In the previous article, we stood at the Jordan River and heard John the Baptist announce the arrival of the Lamb of God — the One to whom fifteen centuries of animal sacrifice had been pointing. We watched Him go to the cross. We heard Him cry “It is finished.” We saw Him rise from the dead.
Now we need to look at something the New Testament treats with extraordinary precision and reverence — something that every major letter of the New Testament returns to, that the book of Revelation centres an entire vision of heaven upon, and that the writer of Hebrews calls better than anything that preceded it:
The blood of Jesus Christ.
The New Testament does not speak of the blood of Jesus casually, or vaguely, or merely as a poetic metaphor for salvation. It speaks of it with specificity — naming exactly what the blood accomplished, exactly what it purchased, exactly what it cleansed, and exactly what it opened. And each specific thing the blood did is something that every believer needs to know by name.
Why Blood? Answering the Question Modern Readers Ask
Before we look at what the blood accomplished, we need to answer the question that many honest, thoughtful people ask: why blood at all? Why is Christianity a religion centred on blood? Does it not seem primitive — even barbaric — to modern sensibilities?
The answer is not that God is primitive. The answer is that God is just.
We established in earlier articles in this series the foundational truth: the wages of sin is death. Sin produces death. The penalty for sin is life — a blood-life poured out. Life is in the blood — “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” — Leviticus 17:11 (KJV). Blood represents life. The shedding of blood represents the pouring out of a life. And the debt of sin — the debt every human being owes to a holy God — is a life-debt. It requires a life in payment.
This is not arbitrary. It is not barbaric. It is the most precise possible expression of what sin actually costs and what justice actually requires.
The question is not whether blood is required. The question is whose blood is sufficient. And the answer of the entire Bible — from the first animal slain in Eden to the Lamb standing at the centre of the throne in Revelation — is that only one blood is sufficient: the blood of the sinless Son of God.
The Blood of the New Covenant
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus took a cup of wine, gave thanks, and said something that reframed the entire meaning of what was about to happen:
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” — Matthew 26:28 (KJV)
My blood of the new testament — or more precisely, my blood of the new covenant. The word translated testament is the Greek diatheke — covenant, a binding agreement sealed by blood.
In the ancient world, a covenant was the most serious legal and relational bond that could exist between two parties. And the most solemn covenants were sealed with blood — an animal cut in two, both parties passing between the halves, the symbolism saying: if I break this covenant, let what happened to this animal happen to me.
God made a covenant with Abraham, sealed with blood (Genesis 15). He made a covenant with Israel at Sinai, sealed with blood — Moses sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifices and said: “Behold the blood of the covenant.” — Exodus 24:8 (KJV).
Now, at the Last Supper, Jesus holds up the cup and says: this is my blood of the new covenant. He is announcing that the new covenant God promised through Jeremiah — the covenant in which God would write His law in hearts rather than on stone, in which sins would be remembered no more — is about to be ratified. Not with the blood of animals. With His own.
Every believer is a party to this covenant. The blood of Christ is the seal of the most comprehensive, most unbreakable, most personally intimate covenant in the history of the universe — a covenant between the eternal God and every person who believes in His Son.
What the Blood of Christ Specifically Accomplished — Seven Declarations
The New Testament does not leave it to our imagination. It names, with precision, exactly what the blood of Christ accomplished. Here are seven specific things Scripture declares the blood of Jesus did.
1. The Blood Redeems — It Purchases Our Freedom
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” — Ephesians 1:7 (KJV)
Redemption means to buy back — to purchase out of captivity. The picture is of a slave market: a person held in bondage, with a price on their head, and a redeemer who pays that price to set them free.
Every unregenerate human being is in bondage — to sin, to death, to the power of the enemy. The blood of Christ is the purchase price of their freedom. God paid the ransom with the most precious thing in existence — the life-blood of His own Son — and every person who believes has been bought out of bondage and set free.
“For ye are bought with a price.” — 1 Corinthians 6:20 (KJV)
You are not your own. You were purchased. The blood is the price tag of your freedom.
2. The Blood Forgives — It Cancels the Debt of Sin
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” — Hebrews 9:22 (KJV)
Remission — the cancellation of a debt. Not the deferral of it. Not the management of it. The outright cancellation of every sin-debt that stood against you.
The blood of Christ does not merely put your sins on hold, or reduce the sentence, or negotiate a settlement. It cancels the entire account. Every sin you have committed, every sin you will commit — the blood covers the complete account.
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” — Colossians 1:14 (KJV)
3. The Blood Justifies — It Declares You Righteous Before God
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” — Romans 5:9 (KJV)
Justification is God’s legal declaration that the believing sinner stands before Him in right standing — not as a forgiven criminal who is still on probation, but as one who is declared righteous in God’s own court. It is not merely that your guilt has been removed — it is that Christ’s own righteousness has been credited to your account.
The blood is the basis of this declaration. It is the blood that satisfied God’s justice, making it legally possible for God to declare the believer righteous without compromising His own holiness.
4. The Blood Cleanses — It Purges the Conscience
This is the most personal and most pastoral of all the things the blood accomplishes — and the one most people feel the need for most acutely.
