Something (but not the only thing) my pastor said when I was growing up that has stuck with me is that the Holy Spirit gets really happy whenever we talk about the Name of Jesus and the Blood of Jesus. Maybe it stood out because we don’t often hear about the ‘happiness’ of God. Many of our songs sing about it, but why is the Blood of Jesus so important?
We could start all the way back in Genesis when God covered fallen man with skins of animals. From then on sacrifice for sin is shown throughout the Bible. There was an entire sacrificial system that you can read about in Leviticus. Why was it so necessary? Leviticus 17:11 states that, “for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible” (NLT). So we see that blood is necessary for atonement, but we can also see that the blood of lambs and bulls was only a temporary covering to an eternal problem.
The eternal solution to our spiritual problem is found in Jesus.
We see in 1.Peter 3:18 that “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit” (NLT). The Righteous—Jesus— suffered for the unrighteous—us. More than just a temporary covering, “the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1.John 1:7, NKJV).
We see a picture of Jesus’ sacrifice in Passover. Exodus 11 and 12 describes the situation in Egypt. In the tenth plague, all the firstborn sons in the land would die - no one was exempt, including cattle. In order to preserve the firstborn sons of the tribes of Israel, blood of a spotless male lamb was applied to the entryway of their homes and death passed over them. This was the final plague; the people were then released from their captivity.
Jesus, the first born of all creation (Colossians 1:15), was sacrificed at Passover over 1500 years later. And His Blood was the currency used in our Redemption. Nothing else will do. “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious Blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake” (1.Peter 1:18-20, NLT).
Once we accept the gift of salvation, paid for by His Blood, we can reign in life through Him (Romans 5:17). There is power in the precious Blood of Jesus.