement and did not inhale again! In Luke’s account, we Finally come to a portion of the content of our Lord’s final words.

And when Jesus had shouted with a loud voice He said, “Father [indicating Christ’s restoration to fellowship with God after salvation was complete], into Your hands I deposit My spirit,” and having said this. He let out His breath (Luke 23:46; corrected translation).

Even Luke does not record the entire statement. Instead, he provides us with a reference to the passage of Scripture that Jesus quoted. The complete text is found in Psalm 31:5.

Into Your hand I commit My spirit; You have delivered Me, 0 Jehovah, God of doctrine (Ps. 31:5; corrected translation).

In His dying breath, the Lord Jesus Christ made Bible doctrine the spiritual heritage of the royal family of God. Just as the legacy of His spiritual death is salvation, so Bible doctrine is the legacy of His physical death. Just as salvation is the basis for relationship with God, so doctrine is the basis for spiritual growth. In Psalm 31:5, God the Father is the God of doctrine; in fact. He has exalted His Word above His own Person and reputation (Ps. 138:2)! The strength, inner resources and divine operating assets that Christ required in order to go to the Cross were provided by the doctrine resident in His soul. Thus our Lord set the pattern for us to follow in adjusting to the justice of God through the intake of Bible doctrine.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST’S PHYSICAL DEATH

Physical death is a consequence of spiritual death; not the penalty for sin but a result of sin. This pattern was established in the first man. Adam did not die physically until nearly 1,000 years after eating the forbidden fruit, but he died spiritually with the first taste. In contrast, Christ suffered spiritual death not as fallen man but as perfect Man, and He was still perfect after paying in full the penalty for our sins and being restored to fellowship with the Father. Our Lord’s physical death, therefore, was not a result of His spiritual death but indicated instead that His work in the First Advent was completed.

Furthermore, His physical death was absolutely essential for His resurrection and is, therefore, an indispensable part of the Gospel when resurrection is emphasized (1 Cor. 15:14). Through death, the way was prepared for Him to become the Firstfruits of those raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Moreover, Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and session become the basis for the mature believer’s “newness of life” free from the tyranny of the old sin nature (Rom. 6:4-13). Thus His physical death was the completion of salvation, related to resurrection and glorification, rather than being the mechanics of atonement for sin.

Finally, Christ’s physical death, which made possible His resurrection and eventual Second Advent, leads to the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. The resurrected Jesus Christ in hypostatic union will reign forever as the Son of David.

After Christ announced His legacy of doctrine. His soul departed for Hades (Ps. 16:10; Luke 23:43; Acts 2:7; Eph. 4:9);''' His human spirit went into the presence of the Father (Luke 23:46; Ps. 31:5); and His body went into the grave (Luke 23:53). This was His physical death.

AFTERMATH OF THE CRUCIFIXION

The Lord Jesus Christ did not bleed to death. He was fully in command of Himself on the Cross, and He died physically in fulfillment of His own words.

I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again (John 10:17b, 8a).

The red liquid that ran through the veins and arteries of Jesus’ mortal body is not related to our salvation, and there is no Biblical basis for attributing any unusual properties to Christ’s body fluids. The term “blood of Christ” is far more significant than any magical or mystical power falsely ascribed to His physical blood by those who are ignorant of doctrine. John’s record indicates that His literal blood was not a factor in either His spiritual or His physical death.

When Jesus had therefore received the vinegar, he said. It is finished: and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost (John 19:30).

When Christ had paid the penalty for sins. He announced that salvation was finished. He then pushed His head forward: as the Authorized Version states, “He bowed his head.” There is nothing accidental in anything that Christ did. Everything He did and said while on the Cross had a purpose and a reason. It was essential that when He died physically. His body should be leaning in a specific forward position, so that when the spear pierced His side, it would enter above the solar plexus and diaphragm, piercing the heart. In this forward position the blood would pour forth and establish His physical death even at a distance.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away (John 19:31).

The religious Jews were always up to something! Typical of the evil of religion, they were very particular about the superficialities of life, while ignoring, avoiding or rejecting the things of eternal importance: they had just demanded and secured the execution of the only perfect Man who ever lived, their own Messiah. These Jews were pompous and self-righteous in their strict observance of ritual, but inside they were arrogant, jealous, filled with pettiness and hatred, and always ready to retaliate against anyone who dared challenge their inflated self-importance (Matt. 23). They had destroyed their own souls with mental attitude sins of hypocrisy. In effect, they had become little better than animals.’

