Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, with the approach of Easter and Good Friday, I want to ask you, what is the importance of blood in the Bible? Why does God require so much blood? And where is it in modern Christianity? In fact, so important is blood to Christianity that I have entitled this message, there will be blood.

So if you're squeamish, maybe you want to turn the channel. But before we take up this important issue, there will be blood. I'd like to invite you to our Seder dinner on Good Friday, April 3rd at 6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of our church, New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Seder dinner is the Passover meal. That is the Last Supper, which the disciples ate with Jesus before he went to his Passion, and at which he instituted our second sacrament of the church, that is the Lord's Supper.

The Seder dinner is profound with the picture of our Lord's sacrifice and death on the cross with every element of the meal. Seder means order, and it is the order of service to the meal. This is not a mere token meal either that we're preparing, but a full-blown meal with roast lamb and all of the fixings you would find at a kosher Jewish Seder dinner. Not only will you not go away spiritually hungry, but you will not go away physically hungry either. If you're interested in attending this meal and would like to find out more, call me, Pastor David Bass, at 523-0196.

Now back to our topic, There Will Be Blood. Perhaps you are reminded, as I am, of the recent movie of the same name, produced in 2007. The phrase, there will be blood, is an old American expression, which means that, in the situation under consideration, there will be violence that will cause great bodily harm, that is, bloodshed. And so it is in the Bible. In the situation under consideration, that is, man's predicament with God, there is now, and will be in the future, violence that causes and will cause great bodily and spiritual harm, that is, bloodshed and unending suffering.

Because of man's present situation with God, there will be blood. How can we say this? There are six reasons. Let me begin to list them for you now. First of all, disobedience is of such a consequence to God that it requires the life of the sinner, and therefore his blood.

Disobedience to God is of such consequence to him that it requires the life of the sinner. This reality is established very early in the Bible. Do you remember the covenant sanction that God attached to his placing of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Genesis chapter 2 tells us, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.

For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Unquote. You shall surely die. That's the consequence for disobedience. Behold then, listener, the seriousness with which God takes rebellion.

And as we know, this is exactly what Adam and Eve did do. This was no child's prank, this eating of the fruit of the garden, surreptitiously swiping a piece of fruit, maybe, from Farmer Jones' orchard, as it is often characterized by Hollywood and the media. No, rather, this was open rebellion on the part of our first parents. In doing this, our first parents openly sided with the serpent, that is, the devil, in his operation to deceive them into achieving the ends, God said, set for them, but doing it without the difficulty of obedience that God required.

The serpent said to the woman, Genesis says, you will surely not die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So they went ahead and ate, and all of the temptations that Satan dangled in front of Adam and Eve would have been theirs, but it would have been theirs in righteousness, had they but obeyed God during the time of their probation in the garden. Then they would have eaten from the tree of life as well. But as it was, they tasted of death, owing to their disobedience and rebellion.

This is because of the ironclad principle throughout the Bible, as Ezekiel puts it, behold, says the Lord, all souls are mine. The soul of the Father as well as the soul of the Son is mine. The soul who sins shall die. That is the ironclad principle we see throughout the Bible, beginning in the Garden of Eden, all the way to the very end. God says, the soul who sins shall die.

Death is the consequence of our sin. This is the exact price demanded for sin, no way around it. And God nowhere in any portion of the Bible indicates that He cuts slack for sin, or that He lets sin slide, or go easy on it. God is perfectly righteous and holy, and as the Bible says in many places, will by no means clear the guilty. As He often says, right?

Consequently, God demands that element in which the life resides, and that is blood. That brings me to point number two. That life of the sinner, which is required for sin, that life of the sinner is in the blood. Not only, dear listener, is blood necessary to sustain the life of the creature, being the primary element in the circulatory system, but also blood is the biblical metaphor for the whole of life of a living creature. Blood was quickly observed by a primitive man.

