Significance of Blood

As we read though the Old and New Testament of the Bible, we see lots of references to blood and sacrifice. What are your initial thoughts on the significance of blood? From these verses we see that blood is the life. Only God is the giver of life. He is the source and dispenser of it. He is the creator of every living thing. If the life of the flesh is in the blood, this emphasizes the tremendous value which God places on blood. Blood is the mysterious link between matter and spirit. The Franklin Institute (one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States) on blood: Have you given it much thought? The average adult has about five liters of blood living inside of their body, coursing through their vessels, delivering essential elements, and removing harmful wastes. Without blood, the human body would stop working. Blood is the fluid of life, transporting oxygen from the lungs to body tissue and carbon dioxide from body tissue to the lungs. Blood is the fluid of growth, transporting nourishment from digestion and hormones from glands throughout the body. Blood is the fluid of health, transporting disease fighting substances to the tissue and waste to the kidneys. Because it is alive.

Without doubt, most Christians would agree that the subject of the blood is probably one of the most important topics in the entire Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, everything starts with the blood and ends with the blood. It is somewhere at the center of virtually every doctrine. Everything to do with our relationship to God will be based upon what the blood represents. What does this currently mean to you?

contains living cells, blood

First Mention of Blood

What do you think about what the blood represents as it relates to our relationship to God? In Genesis 4:2-11 we see the first reference to blood
2 Then

The word "blood" appears 346 times in the Old Testament (KJV translation), and 101 times in the New Testament, so 447 times in all!

Blood is Life
Blood is life. It runs through our entire bodies. But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it. (Gen 9:4) Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any bloodI will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood. Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off. (Lev 17:10-14) However, by no means eat the blood, for the life with the meat! (Deut 12:23)

she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground.3 At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flockeven the fattest of them. And the LORD was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.6 Then the LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.8 Cain said to his brother Abel, Lets go out to the field. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.9 Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he replied, I dont know! Am I my brothers guardian? 10 But the LORD said, What have you done? The

voice of your brothers blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 So now, you
are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hand. (Gen 4:2-11) What do you think it means your brothers blood is crying out to me from the ground?

What do you see as the establishment of sacrifice as an offering to God? (v.3-4)

the blood is life itselfyou must not eat

How do you think Able knew what to offer as an acceptable sacrifice to God?

Note these three things from this first mention about blood.
Blood has a voice. Blood has a loud voiceit cries! Blood has a loud voice that God heard Abel must have been given some type of revelation, by sacrificing an animal to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cains.

God makes it clear throughout Scriptures that it is only by the shedding of blood that sins can be forgiven. So the primary purpose of blood sacrifice is to cover, cleanse and deliver us from sin. This emphasizes the seriousness of sin in Gods eyes. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2) Because God cannot work through a sinner, the blood cleanses the person and allows God to fulfill His covenant through him. All of the many, many blood sacrifices seen throughout the OT were foreshadows of the true, once-and-for-all sacrifice to come so that the Israelites would never forget that without the blood, there is no sacrifice. The shedding of blood is a substitutionary act. Additionally, where there is a covenant there is also a sacrifice and where there is a sacrifice there is shedding of blood. These are the standards God put in place to have a permanent relationship with Him. We also saw some sacrifices for purification, such as a woman after childbirth in Leviticus 12:1-8. Here are some other examples of sacrifice / blood in the Old Testament

By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith he still speaks, though he is dead. (Hebrews 11:4)
While blood is not specifically mentioned, the idea of sacrifice may be implied as early as a result of the original sin when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Gen 3:7) The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. (Gen 3:21) The first example of blood being shed in response to disobedience to God. Fallen into sin, Adam and Eve recognized their nakedness, therefore God, in order for them not to live in shame, covered them with the skin of an animal (even though they had already covered themselves with the fig leaves). Thus the first animal was killed to cover sin and its blood was shed.

The Flood & the New Earth Cleansed by Blood

We see sacrifice again when Noah and his three sons and all their wives emerged from the ark and stepped onto the newly cleansed earth after God destroyed everything due to wickedness and evil.
18 Noah

Seriousness of Sin
Romans 6:23 says, For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Sin is so serious to God that nothing less than death equates with it. What do you think about the idea of sin and the seriousness of sin to God?

went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons wives. 19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.20 Noah built an altar to the LORD. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. (Gen 8:18-21)

So here at the beginning of the new civilization, a blood sacrifice was necessary. The newly recreated earth had to be baptized in blood in order to be acceptable to God. The sacrifice was followed by a new promise from God.
What do you think about the idea of God smelling the soothing aroma of the sacrifice?

