The
Blood
3/17/15
If
we did not have blood coursing through our bodies we would not live very
long. Blood is the key component of our
existence that is needed in order for our bodies to function and if we do not
have this blood our lives would cease to exist.
Through medical advancements we have learned that we can actually live
and function without certain parts of our body, but if we have no blood in our
veins and arteries we simply die.
Without blood none of our organs can receive the necessary vitamins,
oxygen, water, iron, phosphorus and other vital nutrients for our
survival. So if our blood is that
important to our physical bodies why would it be any different in our eternal
salvation? We cannot survive without
blood, there is no option other than this statement and there is no other
option than the sacrificial lamb that was slain for our eternal lives and
restoration between God and man than His blood either.
When
I was in high school I went to one of the job fairs that the local businesses
put on, it really was not much of a choice since the fair was presented at our
school that particular year. Anyway, I
was walking through the displays and ran across one from the hospital. One of the small booths had a few pictures of
some round objects that looked familiar to me, they were red blood cells. The medical field was not a new concept to me
since my mother studied to be a nurse when I was very young and she had kept
all of her nursing books which I thoroughly enjoyed to read. As I stood in front of the laboratory’s
display board, a man came up to me and asked if I was interested in the medical
field and when I replied with a “yes, sir” he then asked if I might be
interested in considering the laboratory as a more specific choice. That question and my ensuing answer got me
started on a career in the laboratory that I am proud to say has lasted almost
30 years now.
As
my time in the laboratory has tenured, the knowledge of the components within
our bodies has increased tremendously.
As time has progressed, I have learned many things about the main study
project within the lab, blood. There are
so many components of a red blood cell and a white blood cell that it would
take me years to try and explain everything that each of those two have on their
cell surfaces and each one of their functions.
We continually learn more and more about these cells and just how
important they are to the human body.
Over the years of studying the cells and how they operate within the
confines of the bone marrow and circulation it has become evidently clear to me
that blood is the defining and foundational component that we have to ensure
life as we know it.
Without
blood we literally cannot survive. I
know that is a pretty powerful statement but it is true for if we did not have
blood none of our organs could function properly. It is the blood that provides all of our
nutrients to our vital organs and it is through the blood and its penetrating
membranes that provide all of the necessary fluids to our organs. Without these vital fluids and nutrients our
heart would not have the capacity to beat and provide the necessary pressure in
order for us to maintain consciousness.
Nor would our brains have enough sugar to enable our neurons to fire
adequately to have coordinated muscle and nerve movements. Our stomachs would cease to digest food and
our gallbladder and liver stop providing bile that is needed for proper
digestion and clotting. All life within
our bodies would cease to exist and we would not be able to take one breath of
life; all would not exist.
I
know that for many millennia not much has been known about the blood but the
importance of its existence and adequate level within our bodies has been
studied quite extensively. With this
knowledge of blood and its components it should not be too hard to understand
why God placed within our bodies when He created them. The entire circulatory system is an amazing
organ which fascinates the smartest minds and it is an anomaly that one still
cannot fully explain. Yet it empowers
our bodies on second by second basis thus creating and giving life as we know
it.
Yet,
there are problems that arise from the blood and for these deathly origins we
are still trying to figure out many things.
Over my years working in the laboratory I have come across many people
who have had many diseases that have been born from the blood and I have
witnessed many of these people suffer greatly because of this process. I am a diabetic and while I am lucky enough
to be able to control my sugar levels with diet and exercise not everyone who
has this condition can offer the same response.
But I do know that while I have this condition it is my blood cells that
I still require to live and if I did not have these red cells floating around inside
my veins, my sugar levels really would not be much of a concern to me.
A
few weeks back one of the popular TV stars was asked a question concerning
God. This actor is a staunch atheist and
has no real thoughts about changing his mind either. The person giving the interview asked him a
question concerning God and it had to do with this: if God were real in your
mind, what would you ask Him? The
person’s response was with a question of: how dare you, how dare you create
children with cancer? Not many people
hear about this interview and I understand why, but it provides us with a vital
clue as to how people view God and His fantastic creation called the human
body. God did not create us in any type
of faulty manner, He created a perfect and beautiful running instrument that
was designed to run eternally, even the most brilliant scientists of today
still wonder why our bodies break down, for they really shouldn’t. So it is fitting that since our bodies do break
down that there should be a connection still that is present within our lives
that can connect us to God when needed.
We
can live without an eye or our spleen and we can even have a heart transplant
if one is needed and available. Most of
our body parts can now be successfully replaced and can extend our faulty lives
by years and sometimes decades, but we all have one thing in common and that is
this: if we do not have enough blood in our systems we can have the finest
organs ever genetically constructed but they will not mean one thing if we do not
have the blood to fill them and make them perform as they should. The organs will lay waste and will not be
worth a plug nickel to anyone without blood, so why wouldn’t God choose this
part of life to use as the savior to for our lives. We all know God is Spirit and He placed His
Spirit within our lives so this means that in order for Him to use blood as His
defining “life” point, then He must have something in place to start with, so
no spiritual additions can be argued later.
However, once a person begins to lose blood it needs to be replaced and
this replacement process can become a continual infusion. While the glucose and kidney function tests
may remain normal, the blood levels continue to drop and the person presents
into another metabolic setting, one that usually results in a permanent
procurement.
Now,
when reading the Bible one must contend that those events were real and that
they actually took place and if one understands this basic concept it is easier
to relate to the people in the Bible because they were just as human as you and
I are. They shared the same vital
statistics as we do and cover many of the same questions and hardships that we
do as well. So why would their “innards”
be any different than ours? It is
evident that blood was a part of their lives and that they understood the
importance of blood and what it meant to their existence. Did they understand what Chronic Lymphocytic
Leukemia was and what it did to the body?
