The Blood Sacrifice

The Old Testament gives vivid detailed instructions about the offering of a sacrifice in atonement for sin.  Since Jesus was our sacrifice for sin, we do not offer blood sacrifices on this side of the cross.  And because our culture is so different, we often do not fully understand the significance of its meaning.

Because sin had entered the world through Adam and Eve, God's plan provided a way for man to come back into the presence of the Holy God.  God provided a way through the shedding of blood.  A sacrifice had to be made.  God would give man a preview of that plan through the system of blood sacrifices in the Old Testament.  In Numbers 28-29, God called for 1,273 public sacrifices a year-each morning and evening, each Sabbath, the first day of each month and during the special feasts days of assembly and celebration.  In addition to the public sacrifices, there would also be individual sacrifices.  This must have been a continual blood bath as blood ran from the altar.

The offering had to be spotless and with no defects or blemishes.  As the animal is killed, the blood is caught and then sprinkled by the priest on the horns of the altar and poured out at the base of the altar.

One day a year was celebrated as the Day of Atonement.  On this day the High Priest would offer a sacrifice for the sins of the nation.  These sins were symbolically transferred to the spotless, blameless lamb dying in the place of the people and became the sin subsititute for the collective sins of the Jewish nation.  The High Priest after offering an animal sacrifice for his own sins, would take the blood of the lamb into the Holy of Holies.

Only one is allowed behind the veil, the curtain separating the people from the presence of God.  Only one can present the blood before God.  If for some reason the High Priest dies while he is behind the veil, no one is allowed to go in to get him.  God would strike them dead on the spot.

In the Holy of Holies the High Priest must sprinkle the blood on the Ark of the Covenant.  God either accepts or rejects the offering.  If God rejects the sacrifice, the High Priest is struck dead.  If God accepts the sacrifice, the High Priest returns to the people and rejoicing takes place.  The people knew their sins were forgiven for another year.

Jesus was both the High Priest and the Lamb of God.  He was the blameless lamb sacrificed for the sins of the nations.  He was the High Priest who carried His blood before the Father and presented it as atonement for our sins.  This is what John the Baptist meant when he said:

John 1:29  “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

He Is Risen!

Mark 16:6

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him."

Without the resurrection there could be no salvation.  Jesus would have been like other men. He would also have been a liar since Jesus told His disciples what was going to happen. (Mark 8:31, Matthew 17:22 and Luke 9:22)  He told them He would suffer many things and be rejected, killed and rise again.

Because He was resurrected, He was who He claimed to be...undeniably God. And because He was resurrected, God the Father accepted His atoning work on the cross.  This means the blood sacrifice was accepted and our sins were forgiven.  We are assured of a righteous judgement.

Romans 5:19  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

 Because He was resurrected, we are guaranteed our bodies will also be raised.

I Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Death has been abolished.  We will not suffer hell but will have eternal life in heaven.  Jesus conquered death.  He is risen. The tomb was empty. He paid the blood price so that we might live! 

I Corinthians 15:54-55  So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. “ O Death, where is your sting?O Hades, where is your victory?"

God's Hesed

I read a book several years ago "A Sacred Sorrow" by Michael Card.  As a result, I learned a new word: "hesed".  This word describes the indescribable un-definable characteristics of God. This Hebrew word is untranslatable into one word in English. Our English language defines the word simply as lovingkindness but it encompasses so much more.  I suppose it would take a vast number of words to describe "hesed" and even then we would not be able to cover what it truly means.  So the best way to define "hesed" is to say it means the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly-pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of our Father God who shows grace and mercy! The Bible gives us these verses concerning God's "hesed":

Jeremiah 31:3  "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

Exodus 34:7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations

Psalm 86:15  But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

While it is hard for us to understand the full meaning of the word "hesed", it is through Jesus that we can see glimpses of the true meaning of the word.  Because God came in the flesh, lived a life that was fully "hesed", He died on a cross and rose from the dead.  He was the incarnation of this indefinable word.
For more on "hesed", click on the following link:

Michael Card devotion

Jesus Loves Me, this I know

Jesus Loves Me This I Know

 I learned the song, "Jesus Loves Me" when I was a little girl and I have taught it to my children and now sing it with my grandchildren.  I don't sing that song very often but I was reminded the other day about the very truth of this little song.

