Over the last few weeks I have given more blood than I ever have in my life. For most of you this might receive a quick dismissal but let me fill you in on a little secret about Dan, He’s a real sissy when it comes to giving blood. The IMB has required a host of medical tests for our appointment, all to ensure our health before we possibly move out into a remote area where quality medical treatment might not be readily available. As you can imagine, much of it has centered around the blood, the life force that flows through our veins and holds the microscopic elements of life. There’s just something about the whole process of giving blood that messes with my mind. The needle, the vein, the extraction, it seems, well unnatural. One of the last visits they needed 6 big vials for about 7 different tests and I about passed out. It was surreal to feel my body objecting to the process I was subjecting it to, even to the point of shutting down in refusal to cooperate. But as I moved through the discomfort with Jesus on my mind, it started me thinking more about the blood.
As I checked in for my procedure yesterday morning, I was required to get an IV, my first. Out of the entire procedure, this of course freaked me out more than anything. At least this time I told myself, it would be an input situation and not an output situation. Praise God, the nurse was skilled at her job and my vein cooperated and the IV went smoothly. Not fun, but done. As the nurse and I talked I mentioned the blood and what the Bible has to say about it being “the life”. We settled into a quick discussion about blood. Not necessarily the next big party topic, right? It was fascinating to hear about the intricacies of blood from a professional registered nurse, someone that has dedicated her life to healthcare. Someone that deals with blood probably more than any body else in healthcare. She launched into facts about the blood that could easily fill up a Jeopardy column and have even Mr. Trebek scratching his head.
The endless complexities of blood are really something to behold. Blood makes up 7% of our body weight and contains red cells, white cells, platelets, plasma, various nutrients, electrolytes, gases, proteins, glucose and hormones. What I was surprised to hear from her is that there are not just a few blood types but a whopping 30 different blood types, variations and groups. I knew of A,B, O, AB and the negatives they all possess, but she opened my mind to the myriad of blood type intricacies we carry within our veins. Rh factor and other variables within the blood create intricacies that only compound again when combined with reproduction, giving and receiving blood and transplants. On top of that, certain types do not play well with other types and factors. When you combine all of this you only begin to fully realize how beautifully complicated and complex God's red liquid is. But what struck me was what she ended with. In all of our technology, in all of our medical advances, in all of our high human intellect, there is no substitute for human blood. It cannot be duplicated, replicated or created. Folks, God says that the blood is the life and man cannot duplicate or create life. God sits in Heaven today remaining the only true author of all life.
As I sat with that nurse yesterday talking about blood, I did what I often do, recall a verse out of nowhere that the Holy Spirit supplies to me. I’m not a gifted memorization guy that can just spew out 50 verses from memory, but I’ve learned that enough time studying God’s Word in your heart is better than studying it only with your mind as a textbook. The difference? If you commit it to your mind, you can use it, if you store it in your heart, the Holy Spirit can use it too. In this moment, God gave me a verse, but I was unsure where it was at, besides it being in one of the 5 Old Testament books of Moses. I told her that God says that “the blood is the life” and that only God can give life. And folks, in a beautiful “God wink”, guess what verse I came across today in my time in God’s Word? Yep, Deuteronomy 12:23. God is amazing in how He personally speaks to us through His Word.
“Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.” Deut 12:23
In the sacrificial system of the OT, God had very specific rules for the offerings of animals. The animal had to be presented a very certain way, processed a very certain way and certain parts burned or discarded a very certain way. But throughout the process, the blood was central. In chapter 12 today, it is mentioned twice, you shall not eat the blood for it is the life. You see, God created blood to be the very life within us. The very core of our being. The very life force that circulates through our body. And folks, in the very essence of this life giving fluid, we find the life giving blood of Jesus Christ.
In the King James version, blood is mentioned 447 times in 375 verses. There are countless hymns on the blood of Jesus. There’s Power in the Blood, Nothing but the Blood and a host of others that were written and founded on the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Folks, if you were to extract a theme from God’s Word, the blood of Jesus would be near the very top.
You see, our blood is precious to God. He made life, He made us, and He made blood to give and sustain that life within us. But when He sent His only Son here to save us, He sent Him here to shed His very blood. He sent Him here to be beaten, tortured and hung upon a cursed tree. To be pierced for our transgressions against a Holy God, to give the very life in His blood for us. To bleed and die on that Cross so that we can have real life, eternal life with Him in Heaven.
The next time I have to give blood I will mentally prepare in a much different way. I must not think of my inconvenience or discomfort, but what Jesus did for me upon the Cross. I must see the blood that flows from my arm as not my own but God’s. He made the blood that flows through me, but it is not my own. It was bought with the highest price ever paid. I am not my own, I was bought with a price. The blood that runs through my veins is now mingled. It is a redeemed blood. My life has been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Just as our human blood cannot be replicated or duplicated, neither can the blood of Jesus. I pray today that you have called upon the precious blood of Jesus to save you from your sins. As a result of the blood of Jesus, you can rest in the arms of the Father for eternity in the peace and goodness of Heaven. There is power in the blood indeed.
“Would you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood Would you o'er evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood
There is power, power, wonder-working power In the blood of the Lamb There is power, power, wonder-working power In the precious blood of the Lamb
Would you be free from your passion and pride There's power in the blood, power in the blood Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide There's wonderful power in the blood”
“There’s Power in the Blood”, Lewis E. Jones, 1899
Comments