The blood of the Lamb

Why is the blood of Jesus able to guarantee salvation from God’s wrathful judgment and eternal damnation? The Romans crucified between 100,000 and 150,000 people over the course of time; why does Jesus’ crucifixion stand out? Because he was crucified while innocent, or because he was a religious man? There were certainly many religious people at that time who were falsely accused and crucified.

No, Jesus’ crucifixion was extraordinary and unique in the entire universe because divine blood was shed there! On that day, God was executed in human form. And he accepted this voluntarily, without putting up a fight—which would have been easy for him.

“And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26,51-54)

On the day of his crucifixion, Jesus Christ fulfilled the writings of the Old Testament—that is the mystery!

Even his miraculous birth and the deeds he performed during his lifetime fulfilled many of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, but the day of his death was and remains unique. For those for whom the prophetic statements in Isaiah 53 are not sufficient to recognize Jesus Christ in them, here are a few passages from the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, and their fulfillment in the New Testament through Jesus Christ:

The Messiah will be a stumbling block. (Ps. 118:22 / 1 Pet. 2:7–8)

The Messiah will be a light to the Gentiles. (Isa. 60:3 / Acts 13:47–48)

The Messiah will be rejected by the Jews. (Isaiah 53:3 / John 1:11)

The Messiah will be rejected. (Isaiah 53:3 + Psalm 2:2 / John 5:43 + Luke 17:25)

The Messiah will enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 / John 12:13-14)

The year of the Messiah’s death is prophesied. (Daniel 9:25-26 / Luke 2:1)

The Messiah will not be understood. (Isaiah 6:9–10 / Matt. 13:14–15)

False witnesses will rise up against the Messiah. (David, Ps. 27:12 + Ps. 35:11 / Matt. 26:60–61)

The Messiah will be forsaken by his friends. (Zechariah 13:7 / Mark 14:50)

The Messiah will be hated without cause. (Psalm 69:5 + Psalm 109:3-5 / John 15:23-25)

The Messiah will remain silent during his trial. (Isaiah 53:7 / Matt. 26:62-63)

The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend. (Ps. 41:10 / Mark 14:18-20)

The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:12 / Matt. 26:15)

The money from the betrayal will be used for the potter. (Zechariah 11:13 / Matt. 27:6–7)

The Messiah will be struck and spit upon. (Isaiah 50:6 / Mark 15:19)

The Messiah will be struck in the face. (Micah 4:14 / John 18:22 + John 19:3)

The Messiah will be mocked and blasphemed with words from the Bible. (Ps. 22:7–9 / Matt. 27:39–44 + Mark 15:29–32)

The Messiah will be executed with sinners. (Isaiah 53:12 / Matt. 27:38)

The Messiah’s hands and feet will be pierced. (Ps. 22:17 + Zech. 12:10 / John 19:37 + John 20:25 + John 20:27)

They will cast lots for the Messiah’s clothes. (Ps. 22:19 / Mark 15:24)

Not a single bone of the Messiah will be broken. (Ps. 34:21 / John 19:33)

The Messiah will be given gall and vinegar to drink. (Ps. 69:22 / John 19:29)

The Messiah will pray for his enemies. (Ps. 109:4 + Isa. 53:12 / Luke 23:34)

The Messiah will suffer from thirst during his execution. (Ps. 22:16 + John 19:28)

The Messiah’s side will be pierced by a spear. (Zech. 12:10 / John 19:34)

The Messiah will be in the darkness of the earth for three days. (Jonah 2 / Matt. 12:40)

The Messiah will suffer on behalf of others. (Isaiah 53:4–5 / Matt. 8:16–17 + Rom. 4:25 + 1 Cor. 15:3)

The Messiah will be buried in the tomb of a rich man. (Isaiah 53:9 / Matthew 27:57–60)

It will grow dark in the daytime. (Amos 5:20 + Amos 8:9 / Matthew 27:45)

The Messiah will be brought back from death. (Ps. 30:4 / John 21)

The Messiah will be raised from the dead. (Ps. 16:10 / Matt. 16:21 + Matt. 28:6 + Luke 24:36-48)

The Messiah will ascend into heaven. (Ps. 68, / 19 Lk. 24:51)

The Messiah will sit at the right hand of God. (Ps. 110:1 / Acts 7:56 + Mt. 22:44)

The Messiah was and is the Son of God. (Ps. 2:7 + Prov. 30:4 / Matt. 3:17 + Luke 1:32)

These prophetic facts alone indisputably prove the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus Christ, but that is not all, for the blood Jesus shed is still alive and effective for everyone who believes in Him, for all eternity! Hallelujah.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17,11)

We know that divine blood flowed through Jesus’ veins. This is because Jesus was conceived not by a man (Joseph), but by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary! Thus, divine blood was shed on the cross at Golgotha, and this eternally living, divine blood intercedes for us before the throne of God. Grace for every person who acknowledges the Lord Jesus as Lord and God. Jesus Christ is the second Person of the divine Trinity, and as already mentioned, the entire Old Testament testifies to this fact.

“Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—to do your will, O God.’” (Hebrews 10:7)

Yes, there is much written about Jesus, the Messiah (Savior), in the ancient scrolls.

Before Jesus’ death on the cross, people had to bring animals to the temple so that they would die in place of the sinner. That was God’s law until Jesus’ death. When Jesus died, the curtain to the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem was torn, and access to God has been open ever since. Please also read my article “Only Through Me” on this webside.

The sacrificial animals merely symbolized Jesus’ redemptive death. Nor did they take away sins; rather, the blood of the sacrificial animals merely covered people’s sins in God’s sight. It was the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the “Lamb of God,” that took away the guilt of sin!

“And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.”(Hebrews 10:11–13)

The blood of Jesus shed is the only ticket to heaven! No religion, no church, and no good deed can accomplish this—only the blood of Jesus Christ! I would like to close this theme with a few words from the Book of Hebrews, chapter 9.

God bless you, Amen.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”