The loss of it, in particular, by it, a man died. Blood thus became a vivid symbol of the whole life of a man, and figured largely in what it took to atone for sin. Moses tells Israel this. He says in Genesis chapter 4, from the opening chapters of the Bible, the demand for life, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, Moses says. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

That is, by the life the blood is symbolized. The life of the flesh is in the blood. So, from the opening chapters of the Bible, the demand for the life of the sinner is pictured in the demand for blood. This is why biblical Christianity is a bloody religion, and precisely why we consider it at the cross, when Christ's blood was shed. Do you remember the first murderer and his victim?

From Genesis chapter 4, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him, as the Bible says. The innocent life of Abel is thereafter portrayed in the Bible as his righteous blood, the Bible says. That is a picture of an innocent life forfeited in murder, most foul. Jesus says to the Pharisees, he says to them, on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar." Throughout the Bible, then, we see that blood is representative of the very life of the one whose blood is spilt.

It only becomes logical, then, that if the life of the sinner is required for his sin, then its sign must be present, that is, blood. That brings me to point number three. God, therefore, logically insists that no disobedience can be forgiven without the shedding of blood. When blood is shed, life goes forfeit, dear listener. Therefore, it is the logical ritual symbol, blood is, for the satisfaction by God of the life of the sinner in payment for his sin.

In fact, the Bible is crystal clear on the necessity of blood for the forgiveness of sins. The author of Hebrews says, indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." Unquote, from the Bible. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Listener, do you see the chain of consequence for our disobedience, not only yours and ours personally, but also those of Adam and Eve and all of his progeny? This chain of consequence begins with an all-holy God who is so perfect and righteous and high above that no sin and no imperfection can dwell with him. The prophet Habakkuk says, you who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong. Unquote. He's talking about the Lord God there.

And as a result then, when creatures such as ourselves commit evil or wrong, this disobedience demands the very life of that creature, the ritual symbol for which life is the creature's blood. This is why such elaborate rituals were established in Israel's religious life. They were established primarily to handle and manipulate the blood so necessary to the atonement for sin amongst the people. The book of Leviticus says this in chapter 17, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

The life of the flesh is in the blood. From the time of the inauguration of Israel as a nation in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai in the 14th century BCE, to its very sad and brutal demise at Jerusalem at the hands of the Roman general Titus in AD 70. In the interim of all that time, God revealed to Moses and Israel what he required in blood from his people in order to atone for their sins.

Detailed, meticulous rituals were prescribed and revealed to Moses on how to procure and handle and apply the blood of lambs and bulls and goats and birds to the accoutrements of the tent of meeting in the wilderness, and then later when it was built, the temple established later in Jerusalem. Those blood rituals reveal how seriously God takes sin. Those blood rituals by their content, quality, and quantity. By their content, they reveal how seriously God takes sin in that only the best is offered.

Gold and silver, the finest materials were used to construct the temple, and these sacrifices show God how seriously God takes sin by their quality too, in that only the purest of ingredients, only the purest of animals were to be sacrificed. In fact, elaborate cleansing rituals were also a standard part of temple worship. And then we see how God reveals how seriously he takes sin by the quantity of blood sacrificed too, in that for over 14 centuries, numberless millions of animals were sacrificed, shedding a sea of blood in the process. Thus, if one asks, how seriously does God take sin? Oh, dear listener, look upon the sacrifice.

There will be blood. There were rivers of blood for that matter. And so we observe the provision that God early on established for atoning for the sin of his people that he might bring them back to himself. The economy for doing so, bringing him back to himself, bringing them, his people back to himself. The method and agreement by which he bound himself to doing this for his people is called a covenant.

And the sign and the seal of that covenant is called the blood of the covenant, which was sprinkled on both the altar of God, representing his presence, and then the people of God as well. Exodus chapter 24 vividly pictures this for us. For example, we see there, and I quote, Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient.

And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words, unquote. Oh, dear listener, do you see how utterly necessary blood is to Christianity? At Easter, at Good Friday, it is important to consider the role of blood in our salvation. Christ shed his blood for us there at the cross, and we will note more closely blood's relation to Jesus' death on the cross. But first, I want to note one thing not often considered on this topic, and that's its direct opposite, the dark in contrast to the light.

