From Eden to the Cross

For generations, the church sang boldly about the blood of Jesus. Hymns like "Nothing But the Blood," "Power in the Blood, "and "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power" rang through sanctuaries and revival tents, shaping the faith of millions. These weren't sentimental songs—they were declarations of the gospel's core truth: salvation is a blood-bought, Christ-accomplished reality.

But in recent years, something troubling has happened. In some churches, the blood has been pushed aside. Lyrics are softened. Hymnals are edited. Worship is sanitized. The imagery, they say, is too graphic, too primitive for modern audiences.

Yet removing the blood does not make Christianity more appealing. It makes it powerless. The gospel without the blood is not the gospel. Transforming grace cannot be preached while avoiding the very means by which grace was secured. The old hymns endured because they told the truth plainly: without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Scripture agrees. The Bible mentions blood 427 times. It is the scarlet thread that ties the entire story of redemption together—from Eden's first covering to Calvary's final cry. Peter reminds us that we are redeemed  "not with silver or gold," but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19). The cross was not a surprise in God's storyline; it was the plan from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

The message of the blood begins with one essential truth: life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). That truth is embedded in the earliest chapters of Scripture. When Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to fix their shame with fig leaves, human effort attempting to solve a spiritual problem. But God provided garments of animal skin. Innocent blood was shed so the guilty could be covered. The first death in human history was a divine sermon: sin demands life, and only God supplies the substitute.

The pattern intensifies in Exodus. Israel, enslaved and helpless, faced judgment they could not escape. God commanded them to kill a spotless lamb and paint its blood on their doorposts. Judgment swept across Egypt, but where God saw the blood, He passed over. He didn't look for virtue, pedigree, or sincerity—He looked for blood. That night, the dividing line between death and life was crimson.

These were not random rituals. They were previews. The entire sacrificial system—daily offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings—was God's relentless reminder that sin is fatal and forgiveness is costly. The rituals of Leviticus may seem foreign to modern readers, but it presents one of Scripture's clearest portraits of both divine holiness and divine mercy. God declared, "I have given it to you… to make atonement for your souls" (Leviticus 17:11). Sacrifice wasn't humanity reaching up to God. It was God providing a way down to us.

Every animal slain was a prophecy. Every priest stepping to the altar was a silhouette. Every drop of blood was a promise that a better sacrifice was coming. The shadows pointed forward—to a sinless Lamb whose blood would not merely cover sin temporarily but remove it entirely.

Jesus Christ, the spotless Son of God, is that sacrifice. Born of a virgin, free from Adam's corruption, perfect in obedience, He alone possessed blood pure enough to satisfy the justice of God. Our blood is polluted by sin; His is holy. Our efforts fall short; His sacrifice is enough. At the cross, He took our place, bore our guilt, and paid our debt in full.

We are redeemed not by morality, ritual, or spiritual improvement, but by the shed blood of Jesus. Through His blood we are forgiven, cleansed, and reconciled. Nothing else can save. Nothing else can make us new. Nothing else can bring us home to God.

This blog is written for one purpose: to recover the power, beauty, and necessity of the blood of Jesus in a world that has forgotten why it matters.