What about the need for blood (life) to cover sin?

What about the idea of God being just and the need for sacrifice being part of this characteristic of God?

God cannot just forgive sins because He is just. If God allows a sin to pass without justice, He is not fulfilling the law of His justice. There are some things God cannot be, like evil and unjust. God required blood to be spilt. To give up ones life is the ultimate sacrifice. The short term substitutionary animal sacrifices had to be without flaw or blemish.

Gods Covenant with Abraham

When God made a covenant with Abraham it also had to be done by blood and sacrifice -- a blood covenant: So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other (Genesis 15:9-10) When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts. That day the LORD made a covenant with Abram: To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River (Genesis 15:17-18)

What do you think Jesus meant when he said Abraham was overjoyed to see my day, and he saw it and was glad?

Jesus is telling the Jews that Abraham saw His day and rejoiced.at that moment, Abraham understood God Himself would be sacrificed for us. Abraham saw the substitutionary sacrifice.

The Deliverance of Israel at the Passover

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel, In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their familiesa lamb for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of peopleyou will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. 5 Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown. 7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt (Exod. 12:1-7, 12-13)

Abraham Offers Isaac on the Alter

God promises to bring many offspring to Abraham. The problem was Abraham and Sarah were childless so Abraham took matters into his own hands and help God fulfill His word. He had a son with Hagar, Sarahs servant, who was named Ishmael. For 15 years Abraham believed Ishmael was to be his heir. God visited Abraham again and told him the son of promise was not going to be Ismael, but Isaac (at the age of 100). (It is interesting to note that Ishmael became the father of all the Arab people who follow the Islamic religion. So where Isaac is the father of Israel, Judaism and Christianity, the son born of Abraham trying to rush ahead of Gods will is the father of the one billion Muslim people living in the world who are at severe odds with Israel and Christianity.) God said, Take your sonyour only son, whom you love, Isaacand go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you. (Gen 22:2) Now that Abraham finally had the genuine heir God himself had provided, the Lord placed him in a position where he was to face his greatest test ever. Before any of the great promises could be fulfilled, a blood sacrifice was necessary. His only son would have to be given back to the God who had given the gift. Isaac said to his father Abraham, My father? What is it, my son? he replied. Here is the fire and the wood, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? 8 God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son, Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together. (Gen 22:7-8) The angel of the Lord stopped the process. It was the willingness of Abrahams heart that God was after. Instead, a ram was offered. Only through blood sacrifice of a life could God fulfill His entire promise to Abraham and establish His covenant. And what does Jesus have to say about this in the New Testament Your father Abraham was overjoyed to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Judeans replied, You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am! (John 8:5658)

To this day, the Jewish Passover is one of the most solemn ceremonies in Judaism. The main point from this story is that life and deliverance from the house of slavery of Pharaoh, and the journey to the promised land, could not happen until it was initiated by the blood. A life had to be given and sacrificed in their place, and appropriated to their lives (placed upon their dwellings). God caused the Pharaohs heart to be hardened even after all of the previous disasters up to that point.

The Law & The 10 Commandments

When God gave Moses the law and the 10 commandments, this was the foundation of Gods covenant with Israel. "And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words... And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness... And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel" (EXOD 24:3-8,10,15,17) Everything involving the law itself, as well as the people themselves, had to be covered and sprinkled with the blood. It was in the very blood itself that the covenant of the law was made.

The Tabernacle and Temple

The tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness, followed many years later by the great temple in Jerusalem that Solomon built these two houses of worship, which were virtually identical in their original plan or pattern, designed by God, encompasses the entire Jewish religious system from the OT, right up to the time of the NT when Jesus came. God gave detailed and explicit instructions as to the design and implementation of these houses of worship. At the very center of every aspect of ceremony and worship the entire religion for that matter there was blood. In the outer court surrounding the tabernacle, the first thing visible, was (1) the altar of the burn offering. Here animals that were slain and consumed by the fire from morning to night. Literally thousands of sacrifices per year. Next, enter into the tabernacle itself to the holy place where (2) the altar of incense and the temple veil itself, were continuously sprinkled with the blood. Beyond the veil was (3) the most holy place or "holy of holies," at the very center of which God Himself dwelt on His throne, which was the ark of the covenant, Once a year the High Priest entered that room by himself to bring the blood, and to worship God. The highest act of that worship was the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat of the golden ark, covered by the wings of the hovering angel/cherubim.