And that is number four, the evil one also requires blood in order to compound sin, not to cleanse it. Consider this, dear listener, the evil one, Satan, the devil, also requires blood in order to compound sin, not to cleanse it. From the beginning, the evil one, Satan, has also demanded the lives of creatures as witnessed in the murder of Abel by Cain in the very first generation of men. And since then, every pagan religion, look at them throughout history, every pagan religion of man has required human sacrifice of its devotees, wicked, evil human sacrifice of its devotees.

In fact, the Old Testament says, you shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech. Molech was one of the detestable gods of the Old Testament. And so, profane the name of your God, the Bible says, I am Yahweh. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. Well, this was typical of all the pagan religions of ancient history.

Behold the rationale behind the complete extermination of the peoples in Canaan by Israel as she took possession of it. Oh, these were the corrupt, diseased, and wicked nations who occupied the land at the time of Israel's taking of it. They were the devilish Nephilim of Genesis, evil spirits who, when mated with the daughters of men, produced, as Genesis tells us, the mighty men of old, the men of renown.

Oh, and these mighty men created the religion and rituals that would form the basis, for example, of the religion of Egypt, a religion which demanded the blood of men and animals to satisfy the bloodlust of its demonic gods in the netherworld of the Spirit. Yet, make no mistake about this, Satan and his devotees seek blood, that is, the lives of men, in order to amass sin and wickedness, not to ameliorate it. Satan's covenant with man demands blood, too, dear listener, but not to put an end to sin, but rather to strengthen and increase sin. Satan founded his covenant for a kingdom on the life of Adam and Eve, too.

Their death for disobedience in eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil established Satan's kingdom in the realm of men. It made a covenant of death with Adam and his progeny. Each human life sacrificed to Satan subsequently further strengthens and confirms that covenant of death that Satan has with them and with us. In fact, evil men boast in this, and evil men even today take shelter with Satan in hell. The prophet Isaiah warns them, he says, you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement.

When the overwhelming whip passes through it, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter. Unquote. Oh, this is the boast of the evil, those who follow the evil one. And therefore, all pagan religions since have paid homage to the God behind them all, Satan, the devil, the serpent who first established that covenant of death in the garden by shedding rivers of human blood, human sacrifice. It is why Luciferian worshipers even today in their secret rites sacrifice children to further strengthen this covenant of death by means of death.

the very lives of the sons of Adam, whose lifeblood first established a covenant of death so long ago. Jesus himself observes to the Pharisees that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and why his followers continue to murder today.

In addition to these deliberate Luciferian rites of devil worship that I have mentioned, every aborted baby, every senseless war, every Christian martyrs slaughtered by the demons of Islam, every victim of some raging son of Cain, every people group targeted by wicked governments, all of these and more are part and parcel of the ceaseless appetite of evil for blood, of Lucifer's hunger for the lives and souls of men, of why the Bible says Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, unquote. Proverbs says that Sheol, that is death, the realm of the dead, and Abaddon, that is the destroyer, are never satisfied.

So, both God and Satan require blood, but they do so for 180 degree opposite reasons. God in his mercy and love demands blood to cleanse sin from his people. Satan and his hatred and malice, he requires blood to compound sin amongst God's people. There will be blood. Which will it be for you?

Here at Easter, here at Good Friday, which will it be for you? Which blood will it be for you, dear listener? And that brings me to point number five. The only blood ever shed that completely atones for sin is that of Jesus Christ. Oh, thanks be to God.

The only blood ever shed that completely atones for sin is that of Jesus Christ. The Bible makes perfectly clear that his life, Christ's life, and his alone was of such a character to God the Father that it was acceptable to him as a proper sacrifice for sin. Christ was, in the first place, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the perfect son of the Father. Christ was made like us in every respect, the Bible says, yet without sin. Christ was made perfect through suffering, the Bible says.

In fact, the Father, as Hebrew says, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever, unquote. Christ was also fully human, not only fully God, but also fully human. God made man, right? As Paul says in Philippians, who, that is Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but rather he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, the Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter 2.

