For the Life is in the Blood

 

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"Why did Jesus have to die?" is a question that I think we have all asked at some point. 

The fact that Jesus died for our sins is probably one of the most well-known Christian teachings but it is also one of the most perplexing, especially to us today. I have heard non-believers use it to decry God's character. Charges of cosmic child abuse are hurled at Christians during debates and many Christians feel uncomfortable when defending their belief.

But this where I want to start, because we need to understand why Christ had to die and why it is so important for all of us. It's true that there are many different atonement theories which have been developed over the course of church history. Anyone who is interested in learning about them need only do a quick internet search, but in order for us to truly make sense of it, I think we need to go back further than 2000 years ago in order to lay some ground work for our understanding.

I have to admit it has taken me a long time and many hours of study, not just of the Bible but other's people's ideas about this, for me to understand (as much as anyone can truly understand) the meaning of Christ's atoning death on the cross. As is often the case, once  I feel I am at the end of the 'knowledge' road, I have to let everything I've learned percolate within me for a while. At the end of this percolation period, which can last weeks or months, I usually have an epiphany moment, which comes when I'm reading the Bible. 

In this instance, the verse I was led to was in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. It's not a book I read regularly, but I've read through it a couple of times and made notes. One of the notes was in chapter 17 where God is warning people, through Moses, not to eat blood. The punishment for this is that God will set his face against that person and he will be cut off from his people. Why?

" For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." 

Leviticus 17:11

The sacrificial system of the ancient world is alien to us now. We may sacrifice animals to eat them, but the idea that animal sacrifice can make us right with God seems cruel and outdated. We dismiss it as being just one of those strange things that less evolved people did in the past. In other words, it seems arbitrary rather than purposeful. Maybe you could make a case that they were offering something of value to God so that he would forgive their sins, but I think this argument falls short.

What the ancients were really offering to God when they were sacrificing an animal to Him to atone for their sins, was not the blood which was used to sprinkle the Holy of Holies and the altar (Leviticus 11:16-19), but instead they were offering Him the life that was in the blood. The blood was just the tangible substance that carried the life of the animals, so this was what God gave them to use in their ceremonial sacrifices. 

The ancients were offering life back to God in order to pay for their sins which lead to death. "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23). This statement made by Paul in his letter to the Romans is a statement of fact, which didn't originate from him. It came from God. 

Moses lays out two paths for the Israelites to follow when he gives them the law from God. The path of life and the path of death.

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God...then you shall surely live and multiply...But if your heart turns away and you do not hear...I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish."

Deuteronomy 30:15-19

God gave a similar commandment to Adam in the Garden of Eden.

"And the LORD God commanded the man saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." 

Genesis 2:16-17

The context is different but the message is the same. Trusting in God leads to life; turning away from God leads to death. Not because He is a petty tyrant, but because God is the source of life. 

"The Spirit of God has made me 

and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

Job 33:4

"In Him we live and move and have our being."

Acts 17:28

I think this is the best place to start. It's too easy to jump in mid-stream when we are trying to understand anything, let alone something as mysterious as the atoning sacrifice of Christ. 

Here's is a very basic outline of how the atonement works and why we need it.

• God creates life, the universe and everything.
• He breathes and speaks it into existence.
• Humans are sustained by His spirit/breath (ruakh) and by blood. (life is in the blood)
• Humans and the Universe are very valuable and God wants them to exist for a long time.
• However, He created humans to have free will (because if we didn't we would just be automatons with no capacity to choose to love Him and others) but this free will means we can choose to destroy each other and the Earth.
• In order to teach humans not to do evil, there needed to be severe consequences for going against God's will, which by definition is good and leads to life and flourishing.
• Therefore, one of the consequences for Adam and Eve disobeying God, was that they were separated from being near to God and could no longer eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. This shortened life span meant that human disobedience, rebellion and sin would not spread like a disease through our corrupting behaviour towards each other.
• A solution to the sin problem and our separation from God was needed. 
• First, God provided a way for people to be reconciled to Him through sacrificial offerings (Genesis 4: Cain and Abel) through which people were taught to acknowledge, praise and be grateful towards their Creator.
• Then God focussed on forming relationships with some people of His choice, Noah and Abraham, who are saved by God out of a corrupt world (Genesis 6:5) and set apart (Genesis 17). They are saved by their faith in God and His grace. This continues down the line with Issac, Jacob, Joseph, the Israelites and Moses.
• Then comes the Law given by God through Moses to the Israelites who Moses brought out of slavery in Egypt. The Law makes it even more explicit that the wages of sin is death. 
• Reconciliation with God  through the atonement of sins is taught to the Israelites through the sacrificial system in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple in Jerusalem) and the Law.
• Through sacrifice the Israelites gave back to God that which He had given them (and all of us); life. They did this by offering Him the blood of their sacrificial animals because the life is in the blood.
• By the end of the Old Testament and confirmed in the New Testament we can see that the ritual sacrifices can't atone for sins (Psalm 50:13-14 & 51:16-17, Hebrews 10:24) and the laws don't keep people from sinning because people don't follow them (Romans 7:13-24).
• God says through the prophets that we need a new heart and new spirit if we are to be reconciled to God and be the people He wants us to be. (Ezekiel 11:19 & 36:26, Jeremiah 31:33) Again this tells us that the sacrifice of animals and following laws cannot save us.
• Jesus then came in the form of man (Philippians 2:5-8); to show us how we are supposed to live; to fulfil all the requirements of the law as the perfect human which we couldn't fulfil and to take on the consequences of our sins (death on the cross). 
• Jesus' (the Son) offered His blood (life) back to the Father to make atonement for our sins which otherwise lead to death.
• Humanity is reconciled to God through His life-giving sacrifice

Why did Jesus have to die? Jesus, the Son,  let the consequences that we deserved for our sin and rebellion consume Him (death). He chose to be the sacrificial lamb whose blood (life) washed away the sins of the world which had separated us from God, (John 10:18, John 15:13) and so we are reconciled us back to the Father through the Son's atoning sacrifice. (Romans 5:9-11; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 10:10 and 14; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:24 and 3:18; Revelation 5:9)

The more important question comes next. 

How does Jesus' death give us life? 

Eternal life is born out of His blood. 

After the reconciliation comes the resurrection.

Until next time.

God bless you.