Power in the Blood

When I was a teenager I remember reading a book by Billy Graham where he explained why the blood sacrifice of Jesus was necessary to give new and eternal life. He quoted Leviticus 17:11 --

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves ... it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Like so many things God uses a physical reality to demonstrate a spiritual truth.  As blood is necessary for us to live physically, blood would be necessary for us to live spiritually.  And not just any blood, only the pure and perfect blood of Jesus Christ. Without this blood there can be no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).  But the power of this blood goes beyond just forgiveness -- it also brings His goodness and abundant life, instead of His wrath against our sinfulness (Romans 5:9; Romans 8:32).

Today we rejoice because Beth is receiving new blood. A gift of grace and a miracle of mercy flowing from the greatest grace gift and most miraculous mercy ever -- the Cross. Here Jesus' physical life-blood removed the Father's wrath and replaced it with His goodness that now comes in many forms of His rich and sufficient grace.  We celebrate the goodness of God in the form of 19 million new and healthy stem cells entering Beth's body to produce new, healthy, and leukemia-free blood cells.  Life is indeed in the blood!

While nothing is greater than the salvation Christ purchased for us with His blood, we still praise God for His "lesser" graces (like a bone marrow transplant) that give Him glory and give us a foretaste of His eternal goodness. These foretastes remind us that the best is yet to come and victory is assured as we live by His blood-bought grace in a sin-stained world full of pain and suffering.  While Beth's battle with leukemia is not over with today's transplant, we know and believe that there is "power, wonder-working power" in the blood!!

Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.