Now, what is meant by “the preparation”? The Greek word pamskeue refers to the day when the Jews prepared either for a weekly Saturday sabbath or for a special feast sabbath. Here, the Jews were preparing to carry out the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This seven-day ritual taught every generation of Jews to remember the deliverance from Egypt, which had been provided in grace by the power of the impeccable Second Person of the Trinity (Exod. 13:3-10).

This was a special time of year because several sabbaths were observed nearly one after another. The first of the seven days of Unleavened Bread was also the Passover day (Exod. 12:6, 1420). In order to see this sequence of holy days and preparation days most clearly, we must remember that the Jews measured their days from sundown to sundown instead of from midnight to midnight as we delimit our days and as did the Gentiles of our Lord’s generation. We also know that Christ died on a Wednesday, not on the traditional Good Friday. Thus, from approximately six o’clock Tuesday evening until approximately six o’clock Wednesday evening was celebrated the Feast of the Passover. The Passover lamb was slain (representing “Christ our passover… sacrificed for us” [1 Cor. 5:7]), and the memorial meal was eaten on what we call Tuesday night. This was the

“preparation” for Wednesday, which was the actual Passover day. As the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, this Wednesday, described in John 19:31, was also designated as the preparation day for the rest of the week-long observance (Exod. 12:11; Lev. 23:6,7).

Remember that the Jews who were so fussy in observing all of this detailed ceremony and ritual which spoke of Christ had just witnessed the Passover being fulfilled right before their eyes! But did they believe? They did not! Instead of accepting the Messiah, they merely wanted to get on with their hollow rituals. Blinded by religion, the Jews had failed to understand the real significance of the holy days, and ritual without reality is always meaningless. In fact, these religious leaders had just perpetrated the greatest crime in history, yet without batting an eye they proceeded with their preparations for their religious observance. Today it would be like committing some heinous atrocity and then going straight to church.

But this was why the Jews “besought Pilate that their legs might be broken.” It was the Roman custom to leave a body nailed to the cross until the flesh rotted away. They liked to make a lasting impression! But Jewish law demanded that the body of any criminal be put out of sight during a sabbath or feast day in order not to pollute the land (Deut. 21:22, 23). These pious Jews certainly did not want their Victim, whom they had railroaded through the courts, to be hanging on a cross during one of their high sabbaths!

Breaking the legs was a Roman technique, known in Latin as crurifragium, “leg-breaking,” which consisted of shattering the leg bones with a heavy mallet in order to expedite the death of those being crucified.

Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him (John 19:32).

The Roman soldiers went up to the two thieves, one on each side of Jesus, and in order to be able to take them down by nightfall, the legionnaires pounded their legs until the bones were crushed. Thrown into deeper shock and suddenly unable to force themselves up to relieve the pressure on their intercostal muscles, the thieves could not exhale the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in their lungs and died of suffocation. Of course the Jews were waiting for the same thing to occur at the center cross.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs (John 19:33).

This is simply evidence of the fact that Christ was physically dead. The soldiers on the execution detail that day, undoubtedly experts at recognizing physical death, saw that he was “dead already.” But just as our Lord’s physical death, which had occurred perhaps half an hour before, was the occasion on which He bequeathed to us the legacy of Bible doctrine, so this conclusive professional testimony to His physical death reiterated the supreme importance of the Word of God.

The fact that the soldiers did not break His legs is a fulfillment of specific promises contained in the Old Testament Scriptures (Exod. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Ps. 34:20; cf., John 19:36, 37). God keeps His Word to you and me today just as He did throughout all the generations leading up to the Cross. Passover after Passover, through nearly fifteen centuries, the Jews had carefully prepared the Passover lamb in such a way as never to break even one of its bones. Every time they went

through this ritual, they were saying in effect, “What God says is true. God keeps His Word. He never fails!”

Here in the aftermath of the crucifixion, God’s character was on the line. Thus you can understand that in spite of the insidiously evil demands of the religious Jews, in spite of Pontius Pilate’s orders, in spite of the entire Roman army, not one bone could ever be broken because God keeps His Word no matter what is involved! God always honors and respects His Word, and therefore Bible doctrine resident in your soul is your source of confidence and security.