“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?” — Hebrews 9:14 (KJV)
The Old Testament sacrifices could cover sin before God — but they could not reach the inner man. The worshipper went home with the external requirement met, but his conscience still carried the weight of his guilt. The sense of unworthiness. The haunting of past failure. The feeling of being too stained to stand before a holy God.
The blood of Christ reaches where the blood of animals never could — into the conscience itself. It purges. It cleanses. It removes the inner stain — not just the external record.
“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.” — 1 John 1:7 (KJV)
All sin. Not most sin. Not the sins confessed with sufficient contrition. Not the sins you remember. Not the sins others know about. All sin. The blood is not a partial cleanse — it is complete. The conscience that has been brought to the blood of Jesus has no legitimate ground for condemnation.
5. The Blood Reconciles — It Restores the Broken Relationship
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.” — Colossians 1:20 (KJV)
The Fall broke the most important relationship in the universe — the relationship between God and man. Sin created a chasm. The carnal mind became enmity against God. Man hid from God; God’s holiness could not dwell with sin.
The blood of Christ makes peace. It closes the chasm. It removes the enmity. It restores the relationship that sin shattered — not as a fragile truce, but as a permanent, covenant-sealed reconciliation.
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” — Romans 5:10 (KJV)
When we were enemies. God did not wait for us to stop being enemies before He moved toward reconciliation. He reconciled us while we were still in the posture of opposition — and the blood is the permanent ground of that peace.
6. The Blood Opens Access — It Tears the Veil
“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.” — Hebrews 10:19–20 (KJV)
In the Temple, the Holy of Holies — the innermost chamber where God’s presence dwelt — was separated from the people by a veil. No one could enter except the High Priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, with blood. The distance between God and man was architecturally enforced.
The blood of Christ tears the veil — permanently. The believer no longer approaches God through a mediating system, at a distance, once a year, with an animal’s blood in hand. The blood of Jesus has opened a new and living way — direct, permanent, unrestricted access to the very presence of God.
Boldness to enter the holiest. Not timidity. Not uncertainty. Not the trembling of a man who is not sure he is welcome. Boldness — the confident, assured approach of one who knows that the blood of the Son of God has secured his welcome in the presence of his Father.
7. The Blood Overcomes — It Defeats the Accuser
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” — Revelation 12:11 (KJV)
The enemy of every believer is described in Revelation as the accuser of the brethren — the one who stands before God day and night, presenting charges against God’s people. His primary weapon is accusation — pointing to the believer’s sin, failure, and unworthiness to claim that they have no right to the promises of God.
The blood of the Lamb is the answer to every accusation. When the enemy points to your sin, the blood says: paid. When he points to your failure, the blood says: forgiven. When he points to your unworthiness, the blood says: justified. The blood is not merely a past event — it is the present, living ground on which the believer stands in the face of every accusation.
They overcame him by the blood — not around it, not despite it, not hoping it would eventually be enough. They overcame by standing directly on what the blood declares and refusing to move from that ground.
The Blood That Speaks
There is one final declaration about the blood of Christ that brings everything together — and it may be the most moving statement in the entire book of Hebrews:
“And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” — Hebrews 12:24 (KJV)
The blood of Abel — the first blood of murder in human history, shed by Cain — is described in Genesis 4:10 as crying out from the ground. Abel’s blood had a voice: it cried for vengeance, for judgement, for the penalty to fall on the one who shed it.
The blood of Jesus also has a voice. It speaks. But what it speaks is the opposite of Abel’s blood. Abel’s blood cried for judgement. The blood of Jesus cries for mercy. For forgiveness. For reconciliation. For the believer to be declared righteous, welcomed, accepted, and loved.
Every time you come before God — no matter what you have done, no matter what you feel, no matter what the accuser is saying — the blood of Jesus is speaking on your behalf. Not accusing. Not condemning. Not demanding that justice fall on you. Speaking better things: forgiven, justified, cleansed, reconciled, welcomed.
This is the blood that has been shed for you. This is what it purchased. This is what it declares.
What Comes Next
The blood of Christ has done its work — completely, permanently, for every person who believes. In the next article, we examine one of the most specific and most personally liberating things the blood accomplished:
Forgiveness of sin — not as a vague spiritual concept, but as a precise legal and relational reality. What it actually means for God to forgive. Why forgiveness through the blood of Christ is categorically different from anything the Old Testament system could offer. And what it means practically for the believer who still struggles with the weight of a guilty conscience.
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” — Ephesians 1:7 (KJV)
The riches of His grace. Not the minimum of His tolerance. The riches of His grace.
Bible Verses Cited: Leviticus 17:11; Matthew 26:28; Exodus 24:8; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14, 1:20; Romans 5:9–10; Hebrews 9:14, 9:22; Hebrews 10:19–20; Hebrews 12:24; 1 John 1:7; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Revelation 12:11; Genesis 4:10 (KJV)
Series: New Creation in Christ Jesus — Article 8 of 35
Author: Joseph Olarewaju | FaithBibleStudy.org
