http://thebestchristpainting.blogspot.com/2010/11/blood-of-christ-painting.html
I discovered recently that there are some modern theologians who suggest that blood was used metaphorically in the Bible. That was very surprising to me, especially in light of Leviticus and communion. Read these two verses, then take the five minutes of slow reading aloud to go through what the Puritan writer Henry Law says about the blood of Christ. What do you think? Is the “blood of Christ” significant?
“And I will turn against anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you, who eats or drinks blood in any form. I will cut off such a person from the community, for 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 17:10-11
53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 John 6:53-59
We join Henry Law writing about theprohibition against blood in Leviticus 17.
“From age to age, until the expected Jesus came, the same forbidding voice was heard, ‘Touch not, taste not, the blood. It is devoted unto God. It is most holy unto Him. It pictures out redeeming suffering. It is atonement for the soul.’
Reader, the elders of faith’s family were thus constrained to note this mark. No day could pass without remembrance of its hallowed end. We live in Gospel-day. The wondrous death is no more veiled in mystic types. We gaze with open eye upon the blood-stained cross. We can approach the fountain opened in a Savior’s side. We may sit down beneath the trickling drops. We may there wash our every sin away. Shall we, thus privileged, fall short in reverence? Forbid it faith, forbid it love, forbid it every throb of every new-born heart.
Come, think for a few moments of the grand antitype—Christ’s blood. Ponder its worth—its use—its mighty power—its unspeakable results. And may the Spirit reveal its glories in their fullest light.
Turn not your eyes from the grand dignity of Calvary’s Lamb. This is the marrow of all Gospel-hope. This brings in merit. God cannot ask, or find, a greater or a worthier price. Oh! bless the Father for this appointed help. Bless Jesus for this all-sufficient aid. Here is an able Savior, for the blood flows in the channel of omnipotence.” Henry Law’s Commentary on Leviticus
