Question: In the July 2016 newsletter, in answer to the question “Where did Jesus get His ...

September 1, 2016

Newby, Ed

Question: In the July 2016 newsletter, in answer to the question “Where did Jesus get His blood?” you said: “Jesus Christ, as the final High Priest, entered into heaven itself but not with His blood. That had been poured out on the ground (Jn:19:34)....If Jesus did not enter heaven with His own blood, how do you reconcile your statement with Hebrews:9:11-12, which says: “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (NKJV).

Response: You are quite correct that the NKJV says “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all.” Other translations render it “through His own blood” or “by the merit of His own blood” (emphasis added). That clearly means that He didn’t physically take some of His blood with Him to the heavenly sanctuary, but on the merit, or the finished work, of His sacrifice He entered.

In Romans:5:9 we read, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Death from crucifixion came by heart failure, suffocation, or other physiological trauma but not primarily from loss of blood. Jesus didn’t die from loss of blood. When the soldiers who came to break His legs to hasten His death, they were surprised to see that He was dead already. Even so, one of them thrust his spear into Jesus’ side, and a great volume of blood mixed with water came out and poured on the ground.

Colossians:1:20 tells us that Jesus, “made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself…” (emphasis added). Now, the cross certainly didn’t have blood, so we recognize that the phrase “through the blood of his cross” simply speaks of His death upon the Cross. Throughout the Scriptures, it is clear that the consistent message is that the debt of sin was paid by His death. Hebrews:9:12 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (emphasis added).

As Leviticus:17:11 tells us, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul”; and as Hebrews:9:22 tells us, “...without shedding of blood is no remission.” Again, this speaks of the death of the sacrifice.

We think that it is clear and consistent throughout Scripture that when it speaks of shedding the blood of the Lord Jesus, it is speaking of His death. Philippians:2:8 states, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” His death, however, was not the end of the story. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans:5:10).

Printer-friendly version