We also remember that in Gethsemane His sweat became as drops of Blood too.  (Clots of Blood the Physician Luke says in the Greek text!)

But there is yet another time ... even before Calvary ... that I have found!

Surely when He was so mercilessly beaten by those Roman soldiers, He bled profusely!

In fact, the Bible says more about that "scourging" than I ever realized!

It was prophesied by Isaiah.  "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." Isaiah 50:6

Jesus Himself foretold that terrible ordeal in Matthew 20:19, Mark 10:34 and Luke 18:33!  He knew it was coming!

And then of course it is described as it happened in Matthew 27:30 --- "And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head."  Plus Mark 15:19 --- "And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him."

Then Luke adds:  "And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?"  Luke 22:63-64

But John says it so well:  "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,  and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands."  John 19:1-3

Folks, these accounts demand bloodshed!  And much bloodshed at that!

The liberals today often tell us that Jesus' whole "Passion" Experience did not exact that much Blood from His body.  They are so wrong!

And since Jesus' Blood is indeed precious ... as the Bible says ... we ought to at least mark the times and places where it was poured out ... never accidentally! "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."  1 Peter 1:18-20

Lord, Thy "stripes" were even foretold by Isaiah the Prophet!  "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)  That Hebrew noun "stripes" means hurts, wounds, blueness and even bruises.

May we stand before Thee today and gratefully worship Thy Name, adoring Thee for every drop of Thy divine Blood shed for us old sinners!

Amen!

                                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 6:

I spend some time last night researching the Roman "flogging."  Here is some of what I discovered:

Of the several kinds of whips and rods available for use, the soldiers mainly would have relied on the "flagrum." 

was a torture tool with multiple leather thongs (each of different lengths), into the ends of which were tied sheep bones or animal teeth or even lead balls.

The victims were tied absolutely naked to a post and beaten until the blood loss threatened their very lives!  Of course this being the legal preliminary to every Roman crucifixion, they stopped short of death ... wanting the prisoner to suffer even greater pain after being impaled on the cross.  One source particularly said this: "Deep stripe-like lacerations were usually associated with considerable blood loss."

The victim was beaten from the right side ... then from the left!  All the back and legs were severely flogged by two lictors, strong members of the execution party.

The result?  Deep contusions as the sharp objects cut into the skin and then deeper into the subcutaneous tissue.  Then, if not stopped, the damage would work its way down into the very skeletal muscles, producing bloody ribbons of loosely dangling flesh.  Usually such treatment led to a state of shock for the prisoner ... but not with Jesus.

There are ancient records of such beatings going too far and actually tearing a man's bowels from his body, spilling them onto the ground and leading to nearly instant death.

Often the torturers would mock and laugh at their prey as they hit him again and again.

Blood would have accumulated on the ground, splattered all over the soldiers and completely covered the poor criminal as the ordeal neared its end.

And while the New Testament does not furnish us with many details concerning Jesus' beating, it does tell us:  "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him."  John 19:1

Again I remind you that history tells such beatings were "the legal preliminary to every execution."

This would have been done to our Lord in the great open portico or square in front of Pilate's palace.

Jesus endured it all, determined NOT to die there but to reach Calvary where His life could be given for lost souls to be saved!  It was prophesied of Him in Scripture that He would be "pierced" (nailed to a Cross) ... and that must be! Psalm 22:16 --- "For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet."

Look at the bloody rods and see the bits of flesh stuck to the whips!  Notice how breathless the soldiers are!  Yet Jesus gives himself to this ... all to reach Calvary and purchase our redemption.  In Isaiah 50:6 He says:  "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting."  Or Isaiah 53:7 --- "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

His Blood ... shed yet again before He ever reached Calvary! 

How can we not love Him today?

The One who did so much for us?

Would you be willing sometime this Saturday to get alone with your Lord and thank Him and worship Him for enduring such agony ... and for later dying on that Cross ... to give you Eternal Life?

I say He is worthy of such adoration and praise!

                                                                               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 7:

Of course He did!

Matthew 27:29 tells us:  "And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!"

Mark words it this way:  "And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head."  Mark 15:17

And while Luke omits the incident ... John does not.  "And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.  Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.  Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!"  John 19:1-5

And the head area, rich as it is with blood vessels and capillaries, would have bled profusely.  Jesus' hair and His eyebrows and His face and neck ... all over ... no doubt was drenched with His sinless Blood!

Now Jesus was crowned with thorns after He was scourged according to Matthew's time-line.  (Matthew 27:26-29)  By this time He had already shed a considerable amount of Blood!

