IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BLOOD

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day, the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.’

'When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.’

'These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'" Leviticus 12

"…if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Leviticus, chapter 12, we find the Lord giving Moses guidance regarding childbirth and the matter of uncleanliness.

You’ll notice in the scriptures that there isn’t an instance when a woman gave birth that she wasn’t considered unclean and we should see that it was never the child being born that made the mother unclean. Rather, it was all about the blood which was compared when a woman would bleed during her menstrual cycle, another time where she was considered unclean.

It’s interesting that the time duration of uncleanliness was different for a boy than with a girl.

In the case of a boy, the length was forty days or thirty-three days after the son was circumcised. For a girl, the interval was longer, spanning a whopping eighty days but regardless of the length of time, it’s clear that cessation of the uncleanliness was dictated by when the mother would stop bleeding.

Now, we should also note that while considered unclean, a mother was prohibited from touching "anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification” were over. And while this may seem harsh to us today, this mandated time away from the sanctuary was actually a blessing to the new mother who could stay at home, recover properly and regain strength after the birth, bond with their new baby, and keep the child from being infected by potential illnesses that could be contracted from the public.

So why was the blood considered unclean?

Well, actually the people saw menstrual blood in a woman and semen in a man as life giving because they represented important parts of reproduction. However, if life couldn’t emerge from the blood or semen, then they would be considered dead and anything dead was considered unclean. Additionally, there were some schools of belief during this Old Testament time that demons inhabited menstrual blood as well as the post-partum bleeding after childbirth.

Now, let’s fast forward to the New Testament and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yesterday, we saw how Jesus took an Old Testament custom of clean and unclean foods and made a major course correction for societal norms. For you’ll remember that He said it wasn’t what one eats through the mouth that makes someone “unclean” but rather the evil sinfulness that comes out of their heart.

Today, we find John offering up another course correction that was all about the blood shed by Jesus. Look again at His words here:

"…if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

Here, we should note that it’s blood that makes a person clean for when it comes to the blood of Jesus, purification happens.

John reminds us that Jesus walks in the light for indeed He is the Light of the world (John 8:12) and those who place their belief in Him are to walk in His light. When we do this, then we will be in communion with Him and go forth to represent Him and the Gospel as the “light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). And so, we can only truly be the light if we walk in His light and we can only walk in His light of we share fellowship with Him.

Further, we can only share fellowship with Him if we purify our sinful selves and that purification only happens when we are washed white as snow by His blood (Revelation 7:14), the blood of the Lamb who truly did come to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

And so through the cleansing of the blood of Jesus that flowed down from the cross of Calvary to purify and sanctify us, we can go forth to carry on His Gospel work in obedience to His Great Commission calling (Matthew 28:18-20).

Let us give thanks for all that Jesus has done for us and the eternal hope of salvation we have in and through Him. My prayer is that we can lift up our voices with the saints past and present, singing this chorus from one of my favorite hymns of all time:

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Indeed friends, it’s all about the blood…the purifying, cleansing blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ that covers us so that death will one day pass over on our way to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.