BLOOD CLOTS AND SERUM

But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water (John 19:34).

The soldiers had laid down their mallets when one of them picked up his spear and hurled it into Jesus’ side. In doing so he fulfilled Zechariah 12:10, “ … they shall look upon me [the Lord] whom they have pierced . . .” (cf., John 19:37).

Christ anticipated that by twisting and perverting the meaning of the blood, Satan would attack the Cross in an attempt to obscure the importance of spiritual death. Thus, while still on the Cross, our Lord provided proof that He did not bleed to death and that unlike a sacrificial animal, His literal blood had no spiritual significance whatever. Instead of slumping down or leaning to one side when He dismissed His soul and spirit, our Lord had purposefully thrust His body forward in order to set up a clear demonstration for all to see and for John to record.

The Greek word translated “side” is pleura, which refers specifically to the chest cavity. The soldier’s javelin penetrated upward through Christ’s rib cage and chest wall (without breaking any bones) and lacerated His heart. Immediately “blood and water” gushed forth. This is only possible under certain conditions.

First of all, the word hudor, “water,” is used in a medical sense for that clear, yellowish fluid which separates from the clot in the coagulation of blood. Thus, instead of “blood and water,” a more accurate translation would be “blood clots and serum.”

To anyone viewing from a distance (as John did), the only absolute proof that someone is physically dead is to see his blood separated into clots and serum. The obvious exception would be a trauma such as decapitation or profuse, unchecked bleeding (or, later on, some stage of decomposition). If a person does die because of an excessive loss of blood, clots and serum do not form: the blood simply exits the body in the same whole, red form that you see if you cut your

finger.

For the blood inside a person’s body to precipitate into clots and serum, he must have died suddenly — and not because of bleeding. In spite of Christ’s prolonged physical torture during His trials and on the Cross, His physical death came suddenly when, with complete self-control and clarity of mind. He sent away His spirit. He did bleed from His flogged back, from His hands and feet, and from the thorns that were forced into His scalp. This merely demonstrated that, as true

humanity. His mortal body functioned as any normal human body would. But all these lacerations and puncture wounds did not kill our Lord.

The beautiful thing about Christ’s physical blood was that it contained plenty of vitamin K, causing it to coagulate almost immediately! Remember that throughout His life Jesus was always in magnificent physical condition; more than any other person in the entire human race, the God-Man was the epitome of perfect health and physical strength.

External bleeding was not the cause of His death; nor would clots and serum have formed had He slowly died from internal hemorrhaging. If Jesus had bled to death internally, any blood clots in His body cavity would have dissolved, or lysed, by the time the soldiers had finished breaking the legs of the two thieves. Separated blood could not have suddenly flowed from the spear wound. Thus, the very sight of blood clots and serum is medical proof not only that Jesus was physically

dead but that He did not bleed to death. But the Biblical evidence is more unusual and emphatic still.

In order for the separated blood to flow out rapidly and to be as striking an event as it was, a large vessel had to be severed. Furthermore, there had to be a large quantity of blood still in the body for so much to be present in the upper part of the corpse. Finally, all this blood had to be somehow cut off from draining into the abdominal cavity and lower extremities where, shortly after death, it too would have lysed.

What could keep this concentration of blood clots and serum from draining out of the chest cavity? Only with His body thrust forward would Christ’s diaphragm shut off the downward flow of blood. Only with His body thrust forward would the large right ventricle of His heart become a perfect target for the upward plunge of the spear. Only with His body thrust forward could the blood clots and serum rush so easily and dramatically into John’s view. The exact, deliberate way in which Christ positioned His body gave us this vivid, eyewitness proof of His manner of physical death, recorded forever in the Word of God.

THE LEVITICAL OFFERINGS AND THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

When the Bible mentions the blood of Christ, the purpose is to relate the Cross to the animal sacrifices. In the Old Testament, the blood was literal and the judgment was symbolic, but on the Cross, the blood was symbolic while the judgment was literal. The Levitical offerings utilized animals to depict the unique Person of Jesus Christ. The animal on the altar represented Christ on the Cross. The animal’s throat was cut so that it shed its literal blood and died physically. The physical death of the animal portrayed the spiritual death of Christ which provides our salvation.