Then they stripped Him (pulling off clothing that had become matted with dried blood ... reopening countless lacerations and wounds) and robed Him in mockery ... and placed a long reed in His Hand (as though it were a King's scepter) ... and one by one soldiers "saluted" Him as a deluded king!  What "fun" they had!

Jesus, Very Wisdom personified, was treated like a fool!

Then they took the reed and smote Him on the head!  Next they irreverently spat upon our darling Lord!

What suffering!

And, having looked carefully, I can find no record of that crown being removed from His head either.  He apparently went to the cross with it still in place.  He finally had a place to lay His head ... in a bed of thorns!

I went back to the first time thorns are mentioned in Scripture.  (Genesis 3:18) God had just placed a curse on the earth because of sin!  Thorns represent that curse!

Jesus wore the emblem of cursed sin ... He became a curse for me ... so that I might be delivered from sin and its power and penalty!  (Galatians 3:13 says: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.")

After a while on Calvary, Jesus was wearing two crowns:  one of thorns ... another of a dried crust of Blood circling his precious Head!

By the way, the next time you see Him ... He will be wearing more crowns than that!  "Many crowns!"  Not of thorns either!  John on Patmos saw Him ... "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself."  Revelation 19:1-2

Jesus, with this crown of thorns, was faithful unto death also!  (Remember what John earlier wrote to the Believers in Smyrna, quoting our Lord:  "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.")  Jesus, as always, set The Example!

Folks, I point you to Him today, our Saviour Who bled that we might live!

Glory to His Name!

And a third time when He was arrested and scourged by Pilate and the Romans!

But today we notice His fifth time of bleeding.

On the way to the Cross ... there is absolutely no doubt that His mangled body dropped Blood every foot of the journey!

For one thing, they had just stripped Him of the purple robe, which had by then adhered to the wet blood all over His back and legs and sides (from the beating) ... ripping open the fresh scabs and wounds recently made!

They then placed His Own clothes back on Him temporarily ... probably that's the only way folks could have identified Him.  He was so swollen and disfigured ... as Isaiah had prophesied ... "His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men ... and we hid as it were our faces from him."  (Isaiah 53)

Plus ... that crown of thorns had not been removed either.  Any sudden moves would have upset that instrument of torture, reopening those puncture wounds as well!  Blood streaming down His face and into His beard ... and in time all the way down  "to the skirts of His garments!" 

And as Jesus picked up His heavy cross, laying it on His shoulder ... lacerations made by violently erring whips would have again flowed freely too!  John tells us that Jesus did (at least for a while) did bear His Own cross!  "And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha."  John 19:16-17

And as He stopped along the way, maybe even stumbling (causing more bleeding) ... another man (Simon) had to be conscripted to carry the heavy wood to the Hill of Golgotha!  So say Matthew and Mark and Luke!  This Simon was so impacted by the event that he got saved and even brought up two boys who became believers too!  "And they ... led him out to crucify him.  And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.  And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull."  Mark 15:20-22

And the place of execution was some distance away from Pilate's Judgment Hall!  He was carried outside the city limits you know.  "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate."  Hebrews 13:12

I firmly believe that all along the way ... from start to finish ... Jesus' Blood marked the path the procession took!  No doubt some places  were more heavily stained  than others ... but the whole distance He bled!

Someone said, "The whole history of the Cross is written in Blood, Jesus' Blood!"  Yes, it is so!

The Gethsemane bloodshed, then the scourging, plus the crown of thorns ... and now this hour long journey (at least) ... all before He was nailed to the Tree!  Don't tell me there is no Blood Atonement!  Don't tell me there is no power in that life giving Blood!  Forbid me not to sing "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!"

And remember ... this is God's Blood!  This is priceless Blood!  This is incorruptible Blood!  This is sinless Blood!

And praise His Name ... this is redeeming Blood too!  ("The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."  Acts 20:28)

Thank Him today for being willing to shed it so freely for lost souls ... providing such a great salvation!

Worthy is The Lamb That was slain!

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 9:

While Jesus certainly had bled much on the way to Calvary ... it is His bleeding on the old rugged Tree that fully accomplishes God's perfect plan of salvation!

Naturally Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell of the Event.

Genesis, the Book of Creation, tells us how we all became sinners.  Adam and Eve plunged humanity into the sea of iniquity by their disobedience.

However, the New Testament, which focuses on Jesus Christ God's Son, tells us how we can be delivered from such sin ... how to be saved by God's Grace ... through The Blood of the Cross!