Jesus loves me, this I know.  Jesus loves me, this I know. Jesus loves me, this I know.  Jesus loves me, this I know.

How do I know the song is true? Because the Bible tells me so... 

1 Cor 8:3  "the man who loves God is known by God."

John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

John 16:27  "the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God."     

Titus 3:4-5 "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy."

Because I know Jesus loved me enough to die for me that I may be reconciled to a Holy God. He is my Lord and Savior.

Colossians 1:22 "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation"

Jesus is Savior

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

Jesus is 100% God.  Jesus is 100% Man.  Jesus is 100% Lord.  Jesus is 100% Savior.

Because man is sinful, God had to provide a way for us to be reconciled to Himself, the Holy God.  Jesus was that way...God in the flesh.  This God/Man became our way to reconciliation to God.  Reconciliation means "to bring back to harmony".  Because God is a Holy God, we could not and can not do this for ourself.   Sin can not enter His presence.  Our harmony with God was broken by sin and only a sacrifice could bring us back.  A sacrifice for sin by the shedding of blood had to be offered.  That sacrifice was Jesus, the Holy Lamb of God.  Jesus chose to be the sacrifice for you and me so we might boldly go before the throne of God and harmony could be restored.

Jesus is 100% Savior.

The only way He will be 100% your Savior is a simple as ABC.

Admit to God you are a sinner and need a Savior.  You recognize that you are sinful and are sorry for the sins you have committed.  That means to repent and turn from your wicked ways.

 Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

 Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"

 Acts 3:19 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord" 

Believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is who He says He is and He died for your sins on a cross, and rose from the dead in His resurrected body.

 John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"

 John 14:6 "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"

 Romans 5:8 ^"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Confess your faith in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord.

 Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved"

 Romans 10:13 "for, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Jesus is Lord

Colossians 1:17-18  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.    

 Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man but He is also 100% Lord.

Colossians tells us that Jesus holds everything together and in everything He has supremacy.   Think about that for a moment.  Jesus holds everything together...this vast universe, the stars in the sky and all the planets are held together by Him.  He holds the earth together.  He holds us together!  He is Lord over all.  He is the supreme authority.  And because of who He is and what He did for us, we owe Him our allegiance.  He is Lord, the supreme master.  He has absolute control.  He didn't have to die for our sins but He did.  He died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead, we owe Him our allegiance.

The word Lord means one possessing absolute control; supreme master.  That is Jesus.  Jesus is Lord of all.

Jesus is 100% Lord.

Jesus is Man

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."


Jesus is 100% man.
God took on flesh to walk among us.  His name was Jesus.

Matthew 1: 23 "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us"). 

Jesus is 100% man minus the sin nature of man.  He is the incarnation of God with skin.  He took on flesh to feel what we feel.  He took on flesh to provide the ultimate sacrifice for sin.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Jesus is 100% man, God in the flesh.  If Jesus was not a man, He couldn't identify with our struggles and our temptations and He could not have died in our place.

Jesus is God

Colossians 1:16-17 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.




Jesus is 100% God.  It is God who created all things.  Only God has that power.  Jesus is 100% God.

John 1:1-3  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

According to John 1:1  Jesus (the Word) was with God and was God and He created all things.  Jesus is eternal.  The Alpha and Omega-the beginning and the end.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In Genesis our Holy Scriptures say that God created the heavens and the earth.  It did not say that man created the earth.

Jesus is 100% God.

If He were not God, He would not have the power to heal, perform miracles, cause the winds to cease upon the sea and no authority to save us from sin.

Jesus is 100% God.