Blood in the New Testament

Hundreds of times in the OT the blood is mentioned. The way to fellowship with God was through the blood alone. This continued for 1500 years all the way until Jesus himself. By dying on the cross and shedding His own blood, Jesus brought in the substance of what all the OT shadows stood for and represented. Everything that occurred in the old dispensation ENDED IN ONE INSTANT on Calvary when the perfect Lamb of God died for the sins of the cosmos. It is finished (John 19:30). In order for there to be any salvation, God demands blood. In other words, before God can do any work of grace that has eternal value in the life of any individual, that person must be willing to sacrifice their life and give it back to God it means to actually be willing to give up ones very existence as a conscious living being. Jesus said four times in the Gospels, Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:33) What do you think about the idea of blood sacrifice and Jesus words about losing ones life?

What do you think about the significance of the blood being sprinkled on the people?

How do you contrast this sprinkled blood to the blood of the cup of Jesus?

Jesus said to them, I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me. (John 6:53-57). Jesus tells us to ingest/drink the blood of the new covenant. It is active, rather than passive.

To be willing to lose one's life means to sacrifice and give it up. But in order to have any eternal validity, it must be done according to God's standard. This was an impossibility for any human being to accomplish. No sacrifice in the Old Testament (under the law) could accomplish that. Only one person was capable of presenting His life as a perfect requirement before the Father in heaven. That is what the blood of Jesus represents. And that is why only the blood of Jesus can save us. "NEITHER BY THE BLOOD OF GOATS AND CALVES, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place (holy of holies), having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb 9:12-14). For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. 2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 So when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. 6 Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in. 7 Then I said, Here I am: I have comeit is written of me in the scroll of the bookto do your will, O God. 8 When he says above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them (which are offered according to the law), 9 then he says, Here I am: I have come to do your will. He does away with the first to establish the second. 10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb 10:1-10). No human blood, no blood of bulls or goats, nothing will ever satisfy the heart of God except the blood of His ONLY begotten sonthe standard is absolute and no less than that. Contrast also the blood of Jesus to the blood of Able that cried out to God
22 But

Within the blood of Jesus was the very life of God.

The blood of Jesus represents the Divine disposition in totality. Everything to do with God's holy nature, His purity, His holiness, all of His attributeswere contained WITHIN the very blood of Jesus. It was the eternal Holy Spirit of the Living God that flowed through the veins of the Son of God as he walked this earth (see Heb 9:14). The Spirit and the blood cannot be separated. The very eternal spirit of God flowed through the Savior's veins. Jesus born of a virgin - From a physical standpoint, when a baby is conceived in the womb and the female egg and male sperm uniteit is the male who is the source of the blood. For that very reason Jesus was born of a virgin, which means He had NONE of Adam's blood flowing in His veins. He was conceived by the very Spirit of God. The blood that flowed through the veins of Jesus Christ's body while He was on Earth came from God the Father, alone. Jesus Christ had divine, sinless, non-human blood while He was on this Earth (it would have been impossible for Him to life a sinless life otherwise). The entire objective of the blood in the Bible, from the very beginning, was to bring about this work of surrender and sacrifice unto deathto the heart and mind of the Christianwhich would then result in victory over sin and ultimate glorification. It has no other objective than that. Since Jesus died in our STEAD, His entire sacrifice was to make A WAY for us to walk in His footsteps. Through faith alone, in His blood, this is entirely possible. " God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his bloodto be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished" (Rom 3:25).

you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly 23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abels does. (Heb 12:22-24) What do you think the blood of Jesus cried out to God?

Ables blood cried out for revenge. The blood of Jesus cried out for redemption. The very first recorded act towards God in the Old Testament was when Abel offered to God a perfect sacrificial lamb. "And Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof." And the very first words spoken concerning Jesus were by John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Joh 1:29). And in the book of Revelation, Jesus is describedin the eternal plan and purpose of Godas "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8). And John the Baptist was the very last of the Old Testament prophets, a voice crying in the wilderness, ushering in a whole new transitional phase of relationship between God and man.

The Last Supper

Notes from Beth Moores Passion 2013 session on the Last Supper and the traditional Passover celebration As blessings are spoken over the Passover meal, participants raise their glasses four times during the ceremony in accordance with the four promises from Exodus 6:6-7 to remember Gods promises to them. Cup 1 I will bring you out, Cup 2 I will deliver you from slavery, Cup 3 I will redeem you, Cup 4 I will take you as My People.

