What we see in the Law of Moses is the means by which people were temporarily forgiven by the Lord because of the sacrifices of bulls and goats. All of the details found in page after page of Exodus and Leviticus were fulfilled in Christ when He, the Lamb of God, was slain on the cross.
There is a crimson thread that runs throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, and this red strand is a strand of blood. It is found everywhere. From the time that Abel offered the lambs of his flock in sacrifice to the altar that we see in the Book of Revelation, there is the thread of blood. Why?
Scripture says that the life of the flesh is in the blood. This was many thousands of years before William Harvey discovered, in 1615, the real function and nature of blood that circulates through the body and gives life to every single organ and every single cell. Before all of that, God had revealed to Moses that the life is in the blood: “I have given it [the blood] to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives” (Leviticus 17:11).
In actuality, the blood of sheep, goats, bulls, and rams could not pay for the sin of man. All of those were merely foreshadowings of the Lamb of God that would come to remove the sin of man. The day came, at length, where, there in the wilderness beside the Jordan, John the Baptist reached forth his finger and cried out, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
So one day men came and led the Holy One away—the Lamb without spot or blemish. His blood must be shed. So there was Gethsemane. There, on His knees in prayer for three hours, Christ, facing the agony that would await Him on the morrow—when the sin of the world would be imputed to Him and all of the lightning of God’s anger for sin would fall upon Him—cried out, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39).
It would have been possible, under one of two circumstances: First, God would cease to be righteous, but that cannot be. Second, it would have been possible that the cup could have passed from Him and mankind could have been swept into hell. But the love of God would not allow the latter, and the justice of God would not allow the former. And so that cup was extended before Christ’s face the next day, and He took upon Himself the sin of the world.
After Gethsemane there was Gabbatha, the stairway leading up to Pontius Pilate’s throne chair. There again, His blood was shed, as on the night before, when He exuded great drops of blood through His pores because of the agony of His heart and soul. So now at Gabbatha the blood ran down His legs from the scourge and from the crown of thorns He wore on His head.
Finally, there at Calvary, His hands and His feet were pierced with cruel nails, and slowly, hour after hour, the blood dripped constantly on that blackened rock. The Lamb of God was giving His blood. The final remnants of that blood were spilt when a Roman spear pierced His side. There flowed blood and water—incontrovertible evidence of the death of Christ and division of the blood into its constituent parts: the red corpuscles and the lipid white water-like substance.