I doubt it but they did know how important blood was and the
corresponding significance of its presence was.
The knowledge of the importance of blood must have been the topic of
some discussion between God and Adam and Eve and it must have followed with their
sons as well, for if it had not, how would they have known about blood and its
significance?
This
was evident in the story of Cain and Abel and the example of their sacrifices
to God. Both men understood what had
occurred with their parents and their past living space and they both knew that
atonement had to be accounted for when it came to repentance and how to achieve
this passing over of judgment. Abel was
acutely aware of what blood meant and used it fervently in his sacrifice to God
who had no problems accepting this holy yet imperfect gift for Abel’s sins. Cain on the other hand did not choose to
offer blood but fruits of his work and nothing on a personal and intimate level
and as we all know his sacrifice was not accepted by God. The importance of blood and the shedding of
blood in order to provide the necessary sacrifice set the standard for man and
the relationship with God. No other
offering would be acceptable. God
provided a pure and holy covenant that He can never break and we offer up blood
in return to which we cannot live without.
This
example proves that God is not just serious about His commitment to us but He
has established an eternal covenant with an impossible and immeasurable
reciprocation required upon our part. I
cannot believe that God would establish anything less than a perfect and
eternal offering to “the table”. And I
cannot believe that He would accept anything less from our side of “the table”
either. God understands that we chose to
lose His perfect created status for us and to make things acceptable to Him, He
provided us with the “perfect” way for us to show our need for Him. This concept of shedding of blood must have
had many minds running during the times in the Bible and since they were human
there must have been plenty of doubters, just look at Cain.
There is no way that I
can explain as to why God chose this element to represent the one item within
our bodies that He would recognize as acceptable. I do know that all
throughout the Bible blood is the symbol that God recognizes and that our enemy
recognizes as the one identifying source of covering. From the early
days of the Old Testament to the Exodus of Israel and including the crucifixion
of Christ blood has been the one source of covering for countless numbers of
people. And up until this date, it is the only acceptable offering
that God has recognized as pure enough to obtain His mercies and forgiveness. Once again Abraham was prepared to offer up
his own son as the sacrifice that had been asked by God but God had another
plan even though Abraham had to persevere a huge test until that final moment. Abraham was ready to shed his own son’s blood
in order to keep the covenant that had been promised by God, but the
purification process was instead through a ram.
God was consistent
throughout the Bible in how we can “purify” ourselves by the usage of
blood. God also made it very clear that there was only one way
possible for this purification process to be completed. While God
did not require human sacrifice to obtain this holy and divine covering He did
require our hearts to understand and to recognize the reasons why blood was the
necessary component that completed this process. Blood represents
the single organ within our lives that provides the necessary ingredients that
gives us life and it is through this blood covering that allows us to have
direct access to God.
There is no way that our
lives can be changed from this sinful state. We chose to have this
eternal placement put upon our lives and it is through the mercy of God that He
has provided a way for us to seek and to obtain covering for this fact. God
views all life precious and has from the moment of life’s creation. God
makes each life very distinct and treats each life with the utmost of respect, for
every life that has ever been created He loves. God understands that
there is a separation between Him and humanity and that separation cannot be
closed due to the sin that inhabits our life. If one recognizes this
separation, then it will become clear that God is consistent in His ways and
when one method is mentioned in the Old Testament that same method He shall
follow from that point onwards.
It is not difficult to
follow God’s patterns. Even though He is a personality that our
human minds cannot ever totally comprehend, He puts things into motion that we
can understand. God is not a God of variances or variables He is
consistent all the time and can never change His ways or thinking. Humans
tend to place our standards upon other humans which make mistakes, lie, cheat
steal and kill in order to deal with problems. And now there is a
growing number of people who wish to place God into this same category, which
they 9the humans) can do this all they want but one day they will find out that
God does not change and that He cannot change. God chose the blood
for a specific reason and He shall never change this element as the standard of
covering and restoration.
When someone refers to
someone else as being related then they accept the fact, whether good or bad,
that they are blood. My grandfather always viewed people and family
from the standpoint of whether or not they were “blood or not”. Not
that he would treat anyone any differently but it was the recognition that set
blood from non blood. God is the same way in the fact that if you
receive the blood over your life then you are made clean and whole. This
was the concept that the Old Testament procedures followed and it was through
this sacrifice that their sins were forgiven and their lives covered. But
over time this heart service became a drill and monotonous
We may never fully
understand what each blood cell might be able to do within our body. Technology is advancing each day but we still
have so many unanswered questions concerning the blood. I know that through our study and repeated
testing we have found out countless facts about blood and through these means researchers
will inch closer to the full knowledge of what blood truly does. I have the utmost confidence the same holds
true if we continue to study God’s Word and what it really means to our lives,
both physical and spiritual. The more we
study and comprehend the blood of Christ and what it serves in our lives the
more we will want to ensure that we are covered by it.
Blood was the center
piece in Old Testament sacrifices and the meaning of the shedding of blood
should have kept humanities spiritual fires burning, but like us today those
fires burnt out and we began to do things our own way. God sent messengers to tell the people what
was going on within their hearts, yet the people still ignored the warnings. When Christ walked the earth He preached and
taught the exact same words and still the people did not understand His
teachings. How much more love can One
give than offering His own Son up to serve as the final sacrifice and opening
up of the relationship between God and man again. There is only one way that mankind can return
to God’s presence and relationship and that is through the blood of
Christ. It is this covered bridge that
we will either ignore or walk under. It
is a gift of simple means, chose Christ or not to chose Christ. Is blood that important? You bet your eternal life it is.
DLB
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