Four out of the five Levitical offerings authorized by the Mosaic Law required the shedding of animal blood (Lev. 1 6). Two of the five, the sin offering (Lev. 4:225) and the trespass offering (Lev. 5:16:7), depicted the work of Christ related to rebound (1 John 1:710). The remaining three ceremonies taught specific doctrines of salvation. The burnt offering (Lev. 1), for example, declared propitiation with emphasis on the work of Christ. The gift offering (Lev. 2) also taught propitiation, but this bloodless offering portrayed the perfect Person of Jesus Christ. The peace offering (Lev. 3) again called for the shedding of blood, but this time the doctrine of reconciliation was in view.

Brought	To Represent
Burnt Offering	Salvation (Propitiation: Person of Christ)
Gift Offering (No Blood)	Salvation (Propitiation: Person of Christ)
Peace Offering	Salvation (Reconciliation)
Sin Offering	Rebound (For Unknown Sins)
Trespass Offering	Rebound (For Known Sins)

Fig., Levitical Offerings

When the Jews were instructed to, what is translated, “bring an offering,” the Hebrew verb was qarab, “to draw near, to approach.” The word rendered “offering” is qorban (translated “corban” in Mark 7:11), which comes from the same root. In other words, the qorban was the means of approach to God. Thus the offerings represented the fact that the justice of God (which is the administrator of His grace) has provided a means by which sinful, fallen man can come to God only through the substitutionary spiritual death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). The Jew who brought the offering did so from his own free will (Lev. 1:3) as an expression of his non-meritorious positive volition toward the Savior. The ceremony held no true significance for the unbeliever because ritual without reality is meaningless.

The mature Jewish believers, however, looked forward to the coming Messiah, and they fully understood that these sacrifices were only shadows of the good things to come. They knew that the blood of the animals could not save mankind, and that the future work of Christ, the Messiah, would provide their salvation. In the New Testament, therefore, “the blood of Christ” is a symbolic phrase, and it identifies Christ’s spiritual death as the fulfillment of the dramatic and familiar rituals by which salvation had been communicated throughout the centuries. The long-awaited Messiah has arrived!

THE BURNT OFFERING

Let us examine some of the details of one Levitical offering that illustrated salvation by the shedding of blood. The burnt offering could come from any of three sources: “of the herd” (Lev. 1:2 9), “of the flock” (Lev. 1:10-13), or “of the fowls” (Lev. 1:14-17). The various animals that were acceptable allowed believers of any economic status to bring this offering to the Lord. Even the poorest could afford a pigeon or a turtledove “of the fowls.”

Each type of animal emphasized some aspect of the doctrine of propitiation. The young bull “of the herd” (called a “bullock” in King James English) pictured Jesus Christ as a servant. The sheep or goat “of the flock” presented Him as the qualified Sin-Bearer (“the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world,” John 1:29), while the birds depicted Him as the resurrected God-Man.

The bull had to be “a male without blemish” (Lev. 1:3), illustrating the perfection of the incarnate Person of Christ. Because it was impossible for God to die on the Cross, the Lord had to become a member of the human race, yet without the “blemish” of the old sin nature, the imputation of Adam’s sin or the guilt of personal sins. His virgin birth and perfect life qualified Him to go to the Cross. Like the young bull without blemish, Jesus Christ “took upon himself the form

of a servant and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7b), satisfying the righteousness of the Father. Then, on the Cross, the impeccable Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself to be judged for the sins of the world in order to satisfy the justice of the Father (Isa. 53:9; cf., Matt. 26:39,42; Heb. 9:14; 10:1-14).

This transfer of sins from the sinner to the sinless was performed symbolically in the ritual when the offerer’s hand was placed on the bull’s head (Lev. 1:4). The sins of the man were identified with the animal, which was to be slain on his behalf, just as He “who knew no sin” was made “sin for us . . . that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

And it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him (Lev. 1:4b).

“It shall be accepted” is from the Hebrew verb meaning “to take pleasure in, to delight in.” In the niphal stem, it means “to graciously receive,” thus, “the burnt offering shall be graciously received by God.” In other words, the First Person of the Trinity, God the Father, accepted the work of His Son on the Cross. Propitiation! The verb kaphar means “to cover, to overlay, to make an atonement,” and found here in the piel (intensive) infinitive, it reveals the intensity of Christ’s spiritual death. Jesus Christ has covered our sins.

