Integrity- People of God

Whether we know it or not the blood speaks! So much can be determined and known with a sample of blood. Doctors can identify illness, hereditary tendencies and family genetics just by studying the blood. This generation has been so inundated with bloodshed and death that the loss of a life to murder is no longer seen as an unusually horrible tragedy. To see bloodshed is not abnormal or strange to this generation. But God takes the death of any human being very seriously. Abel was the first man to be killed. He was killed by his brother Cain. God said, Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground. Every wrongful death cries out to God for vengeance. God has declared vengeance is His and He will repay. It was not a light thing to shed innocent blood; God Himself would recompense the guilty.

Ester reminds us of Jesus, a greater one than Abel, Who came and shed His blood. This shed blood enables us to receive salvation and redemption, for all who will receive Jesus. Jesus came to shed His blood as an anointing sacrifice to God for all mankind. The wages of sin is death and there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. All have sinned and come short of God’s perfect will. Everyone has sinned and will be required to pay the debt and the wages of sin which is eternal death. For those who refuse Jesus and His completed work, they will stand before God for themselves to pay their debt. Jesus paid every debt and took every penalty for the sin of mankind. Jesus became the ransom for all who will believe in Him. His death is the atoning power for everyone who trusts in Him and His completed work on the cross.

Genesis 4:10               And he (God) said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Hebrews 9: 22b, 26b-28                     …and without shedding of blood is no remission.                                                        …but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

The blood of Jesus was shed in seven areas which redeemed mankind back in every area that he had fallen. Precious is the blood of Jesus and it speaks louder than our sins and our sickness. Jesus’ dying was not a random unimportant spilling of blood; it was a deliberate plan of God. This plan was set in place before the foundation of the world to save and deliver mankind from a fallen state of sin.

The first place Jesus shed His blood was in the Garden of Gethsemane where He was in great travail and internal struggle. His plea to God was so intense that blood seeped from His body and was mingled with His sweat. It is at this place Jesus submitted His will to God and where Jesus’ blood was shed to redeem our will. Jesus was not afraid to die, He came for that purpose. Jesus did not want to be separated from His Father at the cross, but to bring mankind back into a relationship with God, Jesus had to experience total separation from God as the Son of man. He prayed three times that this thing be taken away but each time submitting His will to God’s final authority. We no longer have to live in a state of unrighteousness separated from God because Jesus blood was shed to bring us back into relationship with God, our Father. The blood of Jesus was shed that we too can now choose to submit our mind and will to God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can live this life victoriously.