JESUS BLOOD WAS NOT SHED ON THE CROSS

Thursday 24 October

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Leviticus 17:11 (NKJV)

And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV)

Just in case you’re wondering, the title doesn’t have a typo. The ‘NOT’ is there by design not default. Let me be crystal clear. Jesus blood was not shed on the cross for anyone. Now before you get offended and leave the group or start hurling stones at me or label me an egregious heretic, let’s see what the Bible says.

Does this mean that Jesus didn’t shed His blood at all? Absolutely not! So, what took place at the cross and where was the blood actually shed? The answers may surprise you.

At the cross Jesus suffered, bled and died. There is no doubt of this whatsoever. We are not disputing this fact in any way. His blood was spilled on Calvary but that was not where it was shed. There is a huge difference spilled blood and shed blood. Let me explain.

Remember in the Old Testament once a year on the day of atonement in the the High priest would take 2 unblemished goats. One he would slaughter and the other he would pronounce the sins of the people upon and release into the wilderness. When the first goat had been sacrificed, the High Priest would take that blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it over the mercy seat. The sins of Israel as a nation would be covered or atoned for one year. This sprinkling was the shedding of blood.

The tabernacle or temple consisted of an outer court and inner court and the holy of holies. This represented the human body, soul and spirit. This was Moses teaching ministry to Israel. So the question remains; where was the blood of Jesus offered as our Great High Priest? There is a train of thought that says He did it in the tabernacle in heaven. It uses the scripture in Hebrews 9:13-14 which says ‘For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God’.

Nowhere in the Bible however does it say Jesus presented His blood on the mercy seat in heaven before the Father. This is purely an assumption. What the Bible is clear upon however is in Acts 7:48.

“However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands…

The High Priest offered the shed blood on the mercy seat in the physical Holy of Holies. Are you ready for this? Jesus our Great High Priest offered His shed blood on the mercy seat of our heart. The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We have been made holy for Him to live in us. This is why we are sanctified or holy.

Some argue that God told Moses to build according to the pattern that he was shown on the mount so therefore there must be a more glorious version of the tabernacle in heaven somewhere and that’s where Jesus presented His blood. I believe that what Moses saw was not so much a building, rather a glimpse into the recreated human spirit that had God’s very presence dwelling in the spirit of man i.e. the holy of holies.

Moses used the tabernacle as a teaching exercise to try to convey this spiritual truth to people of the flesh. In His mercy, God gave Moses ‘the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen’ which was the physical materials and dimensions of the tabernacle in an attempt to reveal Christ . To us as new creatures in Christ, it’s internal not external.

Romans 5:5 says ‘And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.’

One of the meanings for ‘shed abroad’ ‘ekecho’ in Greek is pour forth. It also denotes pouring out and distributing largely.

Therefore the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost and was demonstrated in blood sacrifice. He is the Eternal Spirit through whom Jesus blood was offered. The Spirit of the Father. The shed blood of Jesus was presented to the Father through the Spirit not in a room somewhere up in heaven.

What was physical blood on the cross has been made spiritual through the Spirit so now every heart can be cleansed by the ‘blood of sprinkling’ in the human spirit ‘that speaks better things than the blood of Abel’ (Hebrews 12:24). This is where the blood is shed now. Not on the cross; in the human spirit.

APPLICATION

Thank the Lord that you have been cleansed, justified, sanctified and glorified in Christ and remember that your spirit is the mercy seat because you are now the temple.