The vigorous, perfectly healthy young bull was tied to the altar. After he was identified with the offerer’s sins, a sharp knife severed his carotid artery, causing the powerful, struggling beast to pump the blood out of his own body. The spurting blood that soon covered the offerer, the priest, the altar and the ground, was a spectacular method of teaching the Jews the spiritual death of Christ, the payment for sins.

When Hebrews 9:22 states that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission,” animal blood is in view. The entire context of that passage relates the shadow Christology of animal sacrifices to their fulfillment in the reality of Christ.

As the ceremony with the bullock continued, it further depicted the purity of Christ and the judgment of sins in Him, culminating in burning as a picture of divine judgment. Out of the fire of judgment, the gaseous smoke was a “sweet smell” to God (Lev. 14. 1:9b), again indicating His satisfaction with the work of the Son.

The offerings from the flock also taught the doctrine of Propitiation. The goat emphasized the sins to be borne by Messiah on the Cross, while the sheep was yet another picture of His perfect, sinless humanity. In either case, the animal always had to be without blemish (Lev. 1 : 10). As with the young bull, these animals were identified with the offerer’s sins and were slain to depict the spiritual death of Christ as the means of adjusting to the justice of God.

God’s awful wrath against your sins and mine along with those of the entire world, including the sins of every Jew who ever approached with an offering was focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ during His last three hours on the Cross. His excruciating pain, more intense than anything that we can even begin to imagine, was dramatized in the violent deaths of these valuable, innocent and flawless animals. No Jewish believer could forget these grisly scenes that were repeated time and time again! The shedding of blood, both in the detail of the ceremony and in the shock of the execution, was designed to permanently imprint Bible doctrine on the souls of offerers and observers alike.

While all Israel might watch and learn from the sacrifices brought by others, a personal offering was required for each Jewish believer. The category specified for the poor of the land was a dove or a pigeon. This provision in itself illustrates God’s grace in the availability of salvation. Although the dove could be brought by the lowliest, it nevertheless represented the ultimate in perfection, the unique Person in the universe, the God-Man Jesus Christ.

The turtledove represented the deity of the Messiah, but since it was brought in as a sacrifice, more than His deity was in view. The burnt offering from the fowls pictured the hypostatic union: Jesus Christ is undiminished deity and true humanity united in one Person forever. The dove would shed its blood, as had the bulls, the sheep and the goats, but tills offering focused attention on what would occur after salvation had become an accomplished fact.

After His spiritual and physical deaths, and after He had spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Jesus Christ alone was resurrected from the dead. 16 He ascended to heaven, and there He was seated in highest glory and honor at the right hand of the Father. Our Savior’s acceptance into heaven is the final proof that His work on the Cross was totally efficacious and that God the Father has been propitiated once and for all.

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AND THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

In addition to the Levitical offerings, the daily offerings and the sacrifices that were offered at the time of the new moon, the Jews brought special offerings on the holy days. These feast days included the Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles (Lev. 23). Each feast possessed great doctrinal significance, but of them all, the Day of Atonement was the most solemn (Lev. 16; 23:26-32).

Jom Kaphar, or Jom Kippur, literally means “The Day of Covering,” and this was the only day on which anyone was ever permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, or in the Temple after it had been constructed. Even on the Day of Atonement, only the high priest was able to enter, and then only after he had brought an offering on behalf of his own sins (Lev. 16:13).

Two sacrifices were required on this high holy day: a young bull (Lev. 16:6) and one of two goats (Lev. 16:7-10, 15, 16). The high priest sacrificed the bull on the brass altar as a sin offering for himself. The blood, representing Christ’s spiritual death on the Cross, was collected in a basin and carried past the huge curtain into the Holy of Holies. There he sprinkled it on the mercy seat. We have already seen this piece of Tabernacle furniture in Romans 3:25.

[Jesus Christ] Whom the God [the Father] had predetermined to be the place of propitiation [literally, “the mercy seat"] by means of His blood . . . (Rom. 3:25a).

The Greek word for propitiation, hilasterion, and the Hebrew word kapporeth, both mean “mercy seat.” They refer to a wooden box called the ark of the covenant, which was overlaid with gold and stood in the Holy of Holies. The acacia wood of the box spoke of Christ’s humanity; the gold, of His deity. Together these materials represented the uniqueness of the God-Man.

