Lessons of Life and Blood

Last week I was so excited to participate in a night of remembering the Blood. It was... Fourteen scriptures cut out on pieces of paper. Twelve kids ranging in age from 5-17. Six adults. Two nurses. A white board, with a black and red dry-erase marker. A poster of the tabernacle. After two hours together the lessons of Life and Blood were fresh and wonderful; and the name of Christ was on our lips and in our hearts. Sweet is His sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins; and sweet is the story of blood and God's people from the days of Israel until now. Here is how the night came to be.

Mercy asked me a couple weeks ago what God was doing in my life these days. I immediately responded with, "He is reminding me just how important is the blood of Christ." We talked for a while, encouraging one another. (Mercy is one of my 'Moms' in our church, and I love her.) And then an idea sprang to her ever-thinking and always creative mind. She says, "What if we get Mr. Russ, our local nurse, and he can talk about the life of the blood in the body, while you could come talk about what's on your heart!" "Let's do it!" I replied. So one night last week we all gathered in Nathaniel's house and began a journey, a journey which started with the blood of a lamb on the door-posts of each Hebrew home and ended with the blood on the Cross and in our hearts to cover our sins. From the 1st Covenant to the 2nd!

I was pretty proud of my boys, especially little Ian, as he sat and listened. I love teaching this stuff!! The Blood of Christ and the sacrifices of bulls and goats leading up to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross! I'm not much of an artist. But to me the significance of the blood over the door posts, the blood on the altar, and the blood of Christ is one of the most exciting things in all the world! It's just amazing to me that God would come after us, providing a way of redemption through His very Own. But not only that, he teaches mankind about atonement and the necessity of Blood for the Sin Offerings (and other offerings, but I didn't go into all of those). Their entire life, as depicted quite well on the poster we had, revolved around blood sacrifices. And our entire LIFE today, revolves around God's once-for-all-time blood sacrifice, the atonement and the incredible second covenant. We are HIS. Not "I" am His, alone. But we -- the People of God -- are His! Purchased by Blood.

After I finished Russ came in and add the details of blood itself, providing a really neat picture.

As I taught I had the kids randomly read these scriptures we had handed out to them. It was really amazing how God seemed to time them just right.

Then came time for Russ to tell us about actual blood.  It's been a while since I've seen blood under a microscope. Just to think -- all the amazing and wonderful qualities, the life of the body in the blood, in every way imaginable. Oxygen, nutrients, immunity, DNA, you name it. It's all right there. It's everything. And it's no wonder God chose this substance throughout human history to prove His love and make for us a way back to His heart. What a God.


Just when I thought the night couldn't get any deeper or sweeter, Mala stepped up and shared her heart as a few of us stood around. I had told the kids how God instructed Aaron to put blood on his earlobe, and thumb, and big toe. "Weird, huh?!" Take a look at those scriptures if you don't believe me.  But wait.... what if God really knew exactly what He was doing with this... I mean this goes beyond blood on an alter or on a door frame. This was blood on the High Priest, who made the sacrifices for the Hebrew people.

The sweetness of our Lord's sacrifice for our sins has no end. How deep, how wide, how high! How wonderful is the wonderful LOVE of God. If we could just stop and see each other as God sees us. What if we all had blood on our earlobes, everyday? What if? Would you see how valuable she is to God? Would we remember then how Christ died for us, for you, for me? We are clothed. These are the lessons of Life and Blood.

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Thank you, dear Christ, the Lord of LIFE! Thank you, Abba Father. You have bought for yourself a people with the very blood of your Own Son. And now you are my master and I will NOT go free! What can wash away our sins? Nothing but the precious, wonderful, powerful, lovely blood of Christ, our Lord and Savior! 

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Check out these incredible verses on the Blood and print a .pdf for your own kids. Enjoy.