And they have conquered [the accuser of our brothers] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
(Revelation 12:11)
I didn’t know a lot of the old hymns sung in churches until I came to a living faith in Jesus in my 30s. One of the songs I came to love was “There’s Power in the Blood.” It was a favorite of the editor of a Christian publishing house where I once worked. I can picture Len singing the hymn with gusto at a board meeting. As he sang, he pounded out the rhythm with his hand on the conference table. The lyrics he sang were more than words; they were his testimony. His faith in the truth of those words stoked faith in my own heart—I felt the power!
Sometimes we can be squeamish about the thought of blood. The sight of blood can make some feel faint. But God’s salvation plan is built around the shedding of blood in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. God’s Scriptures thematically connect blood to His holiness, to redemption, to salvation, and to the forgiveness of sin.
Blood at Passover in Egypt
In 2026, the biblical feast of Passover begins on Wednesday evening, April 1. In the Jewish calendar, Passover begins on the 14th day of the month Nisan (see Exodus 12:1, 2). Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrate the great deliverance of the Israelites from their centuries of bitter slavery under the Pharaohs of Egypt.
You may recall that there were ten plagues of all kinds. The plagues began with the Nile being turned into blood (Exodus 7:20–25). That was the Egyptians’ source of water and life, rendered deadly and unusable. Then, annoying things like frogs and flies showed up in the Egyptians’ kitchens and bedrooms. The plagues continued to worsen with the loss of agriculture and livestock until they culminated in the death of the firstborn child of each family—starting with Pharaoh’s own household.
In order to protect the Israelites from the final plague (death of their firstborn), God gave Moses and Aaron detailed instructions to keep this calamity away from their families. In contrast to the blood in the Nile, which brought death, God used the blood of a lamb to give life to His people.
Here’s what God told Moses that the Israelites were to do. First, choose a pure, unblemished lamb. Then, on the evening of the 14th day of the first month, each household was to kill the innocent lamb, roast and eat it. Most important, they were to take the lamb’s blood and “put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it” (Exodus 12:7). Finally, He gave a promise: “When I see the blood,” God told them, “I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you” (v. 13).
That night, the firstborn of all of Egypt’s livestock and humans were struck down (v. 29). Why? The lamb’s blood was not on the doors of their houses. Only the blood of the lamb saved lives from destruction that night. After that evening’s disaster, Pharaoh relinquished and set the Israelites free.
What was it about the blood of a spotless lamb that brought life to some—those who applied it to their houses—and death to those who did not? What does the Bible say about the power of this blood to bring life or death?
Blood at the Tabernacle in the Wilderness
God explains to Moses in the wilderness, “The life of any creature is in its blood. I have given you the blood so you can make atonement for your sins. It is the blood, representing life, that brings you atonement” (Leviticus 17:11 NLT). This is how God explains the connection between blood, atonement of sin, and life. This was the basis for all the blood sacrifices offered for the covering of sin in the wilderness Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem.
But where in the Bible do we first see blood, atonement, and life? All the way back to the beginning. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, they hid from God in their guilt and “sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7b). But before God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, “the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). To get skins, an animal had to be sacrificed and its blood shed. This was the first hint that to cover man’s horrific rebellion and sin, something had to die, and its blood poured out.
After the children of Israel had been freed from slavery by the lamb’s blood, God gave the Ten Commandments in the wilderness. These laws formed His people into a nation, with these standards acting as the constitution they were to live by. He gave instructions for building the sanctuary where the people would meet with Him, and He established the Levitical priesthood to oversee the sacrifices.
The 24th chapter of Exodus tells of the “marriage” covenant God made with His people. The ceremony went like this: Moses wrote all the “words of the LORD” (v. 4). He built an altar, and burnt offerings were made, and some of the blood was thrown against the altar. He then read the Book of the Covenant in the hearing of the people. “And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient’” (v. 7). Then Moses “took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you . . .” (Exodus 24:8). When I first read this, I was a bit shocked—blood thrown on the people? Notice how blood and covenant are connected.
Blood on the Priesthood
At the consecration of Aaron as the high priest, blood was used. After killing a ram some of its blood was to be “put on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet . . . and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him” (Exodus 29:20, 21). Those beautiful, special priestly garments described in the preceding chapter are to be sprinkled with blood. Who did the laundry? Blood stains are the hardest to get out of fabric, especially linen. But God promised that this sprinkling of blood on them and their garments would make them holy and ready to serve before a holy God! Here God ties together blood and holiness “without which no one can see God” (Hebrews 12:14 KJV).
Chapter after chapter, the Book of Leviticus details lists of animal sacrifices with blood being thrown against the altar. Thousands of animals–goats, rams, lambs, bulls–give their lives and spill their blood to cover the sins of fallen mankind. What are we to make of all of this slaughter and bloodshed? What is God’s message? How terrible is man’s sin and rebellion against God that so much has to be sacrificed to make it possible for us to draw near to God as the Israelites did in the sanctuary?
Fulfillment Through Jesus’ Blood
Fifteen hundred years after the priesthood and the Tabernacle, a man named John was baptizing and calling the Jews to repentance in the wilderness near the Jordan River. On one of those days, “he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The innocent, unblemished lamb which gave its life blood to save the lives of others was mysteriously being fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus understood the full picture of the blood, the sacrifices of bulls and goats, and the Day of Atonement when sins could only be covered but not done away with completely.
“And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him,’ Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? . . . As they were eating . . . he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it, And he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’” (Mark 14:12, 23, 24). At the same time that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered at the Temple a few blocks away, the Lamb of God was hours away from being carried to nearby Jerusalem hill to be slaughtered and to pour out His blood. This blood is sufficient not just as a covering of sin, as was the blood of bulls and goats, but for the expiation of sin for all who would trust in Him. At His death, the veil of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom, signifying an open door for “whosoever will” come boldly into the presence of the Eternal Father.
Conclusion:
God’s salvation plan is built around the shedding of blood. You may not have realized how costly sin is, but God has paid the price, not through an animal, but through a sinless human. Blood is connected to a covenant relationship with God. Blood is also connected to holiness. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, our sins are washed away, and we are made new again. How wonderful is God’s love for us! Listen to Peter’s words as we meditate on Jesus’ sacrifice this Easter week:
. . . You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him as believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
(1 Peter 1:18–21).
**Scriptures are from ESV unless indicated otherwise.
Tags: sin, atonement, forgiveness, salvation, passover, life, priests, new believer, tabernacle, wash