The ark contained three items: a pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the tables of the Law. Each of these items depicted sin. The tables of the Law were a reminder of Israel’s violations of the Mosaic Law and, therefore, showed transgression against God’s authority. Aaron’s rod exhibited rejection of God’s plan regarding the authority of the Levitical priesthood, and the pot of manna called to mind man’s rejection of divine provision.

The mercy seat itself was the lid that Fit over the top of the ark. On each end of the mercy seat stood the golden figure of a cherub. One represented God’s perfect righteousness; the other. His justice. Righteousness and justice looked down on sin and condemned it. But once a year, on the Day of Atonement, a wonderful event took place. The blood of a young bull was sprinkled on top of the mercy seat, so that when righteousness and justice looked down, they saw the completed work of Christ covering the sins of the high priest. Divine essence was satisfied on his behalf.

The high priest then went out and sacrificed one of the goats as an offering for the people. Bringing the goat’s blood in a bowl, he entered the Holy of Holies a second time, and again he sprinkled blood over the mercy seat. This time the spiritual death of Christ on the Cross was dramatized as covering the sins of all the people.

Only by way of the symbolic blood of animals could even the high priest enter the Holy of Holies, but when Jesus Christ was judged on the Cross, the great curtain that blocked entry to the Holy of Holies was ripped by God from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). Christ removed the barrier between God and man.

And not by means of the blood of goats or young bulls [the Day of Atonement sacrifices] , but by means of His own blood, one for all. He [Christ] has entered the Holy of Holies [the presence of the Father] having secured eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12; corrected translation).

Jesus Christ never entered the shadow Holy of Holies in the Temple. But when He ascended. He entered the real Holy of Holies, the presence of God in heaven itself (Heb. 10:24). Unlike the Levitical high priest who had to go into the Holy of Holies twice, the Lord Jesus Christ, our royal High Priest, required no special offering on His own behalf. Instead, the perfect Savior offered Himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of all mankind. He entered heaven one time and sat down. That was all that was required.

He had just conquered sin, spiritual death and physical death (1 Cor. 15:5557). He had won the strategic victory over the evil ruler of this world (Heb. 2:14, 15). He had redeemed man from the slave market of sin, reconciled man to God with the destruction of the barrier, and propitiated God on behalf of man. He had fulfilled the Law and left a legacy of doctrine for believers on earth. As the Celebrity of the universe, He ascended and was seated, but He did not take any blood with Him to heaven.

There is an old Roman Catholic dogma which says that Christ carried His blood with Him to heaven in a bowl. Without even knowing its source, fundamental Christianity clings to that ludicrous idea from the Dark Ages by perpetuating a form of mysticism around the physical blood of our Lord. We have seen in great detail that His mortal, human body fluids have absolutely nothing whatever to do with salvation.

When Christ entered heaven. He carried not blood, but the fact that His salvation work was finished “completed in the past with results that go on forever!” He did not transport a bowl of blood or a bucket of blood; He entered in His resurrection body, with a triumphant “Mission accomplished!”

The blood of Christ simply teaches our Lord’s spiritual death as the fulfillment of the animal sacrifices. Once the reality had arrived, there was no longer any room for the shadows. No blood was taken to heaven, and even on earth the animal sacrifices ceased to be valid the moment they were fulfilled on the Cross. In fact, the reversionistic Jewish believers in Jerusalem were denounced for continuing to offer sacrifices in the Temple. By their offerings, they were said to “crucify

to themselves the Son of God afresh” (Heb. 6:6), making a mockery of His work on the Cross.

Now that the Lord Jesus Christ has entered heaven, it is the height of stupidity and blasphemy to prefer a dead animal over the living Son of God! The Father definitely preferred Him. And God definitely did not require any amount of blood animal or human to be added to the perfect Person and work of His Son! Animal sacrifices and literal blood are now defunct as a means of worship. They will not be authorized again until the Millennium. Then, with Jesus Christ present on earth, they will serve as a memorial to the Cross, glorifying the reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords for His matchless accomplishment.

THE REPRESENTATIVE ANALOGY IN REVIEW

Point by point, we have considered the subject of the blood of Christ. But since there is so much emotionalism and ignorance about this important area of doctrine, let us now tie our study together in a brief summary.

