Christianity: what a Bloody Religion!

To someone who has never been exposed to it before, Christianity must seem like a pretty gory religion.   This gory perception has caused problems for Christians on multiple occasions in the last 2,000 years.

One reason why the Romans persecuted the early Christians was because they were perceived as being cannibals:  eating and drinking the blood of their deceased leader, Jesus Christ, on a regular basis.

When Christianity was introduced into some countries in the Far East, the missionaries were persecuted and even killed for preaching “cannibalism”.

But the truth is… Christianity must be bloody!  If it weren’t for blood, we would have no hope of eternal life.

Today in my Lutheran church, my pastor, Rev. John Bombaro, gave an excellent sermon on Hebrews chapter 9.  (His sermons are always excellent, but this one really jumped out at me.)  The theme of this chapter of Hebrews is the forgiveness of sins/redemption by the shedding of blood.

In the Old Testament, just as in the New, sins were forgiven by the shedding of blood.  This blood was obtained from animals.  Blood was poured out everywhere in the Israelite Tabernacle and later in the Jewish Temple for the remission of sins.  Here is what God told the Jewish people about this blood:

 

Leviticus 17:11-14 (NIV)

¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.^[a]12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.”

¹³ “‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, ¹⁴ because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.”

Why does God demand blood for the forgiveness of sins both in the Old Testament and in the New?  The reason is that God views sin as a crime against Him, as treason against Him.  “For the wages of sin is death…”  Throughout the history of mankind, treason against the king has been punishable by death.  If an act of treason is committed, someone must be put to death to satisfy the penalty for this crime.   Someone’s blood must be shed.  In the Old Testament, the sacrificial lamb’s life-possessing blood was shed to give life, forgiveness, to the people for whom it was serving as a substitute in the required execution for the crime of treason against God.

What jumped out at me about this passage of the Old Testament was the very specific command to the Israelites NOT to drink the blood of animals.  This appears to have been a very serious offence to God.  God said that if a Jew ate or drank blood he was to be “cut off”.  Put bluntly, if an Israelite, a Jew, drank blood…he was finished as a Jew!  He was to be cut off from the faith and the nation!

So, no good Jew, in his right mind, is EVER going to drink blood!

Hebrews chapter 9 reviews the lay out of the Old Testament Tabernacle and how Jesus is the fulfillment of what the Tabernacle symbolized.  It is an amazing chapter.  I’ve included the entire chapter below.  I know it's long, but read it.  It contains some very important details that tie our Christian worship service to that of the Jews in the Old Testament:

Hebrews 9 (ESV)

The Earthly Holy Place

9 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. ² For a tent^[a] was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence.^[b] It is called the Holy Place. ³ Behind the second curtain was a second section^[c] called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶ These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, ⁷ but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. ⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing ⁹ (which is symbolic for the present age).^[d] According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[e] then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify^[f] for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[g] conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{[h] 16} For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³ Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

 

This passage tells us that Jesus Christ is the High Priest of the Tabernacle in the New Covenant, and not only that, he is also the Sacrificial Lamb, and it is his blood that is poured out in the Holy of Holies.  It is his blood that is poured out onto the Mercy Seat of the Ark in the Holy of Holies.  It is his blood that satisfies God’s demand for the shedding of blood for the sins of the people, for the treason of the people, for our treason against God.

So, if Jesus is the High Priest, if he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament symbols of the Tabernacle and the Temple, then why in the world would he, as a good Jew, say the following:

John 6:53-63 (ESV)

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus^[b] said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

What???  Jesus is telling devout Jews to drink blood?  And not just any blood…but HUMAN blood!  His blood!

Any Jew hearing these words must have been horrified!

God had specifically forbidden the drinking of blood under the Law.  God had specifically said that anyone who does drink blood must be cut off.  And here was Jesus, the carpenter from Galilee, who proclaimed to be the Jewish messiah, telling crowds that his followers would eat his flesh and drink his blood?!!  No wonder many of his disciples left him.  To follow him would have meant being “excommunicated” from the Jewish faith because he demanded that they drink blood.

But not all his disciples left Jesus over this issue of drinking blood.  Some remained faithful.  But the day did come when Jesus called on his remaining, faithful disciples to drink blood.  It was in the Upper Room at Passover.  On this most holy of days in the Jewish calendar, Jesus declares himself to be the Lamb of God, and tells his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood. 

So why should they...good, devout Jews that they were...take an action which would make them accursed and outcasts by the Jewish faith, and follow this strange rabbi's instructions to drink blood...to drink his blood? 

Why? 

Because they knew as Jews that "life is in the blood".  And these remaining faithful disciples (with the exception of Judas) believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the promised Christ, the deliverer of his people.  They were sure that they were on the verge of a great uprising.  Jesus would lead them to victory over Rome, and the glory of David would be re-established.  These disciples had fought over who would be the greatest among them in this new kingdom.  Do you think that they were going to miss out on being rulers in this new kingdom by refusing to follow Jesus' command to drink his blood?  No way!  They were willing to do whatever he said to be participants in this New Kingdom.  He said that he is the Lamb of God, and if they believed it and wanted to participate in his kingdom, then they needed his blood for atonement.  They committed the ultimate act of treason to the Jewish faith, because they believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises.  "Life", eternal life would be in his blood.

Matthew 26:26-29 English Standard Version (ESV)

Institution of the Lord's Supper

²⁶ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸ for this is my blood of the^[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 26:28 Some manuscripts insert new

 

(How disillusioned the disciples must have felt when their conquering Messiah was captured and bound in Gethsemane!  They had drunk blood, betraying their Jewish faith and relenquishing their Jewishness, for an imposter!  No wonder they ran away so quickly!)

 

But, if you want to have eternal life, if you want to have forgiveness of sins, Jesus had said, "you must drink the blood"!  That is why Christ asked his disciples to go against everything they were taught as Jews, and drink blood.  “Life is in the blood.”  They were not to drink animal blood because that was the animal’s life giving substance.  But, now, he demanded that they drink his blood…to receive his life giving substance…his eternal life giving substance.

How can any Christian study the use of blood in the Old and New Testaments and not see that the reason Christ calls on us to drink his blood in the Lord’s Supper is because it has life giving properties.   It is life sustaining!  It isn’t just wine or grape juice.  It is the very blood of Christ!  “For without blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Dear Christian, the next time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, keep in mind how important God considers blood to be in his act of redemption and forgiveness throughout the entire Bible.  Then ask yourself, would God really use just “symbolic” blood in this new Christian Passover ritual that we call the Lord’s Supper and not continue to demand real blood, as he has always done in the past? 

God has always demanded real blood for atonement.  Symbolic blood would not have been acceptable in the Old Testament Tabernacle and neither is it acceptable in the New Testament Tabernacle.  God demands real blood!

The blood in the Lord’s Supper is REAL blood!  The bread in the Lord’s Supper is REAL flesh.  Don’t try to figure out exactly how that happens, just believe it!

God has always demanded real blood for the forgiveness of sins.  The blood of lambs and bulls was real blood.  The blood shed by Christ on the cross was real blood.  The “blood given for you for the remission of sins” in the Lord’s Supper is REAL blood.  God demands it and would not accept anything less.