Limitless Word

Blood and Atonement

WEBKJVBSBESVNKJVNASBNLT

Why blood — from Abel, through the Passover and the altar, to the cross.

From the first pages, blood marks the cost of sin and the means of covering it: Abel's blood cries from the ground, a lamb's blood spares Israel at the Passover, and the whole sacrificial system turns on the truth that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." It all reaches toward one offering — "the blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish." The trail ends with a multitude who "have washed their robes... in the blood of the Lamb."
  1. 1

    Garments of skin in the garden

    Genesis 3:21

    And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

    After the first sin, God himself clothes Adam and Eve with garments of skin — the first death, an innocent life given to cover their shame, foreshadowing the covering Christ would provide.
  2. 2

    Abel's blood cries out

    Genesis 4:10

    Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.

    The first death: innocent blood crying from the ground for justice.
  3. 3

    The blood of the Passover lamb

    Exodus 12:13

    The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

    Blood on the doorposts turns away death — Israel is spared and set free.
  4. 4

    The Day of Atonement

    Leviticus 16:30

    for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

    On one day a year, blood makes atonement to cleanse the people from all their sins.
  5. 5

    "Without blood, no forgiveness"

    Hebrews 9:22

    And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

    Hebrews names the principle running through the whole law — and the better blood that fulfils it.
  6. 6

    Redeemed by the blood of Christ

    1 Peter 1:19

    but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

    Peter: ransomed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish.
  7. 7

    Robes washed in the blood of the Lamb

    Revelation 7:14

    I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

    The redeemed in glory are those cleansed by the Lamb's own blood.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org