“The blood of Christ” is a technical term which expresses the fact that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament shadows. As such, this frequently encountered phrase sets up a representative analogy between something physical and something spiritual. It is not an exact analogy because that would require a physical thing compared to a physical thing, or a parallel between one spiritual thing and another spiritual thing. Instead, “the blood of Christ” brings together two

unlike things: the literal blood of the animal sacrifices and the spiritual death of Christ on the Cross. The animal’s physical blood illustrates the spiritual event that took place during Christ’s last three hours on the Cross when the sins of the world were poured out on Him and judged. As a shorthand title for the saving work of our Lord, “the blood of Christ” is, therefore, a synonym for His spiritual death: Christ provided what the justice of God demanded.

In the Old Testament, the blood was literal and the judgment was symbolic, but on the Cross the blood was symbolic while the judgment was literal. The blood of the animal was the shadow of good things to come, while the spiritual death of Christ is the reality that fulfills the shadows.

People who do not know straight up from straight down always want to know, where did you get that? How do you know that’s true? We have just studied the subject in detail, and that should tell you everything you need to know! But I realize that thus subject is a difficult one for many people who have grown up with the idea that there was some special power within the circulatory system of Jesus’ mortal body.

As proof that there are others who understand that the blood of Christ is figurative, permit me to quote Arndt and Gingrich, the latest Greek lexicographers. Under the word haima, “blood,” they devote an entire paragraph to the figurative uses of the word. They describe it as “the blood and life as an expiatory sacrifice, especially the blood of Christ as the means of expiation.” Expiation is paying the penalty for sin, and Jesus Christ did not bleed to death to pay the penalty for sin. Further, Kittel’s Theological Dictionary states that “the blood of Christ in the New Testament is simply a pregnant verbal symbol for the saving work of Christ. “Pregnant verbal symbol” means figurative!

We have seen that spiritual death, not physical death, is the penalty for sin. We noted that Adam was created spiritually alive and by his negative volition became spiritually dead. Christ, on the other hand, was the only human being ever born spiritually alive, and by His positive volition He chose to suffer spiritual death on behalf of mankind. Adam was physically alive at the same time that he was spiritually dead, and likewise, Christ on the Cross was very much alive while He was enduring spiritual death.

The relationship with God that Christ had always enjoyed by virtue of His virgin birth and impeccable life, was severed on the Cross while He paid for our sins. But now, when anyone believes in Christ, that person instantly receives a permanent relationship with God by regeneration. Furthermore, as a member of the royal family of God, in union with Christ, he becomes a beneficiary of grace. In grace, God does all the work while man does the receiving, as illustrated in salvation where all the merit belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ!

Our Lord died twice on the Cross. His first death is called “the blood of Christ,” and only after the completion of this, His spiritual death, did He die physically. The blood of Christ definitely does not refer to His physical death because He did not bleed to death! in fact, most of His blood was still inside His corpse when the soldier threw the spear into His chest cavity, bringing forth blood clots and serum.

Christ’s physical death simply indicated that His work was completed. Nevertheless, He died physically in a unique and magnificent manner, by dismissing His own soul and spirit when the Father’s plan called for Him to depart. With a clear, loud voice and perfect breath control, in His final exhale He left a legacy of Bible doctrine to the royal family.

THE COMMUNION TABLE AND THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Animal sacrifices were designed to communicate Bible doctrine to the Jews of the Old Testament and to provide a means of worship by which they could express their occupation with Christ. But once the rituals were fulfilled by the Cross, and especially after the canon of Scripture was completed with the writing of Revelation in A.D. 96, there was no longer a need for a detailed system of training aids for teaching doctrine. In the Church Age, therefore, only one form of ritual is

authorized: the Eucharist or Communion.

Communion has its origin in the Passover feast in Israel, a feast different from the others in that it was a celebration like our Fourth of July. On 14 April, in approximately 1440 B.C., the Jewish race became a nation, and the emergence of God’s chosen nation out of slavery in Egypt was accompanied by an offering that commemorated individual regeneration.

In order to avoid the divine judgment of the tenth plague that was coming against Egypt, the Jews were ordered to sacrifice a male, yearling lamb without blemish (Exod. 12:5). The lamb represented the perfect, unique Person of Jesus Christ who would be qualified to bear divine judgment for sins on behalf of the offerers. The lamb’s meat was to be eaten a picture of faith in Christ.