When Jesus died He completed everything that the blood required.

By His one sacrifice on the cross, EVERYTHING was provided to satisfy the heart of God and pay the price for our sin and rebellion. Here is what happened the minute Jesus died. Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. 51 Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split apart. 52 And tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised. 53 (They came out of the tombs after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.) " (Mat 27:50-53). And this also happens
34 But

After the first cup, the washing of the hands begins. But at the Last Supper Jesus instead washes their feet. Everything has changed at this last supper. After this first cup, the youngest asks a series of planned questions about the significance/purpose of the Passover ceremony and the father of the household begins to tell the story. The 2nd cup is poured and an antiphony (one side speaks in a song/chant, the other side responds) begins going through a series of things that God has done for them. The Hebrew phrase Dayenu It would have been enough -- is sung repeatedly in response after each of the 15 stanzas. However, sitting at the table, Jesus knows it would not have been enough. Just being born of a virgin, just speaking the words of God, just healing every sickness and disease, just casting out demons, just raising the dead, just being scared/mocked/spit upon/bruisedwithout the death and resurrection, it would not have been enough. Jesus is sitting at the table knowing that very night was purposed for Him to die because it was not enough.
Throughout the ceremony they read Psalms 113-118. Jesus is pouring the cup, breaking the bread, reciting the Psalms and history of what God has done.all knowing the unique significance of that Last Supperthat He is to be the sacrifice. He takes the 3rd cup the cup of redemption -- and instead of pouring it for the others at the table, He pours His and tells them to take and drink from His cup. Unlike the former covenant and the sprinkling of blood on the people by Mosses, the blood of the new covenant is offered to us and we must accept and ingest it. Later that same night after the Passover meal, Jesus will pray to His Father to take let this cup pass from Him. As with Jesus, the only way God will leave the cup in our hands is if it is absolutely crucial to what we are doing. Psalm 118 is the last of the Psalms recited in the Passover ceremony. Verses 22- 24 says, The stone which the builders discarded has become the cornerstone. This is the LORDs work. We consider it amazing! This is the day the LORD has brought about. We will be happy and rejoice in it. Jesus knew the significance of everything they were doing in the Last Supper because He was about to do it this very day. He knew that by that time the next day, He would have given His life on the cross to redeem us and give us a place at the table for eternity. It was finally enough.

one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. 35 And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. (John 19:34,35). "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, HIS FLESH; And having an high priest over the house of God" (Heb 10:19-21). What do you see as the significance of the veil/curtain being torn at the moment of Jesus death?

The veil was torn, and so was the flesh of the Son of God. The veil was what separated man from God, i.e. THE FLESH. It had to be ripped apart before God's Spirit could be released. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Heb 9:14,15). Here it says that Jesus shed His blood and sacrificed His life "through the eternal Spirit." The blood possesses its power to cleanse and to make us fit to serve the Living God by the Eternal Spirit, who was in our Lord Jesus when He shed (released) His blood.

Water and blood

What do you see as the difference between the symbolism/significance of water vs. blood for cleansing?

There is eternal meaning and significance behind that great miracle at the wedding feast in Cana. The stone water pots that were filled with water were for the "cleansing of the Jews." Perhaps before anything could happen in His ministry, Jesus had to change that water (or men's works and efforts) into wine or blood. Before Jesus could accomplish redemption and bring salvation to man, he had to change the water into bloodHe had to change all of man's thoughts into something that had eternal and everlasting value. The Bible says that our spirits come from God, and man's life (or spirit) is in His blood. Waters, or the thoughts and works of man that are not originally from God, have no saving value or eternal grace in and of themselvesthe divine, the supernatural, the eternal, could only be manifested when God's creative power was released in the earth, which was something that only the Living Son of God had the power to do through His blood, which represents the only valid life, i.e. the life of God.

