…knowing you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (I Peter 1:18-19)
I know of one Baptist church with a policy that no hymn celebrating the blood of Jesus will be used in a service. What they do with all the Scriptural texts on that subject beats me. I’m guessing that some leader has let the mania for political correctness drive his common sense from the room.
Jesus said the new covenant was “in my blood” (I Corinthians 11:25).
The writer of Hebrews said, “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).
The Apostle John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ…cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
“Who are these clothed in white robes, praising the Lamb of Heaven? And where did they come from?” an elder asked. The Apostle John, in the midst of his vision, uttered, “You know who they are.” The elder said, “These…have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:13-14)
Paul told the elders of Ephesus, “Shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).
You can preach a lot of sermons and ignore the subject of the blood of Jesus, but you’ll have to pull a Thomas Jefferson to do it. (You will recall he took scissors and cut everything out of the New Testament which did not conform to his concept of God. He was more honest than many today who do the same thing, although without the shears.)
To the best of my knowledge no one has done with the doctrine of redemption through the blood of the Lamb what J. Sidlow Baxter did in “The Master Theme of the Bible.” The first chapter of that book presents a broad summary of the entire message of Scripture on this subject.
I’m going to lay out the outline he uses, then add a word or two at the end which I hope readers will not skip.
According to the wonderful British expositor J. Sidlow Baxter, Scripture gives 10 primary presentations of the Lamb–
In Genesis 4, the account of Abel and his lamb.
In Genesis 22, Abraham offers a lamb in the place of Isaac.