Just as any normal person can eat, no matter if he is moral, immoral, amoral, religious, irreligious or areligious, so also the means of appropriating the work of Christ does not depend on the merit of the one who believes. All the merit in faith is in the object of faith. Anyone can eat, and anyone can believe in Christ! Eating, therefore, is a perfect picture of non-meritorious positive volition toward Jesus Christ. The blood of the Passover lamb represented the spiritual death of Messiah on the Cross, and the offerers painted it on the sides and tops of their doors (Exod. 12:7). God was depicted in the Passover as being satisfied on behalf of any household with blood on the doorposts, as later illustrated on the Day of Atonement by the blood on the mercy seat. For those behind the blood, the judgment of the plague would be averted.

The Passover changed slightly after this first observance in Egypt. For at least the next forty years in the desert, the Jews did not have permanent doors. Instead of blood on the doorposts, the cup and the juice of the grape were substituted, and as with eating, drinking from the cup illustrated faith in Christ.

Like the spotless lamb that represented Him through nearly two thousand years, the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Passover, fulfilling this special feast in every detail. The night before His death (according to Jewish time, the Passover had begun at sundown), Jesus converted the Passover ceremony into the Eucharist. At this last Passover, He instituted several changes to the ancient ritual.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying. This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19).

“Give thanks’ is the Greek verb eucharisteo from which we derive the term “Eucharist.” Instead of the lamb, Jesus Christ took the bread to represent His unique Person. “This keeps on being My body” (corrected translation) indicates that in order to bear the sins of the world, God had to become true humanity. Furthermore, Christ will keep on having a body forever; our Lord was already looking ahead to His resurrection when He made this statement. He needed a body in order to go to the Cross, but in His resurrection body He will continue to be the God-Man, the Celebrity of the universe, forever! As with the Passover lamb, eating the bread is a picture of faith in Christ.

Likewise also the cup after supper, saying. This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you (Luke 22:20).

The old testament, or old covenant of the Mosaic Law, had been ratified with the symbolic blood of animals, but now these observances were to be set aside. The shadow of the lamb’s blood would be fulfilled within twenty-four hours! The new covenant of provisions and blessings for the royal family of God is ratified by the blood of Christ. The cup, therefore, became symbolic of Christ’s spiritual death on the Cross by which He enabled us to adjust to the justice of God. The images of a lamb’s blood on the doorposts, or of the blood of bulls and goats on the mercy seat, or of the spurting blood of the burnt offerings, were all fulfilled in Christ, and they were replaced by one ceremony inaugurated by Christ Himself for His royal family.

The command to “do this in remembrance of me” makes the Eucharist like the old and honorable New Year’s custom of Scotland. Auld lang syne, “old long ago,” is a special time to remember loved ones and old friends now gone. It is a time of great memories and a time to check the capacity of one’s own soul. The Communion service is likewise a time for the members of the royal family to focus their memories on the Savior and His work. No believer can love or appreciate Jesus Christ unless he knows the mind of Christ, Bible doctrine. Therefore, Communion becomes not only a time of worship but also an opportunity to check your own knowledge of doctrine and level of spiritual growth. If you cannot concentrate on the Lord without having your mind wander, even for the duration of the Communion service, you still have a way to go in your Christian life! Therefore, our heritage of Bible doctrine comes into sharp focus. Doctrine resident in your soul is the absolute requirement for having any capacity to remember the Lord, and ritual is meaningless where there is no understanding of the reality that it represents.

No believer is ever excluded from the Communion table. In fact, every believer is commanded to partake periodically. Local church membership or any other special qualification is never required. A person need only be a believer, and between himself and the Lord he must make sure that, through the rebound technique, he is under the control of the Holy Spirit as is required in all phases of worship (1 Cor. ll:30,31; l John 1:9).

The distortions of the doctrine of the blood of Christ have been carried over from Romanism are probably most clearly seen in the Eucharist. Romanism teaches the false doctrine that the bread is Christ’s actual flesh and that the cup is His literal blood! This superstitious mysticism is obviously untrue, but it almost seems as though people check their common sense at the door as soon as they become believers. People who should know better make themselves absolutely ridiculous when they blindly accept the false idea that “the blood of Christ” is somehow a literal phrase! We have seen, on the contrary, that literal blood cannot save man and that Christ’s blood is a representative analogy which describes His spiritual death. That is the reason why the blood of Christ is the precious coin of the realm for purchasing our so great salvation.