The Blood Of the Cross
by Bill Newton -- 2009/2010
Acts 20:28 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.
The subject of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is a very crucial doctrine/subject for the Christian and the salvation of a lost man. It’s so crucial that one who “dose despite to the Spirit of God and tramples underfoot the blood of the covenant,” does so to the peril of his own soul. ( Hebrews 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? )
I recall that a preacher (I use the term loosely regarding this particular man, and men like him) once said that the Lord’s blood was no more holy than any other man’s blood. Also, he said that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was NOT necessary for the salvation of a soul. I believe that this man is a lost, hell-bound sinner, who will die in his sin(s) and go to hell (which he “toned down with the “greek-i-fying” of the word to “hades”) and burn for all eternity. For the sake of propriety, I will not mention his name; although, many may, or will, know to whom I refer.
My prayer is that this man, and others who hold his view, will SEE and UNDERSTAND that the Lord’s blood was/is the blood of God. And, in seeing and understanding this truth, will get saved by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ and his BLOODY sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.
The bible says, Leviticus 17:11-- For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. The main reason why a man dies is because his blood is BAD. Man’s blood was affected in some way when Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here’s a note: nothing happened to either Mrs. Adam or the creation when she took and ate--Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:--because she was not given the initial command and instructions; also, she was a secondary creature. If one will examine these passages and pray for insight from the Lord, then a great truth will be opened to their heart—Genesis 2:7, 15-17; Genesis 3:1-7 and Romans 5:12. To me it is very clear that sin did not enter the world (not creation) until Adam sinned.
At this point I will add a salient truth, that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was not an APPLE, BANNANA, ORANGE, MANDRAKE, PEAR, or any other “fruit” that one could name. The fruit which was on that tree was connected with BLOOD, and affected a man’s blood. Moreover, the one which was in the Garden of Eden was not a natural, but a supernatural tree. Also, it was directly connected with the devil (Satan/Lucifer).
What kind of fruit could one find in the word(s) of the Lord Jesus Christ (God) that would fit the above elements: a grape! (Deuteronomy 32:14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.) Men have for centuries used what’s called a winepress (References to winepress in the bible: Isaiah 63:3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. & Revelation 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. & Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ) to squeeze the liquid of the grape out of the grape; the liquid is known as “the blood of the grape.” The grape on the tree in the garden is not the type of grape you would buy at a food market (although there is a similarity and connection). You see, the two trees (the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) are not the same kind of tree one would locate today in any forest or jungle. These two trees had their origin in heaven, and then were transferred to earth. Each is connected with the two powers in the universe: the Lord Jesus Christ and the Devil.
Many have made their guesses about what the trees are and what the fruit is, but none but a few have actually “nailed it.” The first man that I ever heard or read which accurately described the two trees and the fruit of each was Dr. Peter S. Ruckman of Pensacola, Fla. I am reasonably sure that others have been led by the Holy Ghost into the truth of these matters. After doing my own study on this doctrine, I am in 100% agreement with Dr. PSR about the trees and the fruit of each.
[[I will (Lord willing) produce another paper out-ling the truth of what I just said in the last two paragraphs.]]
Well, I will go on with the main thought of this paper, that of the blood of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Adam, after he had seen what his wife had done (which could have changed just her, or could have had no effect or either her or the whole creation), chose to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree. When he did, everything changed. He ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which he knew was the ONLY tree which God forbid him to eat of. (Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.). By the way, there were other trees in the garden of Eden which were also supernatural, and (more than likely) had their origin in heaven: Ezekiel 31:1-18 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness. And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him. Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches: To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit. Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen. To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD. You will notice the term “trees of the field.” The trees of the field are those outside of the garden itself. The bible says that God planted a garden in Eden (Eden is a very large plot of land) Genesis 2:4-9 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God Almighty did some extraordinary and “out-of-this-world” gardening: for, he is the first husbandman.
Now, with all these trees present inside and outside of the Garden of Eden (being supernatural trees) one would think the Garden would be an impenetrable place; but, alas, this is an error in thinking.
[[[Remember: God is NEVER caught off-guard]]]
What the pair of new creatures (Adam and his wife) encountered was a creature so evil and wicked, that he is not the kind of creature one “dialogues” with. The creature is called a serpent (Gen. 3:1). And, what the serpent encountered was a pair of “INNOCENT” beings which were not aware of either good or evil, in the sense that they had no means for comparison. All they knew (and for how long, no one knows for sure; but it could have been for many years to just short of one year) was GOOD; i.e., God. The serpent (the fallen cherub – Ezk.28) had some time to evaluate what he was up against regarding the NEW kind of creature the Lord Jesus Christ had created and made (Adam was created, but his wife was made). I think that there was a passage of time between Gen. 2 and Gen. 3, wherein the serpent observed these creatures and came up with a plan of attack. His plan succeeded in causing the first pair of humans to come under the curse which God told Adam would happen if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
If one reads the language of Genesis 2:21-25, he will see that Adam and his wife had a different kind of circulatory system than we now have. The kind of fluid which was in the “piping” of the two was (more than likely) water (of some kind). Then, when Adam took of the tree and ate, the fruit and its BLOOD polluted Adam’s circulatory system, turning it RED and changing its DNA structure.
What is needed NOW is a reversal of the poison which was introduced into man’s being. And, as I said before, God is not ever caught off guard by anything one of his creatures could or would do. God’s perfect plan was to bring about his occupation of a body wherein he would have an anti-toxin to the poison which the serpent introduced into man’s being. Man was snake-bitten, but the Lord Jesus Christ is our snake bite remedy. His body contained the anti-venom, which had to be perfected via a sinless life, death, and resurrection from the dead.
Now, when Adam partook of the forbidden fruit, he in essence declared war against his creator. Therefore, in order to counteract the effects of the serpent’s poison, and bring about peace between God and his creature, the Lord provided the remedy to and for both. The following scriptures express this truth: Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. & Colossians 1:20 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. & 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
What the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ did is beyond any man’s understanding and comprehension. The Lord expects a man to Trust what he did, and Believe on Him to the saving of his soul. Having said this, I will propose a few things that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished: made peace with God the Father; counteracted ALL effects of the Serpent’s poison; replaced the lost man’s blood with that of God’s blood; imparted eternal life to the repentant sinner; not only restored man’s DNA, but made it infinitely better; made it totally impossible for any saved man to go to hell and there perish forever. These are just a FEW of the innumerable things which the Lord via his blood sacrifice provided for the saved sinner.
The blood of his cross, which is God’s blood, made a complete, perfect and sinless atonement for man. Watch out for anyone who makes light of, or diminishes the blood of Jesus Christ in the slightest.