That's one key reason why Paul said:  "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."  Galatians 6:14

Think with me.

As they nailed Him to the Cross, piercing His hands and feet, fresh Blood again flowed!

As they nailed Pilate's sign, JESUS OF NAZARETH KING OF THE JEWS, above His Head ... Jesus kept bleeding!

As they offered Him vinegar mingled with gall (to deaden the pain), and as Jesus refused ... the blood gushed forth!

As the soldiers gambled over His clothing, Jesus bled!

As He prayed for their forgiveness, the Blood flowed!

As they mocked Him, wagging their heads and saying stupid things, Jesus bled for their very redemption!

As He saved that old repentant thief, Jesus keep bleeding!

As He asked John to care for His mother ... Jesus was oozing Blood!

As the three hours of darkness came ... stopping much of their wicked activity ... Jesus' Bloodshed did not cease!

As the Saviour loudly asked, "My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Jesus still offered His precious Blood!

As He thirsted, fulfilling the Scriptures, His Blood kept draining!

And as He proclaimed that all was FINISHED ... of course, His Blood continued to drip down His Body!

Then, still bleeding, He loudly prayed, dismissing His spirit back into the Hands of the Father!

And, yes, even as the veil of the Temple rent and the earth quaked and the Centurion made his now famous statement ... the last few drops of that precious Flow that was going to ooze from His wounds did so!

He literally died bleeding!

I will never understand why so many folks want to minimize the Blood of Calvary! 

I say:  Preach it!  Sing it!  Praise God for it! 

After all, according to John, only "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."  1st John 1:7

For hours and hours He bled!

Indeed, in God's eyes ... "Without shedding of blood (Jesus' Blood) is no remission (of sin)!  Hebrews 9:22

Today ... thank God for the Blood!

Have you been washed in That Crimson Stream?

                                                                         --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 10:

We are now often told that the Blood simply represents His love or His death or His obedience ... all of which brought about our redemption.

I have had folks try to "shame" me for believing that the actual BLOOD of Jesus washes away sin!

Such literal dependence on the Blood is said to be "superstitious" or too "old-fashioned" or just plainly a holdover from the days of "fundamentalism!"

That liberal crowd of today denies that Jesus' Blood is in Heaven right now, having been sprinkled on the real Mercy Seat (by our Great High Priest Jesus Christ) ... "having obtained eternal redemption for us."

But I want to tell you this Wednesday morning that it's still the Blood, the literal Blood, the Blood of Jesus that saves old sinners!

For Jesus to found and purchase the Church, His Body and Bride ... He had to bleed on that Cross!  Acts 20:28 proves it!  "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

For us to have saving faith in Jesus' Blood ... it had to be shed on Calvary!  Look at Romans 3:25.  "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."

For us to be justified from sin and delivered from God's wrath, Jesus had to bleed!  Romans 5:9 tells us:  "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

The way I understand it ... no Blood, no forgiveness!  Ephesians 1:7 --- "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

Had Jesus not bled on  Calvary, we would still be "far off" in our sins. Ephesians 2:13 --- "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

Had there been no bleeding from the Cross ... there could be no peace in our lives!   "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."  Colossians 1:20

Had Jesus' Blood not been eternal ... then how could He have entered the Holy Place (in Heaven) with it?  Hebrews 9:12 --- "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."  Wow!

Without Jesus' Calvary Bloodshed ... where would we get boldness to come before Him in prayer?  "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."  Hebrews 10:19

No Blood ... no sanctification either!  Hebrews 13:12 --- "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate."

In fact, I am prepared to say that without any bloodshed on Golgotha ... no Christian would have ever reached spiritual maturity!  Listen to Hebrews 13:20. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen."

In fact, without the Blood, there is simply no victory at all!  Revelation 12:11 proves that.  "And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

I even have it on good authority that when Jesus comes again ... He will be wearing a garment that is "dipped in Blood!"  What Blood?  Well, since His feet have not yet touched earth when John wrote those words ... it can only be His Blood, the Blood of the Cross!  "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True ... and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God."

On earth the Blood may be belittled right now ... but in Heaven it apparently still is honored and magnified to the highest level!

Thank God for the Blood He willingly gave on that old rugged Cross!

Bless His Holy Name!

Christian friend, why don't you sometime today either sing (or listen) to some godly song about the Blood, Jesus' shed Blood?

Or if that's not possible, get your Bible and find a solitary place ... then read some Blood Verses, worshipping your dear Saviour for His Sacrifice, His Bloody Sacrifice, on the Cross where He died!

