The Blood on the Doorposts

THE BLOOD ON THE DOORPOSTS

Karim and Abou sat at the harbour watching a large cargo ship unloading cattle to be slaughtered for meat.

“These cattle remind me of what I read in the Torah about not eating blood,” remarked Karim.  “God says: ‘For the life of the flesh is in its blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to take away your sin: for it is the blood which makes free from sin because of the life in it’. How can blood free from sin and take sin away?  What is the altar that God speaks about?”1

Abou smiled.  “To answer your questions, we will have to go back to the Garden of Eden.  Do you still remember what happened to Adam and Eve?”

“Yes, they sinned by disobeying God and were driven out of the Garden, Karim answers.

“ Exactly! And then God had to kill an animal to make them clothes,” Abou continues. “After this the relationship between man and God and man and animal was never the same.  However God had a plan to reconcile man with Himself because He loved man.  This plan is unfolded in the Scriptures in hundreds of ways.  Right there in the Garden of Eden God told Satan:  ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’2 The seed of the woman is referred to as He, one seed; one male person.”

“Who is this person?” Karim asks.

“The entire Old Covenant is like a finger pointing to the work of Jesus.  Jesus said of Himself:  ‘Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.’”3 The  Scriptures tell us that Jesus disarmed the satanic rulers on the cross, triumphing over them and made a public spectacle of them.”4 

“When God called Abraham, God told Abraham to cut three animals in two.  In doing this Abraham knew God was entering into a blood covenant with him.  Later God confirmed this blood covenant with Abraham through circumcision.”5

 By now Karim was very curious: “What then was so serious about this covenant?”

 “This type of covenant bound the two parties together in a most solemn and binding oath.  They would give their lives to protect and save each other.”

“Do you want to tell me that God was saying to Abraham that He would give His life and His blood to protect Abraham?”  Karim was becoming more and more surprised. 

“This is exactly what He did.  And it was not meant only for Abraham.  In coming to earth Jesus   gave His own life and blood to reconcile all of humanity to God!”

“Is it possible that God could love man so much?” Karim had tears in his eyes.  “Now I really understand John 3:16 for the first time:  ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’.”

“One of the most important incidents where a lot of blood flowed was when the Israelites moved out of their bondage in Egypt.  God commanded every family in Israel to sacrifice a lamb.   Then the people had to take some of the blood and put it on the door posts of their houses.6

“That night all the firstborn sons of those families in Egypt who did not believe God and who did not have blood on their doors, died.”

“Again they were protected by blood,” Karim notices.

“Yes, but not just any blood.  This time it had to be the blood of a one year old lamb without blemish, a perfect healthy lamb.”

“Do you mean the blood of the lambs that were killed pointed to Jesus?” Karim asks.

“Yes, for sure, and the lamb had to be a perfect lamb as Jesus was without sin.  The Apostle Peter said of Jesus:  It was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw.  He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake.”7   When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him he called out: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!8  In the last book of the Bible, John recorded the words of the song that the Living Creatures sang about Jesus in heaven:  “... you were slaughtered. With your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.9 

 “This is incredible!” cried Karim.  “Nobody has ever explained the Scriptures to me like this, Abou!  There is a perfect plan in this Holy Book!”

“Yes, indeed there is.  God instructed the Israelites to build a Tabernacle in the desert.  In the Tabernacle even more blood was used.”

 “What was the purpose of the Tabernacle?” Karim wanted to know.

“The Tabernacle was the place where God met with the people.  There were two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  God told them to put a roof of four coverings over these rooms.  The outside covering was grey like the desert.  The second covering was made of sheepskin and was dyed red as blood. The third and forth coverings were blue and white. The inside of the Tabernacle was very beautiful, but nobody could see it unless they entered into the Tabernacle.  From outside one only saw the grey and dull leather covering.  The grey covering pointed to Jesus who looked like an ordinary man.  Nobody knew just by looking at Jesus that He was sent from God, unless one enters into a relationship with Him.  Then only one discovers His beauty as the Saviour of the world and God Himself!  The red covering referred to the blood of Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote:  ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.10 

’”Between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place there was a curtain so thick that four strong oxen pulling in pairs against each other could not tear the curtain apart.  Behind this curtain was the Most Holy Place, the Throne Room of God with the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark was a wooden box covered with gold.  The lid was called the Mercy Seat.  Above the Mercy Seat there was a tremendous bright light.  This light was the presence of God’s glory.  Into this room only the High Priest was allowed to go once a year to present the blood of forgiveness for the sins of all the people.”