And as such, perfect God and perfect man, he was the Savior to which all of the Old Testament temple sacrifices pointed. They were only provisional until God's chosen time and chosen man appeared. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way. And he says in chapter 9, and I quote, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, Christ entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, how much more will that blood purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Unquote. Oh, dear listener, by the sacrifice of himself in giving his perfect life for our imperfect lives, symbolized by Christ's blood. Christ cleanses sin. He does not compound it.

He cleanses sin for us. He saves us. He redeems us. He ransoms us. As Peter puts it, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Unquote. You have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. That is his life for yours. His life gone forfeit in order that yours might not. But there will be blood, dear listener.

There will be blood, either yours eternally shed in punishment throughout eternity in hell, or else there will be blood in atonement for your soul so that you might live unto and with God. Will your blood be shed in eternal suffering in hell, or will it be the blood of Christ shed in your place upon the cross, the Father's altar, the cross at which he slew his Son, giving his life for yours? The choice is yours, too, for faith in this Christ and in his work. Oh, dear listener, we also see then point number six I would like to make with you. There is blood present in the rituals of the righteous and the wicked, even today.

There is blood. Do you know where it is? In Christian rituals, there is blood present in the rituals of the righteous and the wicked. Even today, Christianity and the religion of paganism and Lucifer, they continue to be bloody religions. The blood of pagans is shed as animals and humans feed the bloodlust of the evil one, feeding and confirming the covenant of death made with Adam so long ago.

How evil, how wicked this is. But there is also blood in the rituals of the Christians. Where might that be, do you ask? Oh, I submit to you. When Jesus said in Luke chapter 22, for example, he says, and he took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Yes. In the Old Testament, there was blood ritual with the sacrifice of animals.

In the New Testament, there was blood ritual in the supper of the Lord. The cup of the Lord is now the blood of the Lord. Is it not? We Christians participate in the mystical body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine of the supper of the Lord. There is no more animal sacrifice.

Oh, that went the way, didn't it? With the one sacrifice of Christ. It was done away with at the cross of Christ, the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament. There was also no further need of Christ to die. He died as Hebrew says, once for all that good Friday.

Did he not? He died once for all. And God forbid, there was no human sacrifice either. That belongs to the realm of the evil and the evil one. But there will be blood, dear listener, one or the other.

Do not think that Christianity is a bloodless religion. No, Christianity is in the end a very bloody religion. There will be blood. Where will it be for you? Will it be your own blood?

That is your own life sacrifice, gone forfeit for your sin in the end? Or will it be the blood of another, the blood of an atoning sacrifice in your place? That is the blood of Christ, the life of Christ, his life gone forfeit, that yours might live forever. There will be blood. Which will it be for you?

Come to this living Christ in faith and your life will be yours in him. Blood for blood. Well, before we close, I'd like to remind you that we are having a Seder dinner on Good Friday, April 3rd at 6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of our church. I invite you to this. The Seder dinner is that Passover meal, the last supper that we've been speaking of, which the disciples ate with Jesus before he went to his passion and shed his blood, and at which that supper he instituted our second sacrament of the church, that is the Lord's Supper.

The Seder dinner is a profound one with the picture of our Lord's sacrifice and death on the cross where he shed his blood. Every element of the meal pictures this for us. And so, we would like to invite you to join us on Good Friday at 6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of our church, in the basement of our church. And you don't have to bring anything. We will take an offering in the course of the meal to help defray our costs.

But we really want to open this up to the community and serve the community in this way, picturing the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, his shedding of his blood, that is the giving of his life, yours, his blood for yours, his life for yours that you might live. Now, Seder means order, and it is the order of service to this meal. This is not a mere token meal, let me remind you, but we are preparing a full-blown meal. We've got roast lamb ready to go in the oven. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

We also have all of the fixings that you would find at a kosher Jewish Seder dinner. So, we'll have all of the side dishes, and we will proceed through the meal part by part, step by step, so that each part of it will bring forward the significance of the meal, of the Last Supper, and why Jesus was able to declare, this is the blood of the covenant. Well, call me, Pastor David Bass, at 523-0196 for further information on this. Let me remind you that New Geneva Meets for Holy Worship at 10 a.m. on Sunday at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Sunday Worship, 10 a.m., 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.