                                                                                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 11:

"But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."   John 19:33-34

Only the Gospel of John records this aspect of Jesus' crucifixion.

Think of that!

Our text plainly says Jesus was "dead already" when the soldiers "pierced His side!" 

The breaking of a crucified criminal's legs would simply hasten death.  It was not done until hours of shame and suffering had already transpired.  The thieves on either side of Jesus, still being alive, suffered this further torment and indignity.  But when they came to Jesus ... no bones were broken!  He had already yielded His life back to the Father!  (It was prophesied of Him that no bones would be broken ... and none were!)  John 19:36 plainly says:  "For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken."

Then a soldier did it!

He, with a "spear" (in Greek = "logche" ... used only here in all the Bible and meaning a sharp pointed instrument like a lance), "pierced" (in Greek = "nusso" ... another word used only here which means to penetrate or pierce through) Jesus' side.

Jesus then bled profusely!

Blood and water flowed "forthwith," meaning all at once!  It gushed out!

Medical experts tell us that is a sign that Jesus' heart had ruptured and His remaining blood had collected in the bag around the heart (pericardium), which being punctured ... quickly drained until empty!  (One can literally say that Jesus died of a broken heart!  A burst heart! Look what the burden and load of sin did to our dear Saviour!)

Now Jesus had either very little ... or maybe even no Blood left!  (It would not surprise me if He shed every single drop of that precious Liquid!)

In fact, later ... when appearing to His disciples as a Resurrected Saviour ... Jesus invited them to ... "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24:39)  Notice that He did not say that He had a body of flesh, blood and bones!  Just flesh and bones?  Where is His Blood?  Not in His Body!  (I strongly believe it is in Heaven today ... sprinkled powerfully on the Mercy Seat there ... still securing our Redemption from sin and to the Lord!)

And one more quick thing ... while we do not know exactly how long Jesus was dead before being so pierced ... we are certain that human blood, sinful blood, would have begun to coagulate or clot pretty quickly!

BUT ... Jesus' Blood flowed easily and literally gushed out of His Body!  What's my point?  He had special Blood, sinless Blood, incorruptible Blood, eternal Blood, efficacious Blood, redeeming Blood!  He did not have Blood inherited from any human father ... because His Father was God!  (Not Joseph!)

Wow!  All the more reason to adore and worship Him this Thursday in May!

Jesus ... and that Blood ... plus His Death, Burial and Resurrection which followed a sinless life ... mixed with the marvelous Grace of God and the Father's perfect Will ... have combined to save us old sinners from an eternal hell of fire and brimstone ... and place us in the Family of God ... destined for an eternal mansion in Heaven itself!

Glory to His Name!

                                                                       --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 12:    (FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 27, 2005 FROM CUMMING, GEORGIA)

One writer called it "the Blood of God made man!"

Every drop of that precious Flow has infinite value.  It washes away sin!

As the rainbow in the sky was God's pledge of grace to Noah ... one might say that the Blood of Jesus is the pledge of possible salvation to hell-bound sinners!

He Who was crowned with thorns, bleeding in our stead ... should have been crowned instead with roses and lilies and garlands of beauty!  In fact, when we see Him again He will be "crowned with many crowns" of honor and glory! 

When those around the Cross prayed:  "His blood be on us, and on our children," they turned God's greatest Blessing into a curse!    "Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children."  Matthew 27:25

I am told that when red blood begins to freely flow in battle, real soldiers around it are given new determination and resolve to fight to the finish!  It instills bravery as never before!  So let our thoughts of the Blood of Jesus propel us to live more faithfully and fight more valiantly for His dear Cause!  Let us also be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ!"  2 Timothy 2:3

Most bridegrooms, when giving themselves to their brides, offer their right hands as a pledge of support and strength.  But Jesus, The Bridegroom, offers to His Bride both His right and left hands and His feet, giving His All to strengthen us in our spiritual lives.  And do remember, those hands and feet were bleeding on that old rugged Cross!

When the Temple of Solomon was built, all was quiet around the construction site!  "And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."  (1 Kings 6:7)  But when the Temple of Jesus' Body, the real Temple, was destroyed on that Cross (John 2:19) ... plenty of sounds of hammers and nails were heard!  And each piercing caused plenteous bloodshed too!

