A Jot from John
A story was told about a War World II hero’s children that were in need of blood. A little seven-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy suffered with a rare hereditary Mediterranean anemia. They were in need of a pint of blood each about every month as long as they lived, otherwise they would die.
The children were completely normal and healthy otherwise, but they needed transfusions regularly. If the transfusions are kept up they would lead normal, happy, healthy lives, but they must have the blood. The father became nationality known for spending four years in a Japanese prison camp during the war, and because he hid the flag taken down from Corregidor for the next four years in the prison camp.
Truly, this was a sad story. Surely people would rally by giving their blood, that these precious children might live. This, again, shows the importance of blood. In Gen. 9:4 the Lord said, “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” The Lord said that the blood was the life of the flesh. In Acts 15:20 the people were commanded to “abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.” They were not allowed to eat the blood, therefore the animals were to be bled, not strangled. Why could they not eat blood? Because, in it was the life, and they were not to eat the life. This explicitly condemns cannibalism, whether abroad or right here at home. You may know or have heard of people who are “eaters of the life of the flesh.”
So man cannot live without blood. Transfusions are the order of the day. Thousands upon thousands will be given before the day is over. We realize the power of blood The Lord has always known it. It is said that George Washington, the father of our country, died because he was bled, the Doctor, believing then as many did, that bleeding the patient would save him. But, we know so much better today.
Have you ever thought about the importance of the blood of our Savior? God had always been approached through the medium of blood. This was so even in the Old Testament days. Every animal that was ever sacrificed portrayed in type the shedding of the Savior’s precious blood. The red line of sacrifice extends from the garden of Eden to the cross of Calvary, and every sacrifice offered then found its complete fulfillment in the offering of the body of the Son of God. That is why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted of God and why Cain’s was rejected. Able went to God through the medium of blood, offering the “firstling of the flock.” (Heb, 11:4.) And yet we are told that “it is impossible that blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.” (Heb. 10:4.) But the record goes ahead to say, “. . . but a body didst thou prepare me . . .” (Heb. 10:4.) So, all the blood of animals could do was portray the blood of Christ. Christ was given a body that he might sacrifice it for the sins of the people. Animal blood covered sins, but the blood of Christ washes them away. God was approached through the blood of animals, for in the old dispensations that was the best the people could do. But now God is approached through the blood of His Son. And the blood of Christ does not cover up sins, it eliminates them completely!
The skeptic derides the idea of a blood salvation. Yet, he recognizes the merit of physical blood. He knows that it is the life. Why, figuratively then, can he not understand that the blood of Christ is powerful in forgiving sins? (Romans 6:3-5.) So New Testament baptism puts us into the death of Christ where the blood is applied.
Onward Rejoicing, John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
