On a late Saturday night, I was watching a Billy Graham Crusade on television. He posed a question that night which left me wondering. All the various religions of the world have one common denominator: It’s the blood. Almost all religions throughout the world require a blood sacrifice of some sort. Why is this? It’s a question that makes us ponder…
In the Aztec culture, a human sacrifice would be taken at the top of a large temple and placed on a stone slab. Their abdomen would be sliced open by a knife made of flint. This cut would tear through the diaphragm. Next, the priest would tear out the individual’s heart while it was still beating. And lastly, the body was thrown down the temple’s stairs. This is just one example of how a people would use human sacrifices. It can be seen throughout the world. Why does it all revolve around a sacrifice? Billy Graham gave the answer that night in his sermon, but let’s wonder about this question a little more before it is stated.
Blood is necessary for life. It runs through our veins and allows us to breathe. It represents the gift of life. And a great loss of blood leads to death. We need our blood to be enriched by oxygen and spread throughout the body. The circulatory system involves the heart and a long line of blood vessels. Those who have a weak stomach cannot talk about blood, let alone read this article about blood. There’s something about not only the blood, but also a heart. It’s the source of our life. The point in mentioning the circulatory system is it’s link to sin. You see, sin is like a disease spread by our blood. Since the moment Adam and Eve sinned, we have carried this disease of death in our blood for thousands of years. And we need a cure. We need a blood transplant. Of course, we need something more than a physical need. Instead, we have a spiritual need. And in our journey of finding out what’s true, let us make sure to deal with this disease spread by our blood. Let us find wholesome healing.
The answer that Billy Graham offered was unique. That God wanted to send a message to us in which to show us the seriousness of sin. A message in which involved the shedding of blood. But it was more than that. It was the shedding of innocent blood. In the Old Testament, it was recorded Jews would take a pure-white lamb and sacrifice it to God for their sins. And in the New Testament, Jesus was the pure-white lamb that was sacrificed to God for our sins. Perhaps the reasoning into this is it shows us the seriousness of sin. Do you want to see sin as it is? Take something innocent and shed it’s blood. That’s how horrible sin is. It takes something innocent and makes something disgusting.
Let us learn of this lesson involving the seriousness of sin. May we use this to live a pure life for Christ. It’s inevitable that we will sin again. It’s in our nature. It’s in our blood. But the beautiful thing is God offers us a way out. That we can be cleansed and become innocent again. May we take this opportunity that God has given us. If you’re not a Christian, please allow Christ to come into your life to make you innocent again. And if you are a Christian, let this be motivation to live a pure life for Christ.
