When my memory scrolls back to 1966, it isnât just the Beach Boysâ mega-hit, Good Vibrations I hear. Growing up in an acapella church with sometimes intriguing four-part harmony, I remember many hymnsâclassics like The Old Rugged Cross and Amazing Grace.
Yet the hymn that shouts back through the years is: Are You Washed in the Blood?âwritten by Elisha A. Hoffmann. Its refrain, âAre you washed (in my southern Indiana town pronounced âwarshedâ) in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?â
For a young girl, whose stomach still to this day turns over at the sight of blood, that song was troublesome. My Sunday school teachers had not explained Old Testament animal sacrifice. Perhaps that was best.
As Iâve matured and studied more, I realize how vital blood is to life. Physicians use blood tests to evaluate our health. A blood transfusion can restore life. When the Old Testament prophet Isaiah points to Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for our sins, he infers that blood heals: âBut he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.â Isaiah 53:5 NLT
If youâve watched Mel Gibsonâs movie, The Passion of the Christ, perhaps you can still visualize the brutality of Jesusâ flogging and his beaten body nailed upon a wooden cross. And ask, âBut why?â
The simple answer is unadulterated holiness and evil (sin) cannot be compatible. If we want a relationship with the Holy Father, we who sin (all of us miss the mark of perfection) must accept the human sacrifice of His Son as our redemptionâthe bridge between holiness and sin. Our reward? A resurrected life!
âThe Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.â Romans 8:11, NLT