Water in the Bible always speaks of human responsibility. Sinners are commanded by God to wash their own hands and cleanse themselves from fleshly pollutions. Water refers to a human act that is outward, to be observed by those who turn from their sins, and present themselves to God in baptism. Water baptism along with repentance is always an initiative that the Christian person HIMSELF should make before God in obedience. The water always speaks of something that WE can do and should do. It is symbolic of human effort and works, and results in a cleansing of the heart. Unlike the water, the blood on the other hand, is something that only God Himself can provide (Gen 22:8). Man has nothing to do with the blood. The blood is exclusively God's end of the bargain that completes the redemption and cleansing process. We cannot have a proper relationship with God without both: (1) human responsibility and (2) God's divine atonement and redemption. The very first great miracle that Jesus ever performed at the time He began His earthly ministry, was when He and His disciples attended the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee. It was there that Jesus changed the water to wine. On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, They have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars with water; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11). Among other things, wine in the Bible is symbolic of blood. In Genesis 49:11, wine is specifically called "the blood of grapes." In the book of Revelation, when the vine of the earth was harvested and the grapes cast into the winepress of God and trampled, it says that "blood came out of the winepress" (Rev 14:20).

The great miracle Jesus did was demonstrating that water for purifying one's self was not adequateit required something more than that, i.e. the blood. That was something that only God Himself could provide or have anything to do with.
Blood is mentioned over 100 times in the New Testament, with the vast majority having to do with Christ. Here are just some of the benefits and entitlements that the blood of Jesus provides o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o We are saved by His blood (Rom 5:9). We are redeemed by the blood (Eph 1:7, Rev 5:9). Christ purchased and bought us with His blood (Act 20:28). There is remission (cancellation) of sins by the blood (Heb 9:20). Our sins are forgiven through the blood (Rom 5:9, Col 1:14, Eph 1:7). We are justified by His blood (Rom 5:9). We are reconciled to God (made friendly) through the blood (Col 1:20, Heb 2:17). There is propitiation (favor with God) through the blood (Rom 3:24,25). We have entrance into heaven because of the blood (Heb 9:22-26). We have eternal life through His blood (Joh 6:54). There is an everlasting eternal contract with God through the blood (Heb 13:20). Our very faith as Christians is in His blood and because of His blood (Rom 3:25). There is communion and fellowship with God through the blood (1 Cor 10:16). There is peace with God through the blood (Eph 2:12-14, Col 1:20). We are cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus the Son (1 Joh 1:7). Our conscience itself is cleansed by the blood (Heb 9:14). Obedience to God is possible through the blood (1 Pet 1:2). All the requirements of the law are taken care of by the blood (Heb 9:21,22). There is power in the blood (Heb 2:14, Rev 12:11). We are clothed and our garments made white because of the blood (Rev 7:13-15). We are sanctified and made holy by the blood (Heb 10:29, 13:12). We can enter God's presence "in the holiest" by the blood (Heb 10:19, Eph 2:13). Our very life and right to exist is because of the blood (Joh 6:54). Heavenly joy is because of the blood (Rev 5:9,12). We are able to defeat Satan entirely through the blood (Rev 12:10-12, Heb 2:14).

What do you think about the significance of Jesus first miracle of turning water into wine?

How was this miracle different than the others he performed?

Jesus as the only one worthy

Revelation 5: Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a powerful angel proclaiming in a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals? 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. 4 So I began weeping bitterly because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; thus he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
6 Then

Wrap Up
After going through this discussion, what are your thoughts now on the significance of blood?

Why do you think God requires a blood sacrifice?

I saw standing in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then he came and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne, 8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). 9 They were singing a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. 10 You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.
11 Then

What do you think of the blood sacrifice as it relates to the holiness of God and His inability to work through a sinner and our inability on our own to see the face of God as we are without dying?

I looked and heard the voice of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand thousands times thousands 12 all of whom were singing in a loud voice: Worthy is the lamb who was killed to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise!
13 Then

I heard every creaturein heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in themsinging: To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power forever and ever!
14 And

the four living creatures were saying Amen, and the elders threw themselves to the ground and worshiped.

Study references: Why God Required Animal Blood Sacrifice, in The Bible?, Last Days Watchman blog, www.watchmanforjesus.blogspot.com, September 12, 2010 The Voice of the Blood, Christ Life Ministries, www.christlifemin.org The Voice of the Blood of Christ, Sermon by Rev C.H. Spurgeon, delivered August 29, 1858, www.spurgeon.org/sermons Why did the sacrificial system require a blood sacrifice?, www.gotquestions.org The Blood in the Old Testament Parts 1, 2, 3. Messianic Rabbi Gennady Livshits, House of David Ministries, www.houseofdavidministry.org Blood Sacrifice in the Scriptures: The Meaning of Blood in the Old Testament, T. Ernest Wilson, www.ternestwilson.com