Gen. 4:1-8; Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22, A Bloody Religion

A frequent observation about Christianity is that it is a “bloody religion.”  This has at times been a criticism, but just as often perhaps, it has been said by those who embrace the religion of the cross of Christ.   Let us consider this on this Good Friday.

I want to begin with a quick survey of the Bible.

·        The Bible begins with God as Creator (Gen. 1-2).  As Creator of all that exists in the universe He is the Creator of human.  He showed His love by placing Adam and Eve in a Garden that fully met their needs and where they enjoyed fellowship with Him.  As their Creator they are accountable to Him.  

·        The Bible considers sin to be a real problem (Gen. 3).  

o   Sin is a legal problem; Adam and Eve violated the command of the Creator.  The Creator now became their Judge.

o   Sin is a relational problem; it destroyed their fellowship with God so that, when God came to the Garden they hid from Him.  They had been created in His image so as to find their joy in that relationship.  

o   Sin is a personal problem; it brought shame and guilt.  Even though the sinner did not immediately die physically the sin cast them into a “death culture.”  The fundamental selfishness of their sin now cast a long shadow over everything they thought and felt and did.

o   Sin is a human problem; they were cast out of the Garden and no one has had access to that place and experience since then.  What they did became the norm for every one of their descendents to this day.

·        The Bible proclaims hope for the sinner (Gen. 3-Rev. 22).  Even before they were cast out of the Garden God promised to crush the head of the Serpent through the “Seed” of the woman.  In the closing chapter of the Bible we hear this invitation: “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”  

How could those who were deprived of “the tree of life” in the Garden of Eden come to be invited freely to take of “the water of life”?  The answer to that question involves, or we should better say, requires the shedding of blood.  As God would later say to the people of Israel, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement (covering) for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leb. 17:11).  The sinner had to die.  His only hope was to have a substitute, someone to die in his place, to take his punishment (propitiation) so as to restore the relationship (reconciliation), not only for Adam but for all who were affected, the entire human race.

This requirement of blood should not have come as a surprise to the guilty pair as God Himself provided them with a “covering” of animal skins, replacing the fig leaves they ha

d used to try to hide their nakedness.  But it became even clearer in the story of Cain and Abel.  They did what was right in that they sought to worship God with a gift.  This makes sense that we would give God thanks and glorify Him as God.  But God was very specific about the nature of the gift, not because He is hard to please but because it is impossible for the sinner to please the holy God!  Their worship had to acknowledge the gulf that now existed between humanity and the Creator.

Animal sacrifice became the “norm” for humanity.  In the worship of “false gods” (idols, gods created by people to try to satisfy their death, their emptiness) shedding of blood was common.  This included not only animals but human sacrifices, showing an understanding that there must be a substitute.

Let us conclude our study of the necessity of the shedding of blood in our next post.