“Do you want to tell me that the High Priest had the courage to go into the Most Holy Place?” Karim enquired.

“Yes, it was a solemn moment. He had to have the blood of an innocent animal with him.  The Mercy Seat was the place where God’s wrath, because of the sins of man, was turned away.  Once inside the Most Holy Place, he sprinkled the blood over the Mercy Seat.  From this moment on God did not see man’s sin any more.  He saw the blood that spoke of innocent life that had been given to pay the penalty for sin.  The blood-covered Mercy Seat changed God’s throne from a throne of judgment to a throne of Mercy.

“You have not explained what God meant by altar,” Karim reminded Abou.

“The two rooms were in a courtyard. The courtyard had only one door.  This was the only way anyone could get to the altar which was inside the courtyard.  The altar was called the Brazen Altar.6 This was the place where the sacrifices were made.  A man could not be pardoned from sin unless he came to the altar with a sacrifice.  He had to press his hands heavily on the animal’s head to associate with the animal before he kills it.  The Priest then caught the blood in a basin and poured it out at the foot of the Altar.  The man with his sacrifice realized that the blood of an animal could not take away his sin, but only cover it for some time until the next sacrifice.

“The Altar represents the Cross.  All blood that was poured out at the foot of the altar, pointed to Jesus.  After Jesus had died, a soldier pierced his side with a spear - blood and water poured out and fell at the foot of the cross just like the priest poured out the blood of the animal sacrifice at the foot of the brazen altar.  There is a big difference though between the blood of Jesus and the blood of the animal sacrifice.  The animal sacrifice had to be repeated.  Jesus died only once and it was enough.  As the Scriptures say:  For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...11 

“There was only one door through which man could enter to reach the altar.  Jesus said: I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved…12.

“On the morning of resurrection, one of the women met Jesus at the grave.  Jesus told her not to touch him because he had not yet ascended to his Father just like the High Priest who was not allowed to be touched by the people before he had taken the blood of the animal into the Most Holy room.  Jesus said to her, ‘…go to My brothers and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God, and your God.13  That same evening He entered the room where the disciples were and told them it was alright for them to touch Him.  His work was done.  He said to them:  See My hands and My feet, that I am He?  Feel Me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having. “14

”Normally one would say ‘flesh and blood’. Why did Jesus say ‘flesh and bones’?”  Karim was quick to ask.

“Jesus could not say blood, Karim, because He had no blood.  Some time during that day He had gone into the Most Holy Place, the Throne Room of God, to present His own blood as reconciliation for the sin of mankind.”

“This is awesome, Abou!  I never dreamt that the Tabernacle was so rich in meaning.”  Karim called out.

“Yes, it is wonderful.  There is more:  The day Jesus died, the priests were sacrificing animals in the temple nearby.  When the time for the sacrifices was over, the priest turned to the people saying:  ‘It is finished!’  A few kilometers from there at the same time on a hill outside the city the Son of God died with outstretched arms embracing all men calling out:  ’It is finished!’”15 The moment He died the thick veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.  Through this God told man that we can now enter into the Most Holy Place ourselves by the blood of Jesus.  We do not need a High Priest and the blood of an animal anymore because Jesus was our High Priest who died only once for the sins of man.  This is how the Scriptures wrote about it:

And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.  And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split;  the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,  and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 16

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1Leviticus 17:11;  2Genesis 3:15;   3 Matthew 5:17;   4Colossians  2:15;   5Genesis 12;15;   6Exodus 12:6-7;   71 Peter 1:19-20;   8John 1:29;   9Revelation 5:9;  10Ephesians 1:7;  111Peter 3:18;   12John 10:9;   13John 20:17;  14 Luke 24:39 ;  15John 19:30;
 16Matthew 27:50-54.