The enemies hated Jesus so much that at Calvary they attacked His dead Body also!  "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."  (John 19:33-34)  Is that not the height of brutality?  Is that not to "trod under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and to do despite unto the Spirit of grace?"  Hebrews 10:29

Just as in the miracle of the water made wine at a wedding feast, where the best was saved until the last ... so on Calvary Jesus last Bloodshed was meant to cause men to believe!  John was an eyewitness to that piercing and he said: "And he that saw it (John) bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe."  John 19:35

The minor prophet Joel, when speaking of millennial days ahead, says:  "And it shall come to pass in that day ... that a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley ...." (Joel 3:8)  Well, a fountain of Blood flowed from the side of Jesus also!  A fountain of life! 

I am told by those who study such things that the adult human body contains about five quarts of blood.  Well, that is What Jesus shed for us ... that we might be saved!  Five quarts of His precious Blood!

May we treat this truth with respect and reverence.

Thank God for the Blood!

                                                                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

CONCLUDING LESSON:         (SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2005)

In bygone years barbers (there not being enough surgeons) drew blood from sick patients … “bleeding” them … to make them healthier.  At least this was the belief then held by the scientific community.  The striped pole outside any American barber shop symbolizes this fact of history.  It is white (symbolizing the bandages) with red (the blood) and blue (the veins) stripes! Think of that!  The barber shop … a symbol of blood!  Now days we almost need some kind of symbol in front of churches … to know if they still preach the Blood, the precious Blood of Christ!

Human Blood would not be “red” (nor would it be life sustaining) apart from the oxygen it picks up as it traverses the lungs!  Neither would the Blood of Jesus save anyone … apart from the breath of the Holy Spirit, Who convicts and draws a lost soul to the Lord in the first place!  The more oxygen is present in the blood, the redder it gets!  (The Holy Spirit in Scripture is often depicted by air or wind or breath!)

 In a gruesome way a whole body of literature has grown up around things called vampires and such!  Blood sucking beasts!  I even read the other day that Roman gladiators, when victorious in the Coliseum, would drink the blood of their victims!  These I believe are the devil’s gory misrepresentations of "internalizing" blood.  What Truth is Satan fighting, trying to “taint?”  These words of Jesus will explain what I mean:  “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.”  (John 6:53)  Of course Jesus is talking about spiritually trusting Him for salvation (through His shed Blood)!  When one trusts the Lord … he has obeyed those words just as Jesus meant them!

 In a healthy human body, the blood makes a full circuit about every thirty seconds!  In other words twice a minute body parts receive fresh blood (and oxygen) to sustain life and health.  So is it in the Body of Christ, the Church. Without the power of the Blood of Jesus (constantly being preached and taught and studied) the Church is really no longer the Church.  She is sterile and powerless.

 Blood is costly too!  The last figures I could find suggest:  a unit of plasma sells for $70.00 and a unit of red cells for $180.00, while platelets are $600.00!  I said that to say this:  The Blood of Jesus is expensive too!  Priceless!  “Precious” says Simon Peter in 1 Peter 1:19!  "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."   (Yet it can't be bought.  It is a Gift!)

 And in today’s world every drop of blood used medically has to be screened for disease!   (Especially AIDS!)  But … with Jesus’ Blood, there is no worry!  It is holy, harmless and undefiled!  No disease there!

 And I even thought about this.  Without the proper functioning of blood, there could never be (holy, pure, God-created) husband/wife love making that produces precious little babies!  In both the man and the woman blood must rush to certain areas to create pleasurable sensations.  This is all God’s plan you see!  And spiritually thinking … there is no real love of Jesus without realizing that He shed His Blood for us … dying such a cruel death on that Cross that we might be saved.  If that does not generate real love for Him … nothing will!

 A medical book I saw taught that there are 2 kinds of death.  Both involve the cessation of blood flow.  Clinical death … which at times with today’s medical skill and equipment … can be reversed!  Then there’s brain death … which is final!  No blood to the brain for a short while and all is over!  But then I thought of a third kind of death, one not recognized by the medical folks.  Spiritual death!  That’s the one that is most critical!  (If one dies physically but is alive spiritually he or she goes to heaven eternally!)  "The wages of sin is death … but the gift of God (salvation) is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 6:23)

 Are you alive?

 Have you been washed in the Blood of Jesus? 

 Listen to John describe Jesus in Revelation 1:5 --- "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood!"

 Oh, friend, be saved today!

                                                                        --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF THIS EXPOSITORY STUDY ON THE BLOOD OF JESUS.  YOUR INTEREST IN THIS SUBJECT PROBABLY MARKS YOU AS AN OLD-FASHIONED BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN!  THANK GOD FOR THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!