Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (John
6:53)
The life of the body is in the blood just as the spiritual
life of the soul is in the redemptive blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of
the physical signs and types of the Old Testament are realized in those
spiritual fulfillments of the New Testament in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Several years ago, the great expositor of the Bible and related
medical science, M R DeHaan, MD, gave a series of five sermons related to the
nature of the blood of man and the Blood of Christ. Those sermons were later
compiled into a book entitled, “The Chemistry of the Blood.” Read an
excerpt of Dr. DeHaan’s first sermon on this vital subject:
“The Bible is a Book of blood and a bloody book.
When we are accused of preaching a Gospel of blood we proudly plead guilty to
the charge for the only thing that gives life to our teaching and power to the
Word of God is the fact that it is the blood which is the very life and power
of the Gospel. The Bible claims for itself that it is a "living" Book
and the only living Book in the world and is able to impart life to those who
will believe with their hearts what it teaches. In Hebrews 4, we read these
words: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword.” (Heb 4:12a)
“The word translated "quick" in this verse is
"LIVING" or "ALIVE." The word of God is a living Word,
wholly distinct from all other books for just one reason, namely that it
contains blood circulating through every page and in every verse. From Genesis
to Revelation we see the stream of blood which imparts to this Book the very
life of God. Without the blood in the Bible it would be like any other book and
of no more value, for the Bible plainly teaches that the life is in the blood.
As we begin this brief series of messages, therefore, on the blood, we must
begin with one fundamental principle found in the Bible. This fundamental
principle is given in Leviticus 17, as follows; “11. For the life of the flesh is
in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement
for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Lev
17:11) Most of this
devotion is a summary of the Chemistry of the Blood by Dr. DeHaan.
The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were a type and
shadow for the ultimate sacrifice of the Son of God which was the only
sacrifice of merit for the forgiveness of sins. There are two types of blood
provided in our Bibles – the first is that blood of Adam tainted with the
deadly disease of sin; and the other is the redeeming and sinless blood of
Christ which is the antidote for that deadly disease we have inherited from
Adam.
In discussing the physiology of the blood, Dr. DeHaan says: “In
the human body there are many different kinds of tissues. We define them as
muscle, nerve, fat, gland, bone connective tissues, etc. All these tissues have
one thing in common, they are fixed cells, microscopically small and having a
specific and limited function. Unlike these fixed tissues, the blood is fluid
and mobile, that is, it is not limited to one part of the body but is free to
move throughout the entire body and touch every other fixed cell as it supplies
it with nourishment and carries off waste products and the ashes of cell
activity which we call metabolism.
“In the normal human body there are about five pints of this fluid, and this
blood pumped by the heart circulates through the system about every
twenty-three seconds, so that every cell in the body is constantly supplied and
cleansed and at the same time is in constant communication and touch with every
other cell in that body. This blood is the most mysterious of all tissues,
being composed of scores of elements and compounds and strange chemical bodies,
whose function is not yet fully understood, but all of which have to do with
the mystery of life for the "life is in the blood." Once the blood
fails to reach the cells and members of the body, they promptly die and no man
ever dies until his blood ceases to circulate. The life is in the blood.”
Now the spiritual brilliance of Dr. DeHaan’s work cannot be covered in a short
devotion, so I hope the reader will acquire this book for their own spiritual
enlightenment and satisfaction. I will paraphrase many points of his work
henceforth in this devotion.
Just as each cell of the tissue comprising the body is fixed and stationary,
they are also isolated in both function and need. But the moving cells of the
blood deliver nutrients of oxygen, minerals, proteins, vitamins, and all other
necessary resources for life to the cells. Like a flowing river of life is the
blood stream of the body. The blood also carries away waste products of the
cells and delivers them to the body’s sanitation department for expulsion. Even
the cells contained in blood are many and varied, but we will deal with
primarily two – the red, and white, blood cells.
Somehow, the blood knows when an enemy invades the body. If our flesh suffers a
wound such as a puncture or a cut, the blood rushes to the site of the invasion
and immediately begins the process of stanching the loss of blood and isolating
the invading organism for destruction. The white corpuscles surround and
embrace the invading organism of bacteria and smother it to death with its
embrace. This is much like the evil thought that emerges in the heart of a
Christian. The abundant springs of love are opened and smother the discordant
thought at its infancy. This is precisely like the function of the Holy Ghost
in imparting a Godly conscience to our hearts, and sanctifying those hearts by
ridding of hateful natures of sin and rebellion.
Lydia Sigourney, more than 100 years ago, wrote a poem
called “The Camel’s Nose” whose lines conclude with this warning to youth (and
to all children of God):
Oh, youthful hearts, to gladness
born,
Treat not this Arab lore with
scorn.
To evil habit’s earliest wile
Lend neither ear, nor glance, nor
smile,
Choke the dark fountain ere it
flows.
Nor ever admit
the Camel’s Nose
Lydia Howard Sigourney, 1860
Do not think that my relating this to the ‘youthful hearts’ of all of the
children of God misrepresents the age of the oldest reader of this devotion -
for we are all children of God who are chosen and elected, and we are as young
as the morning sunrise in the eternity of God.
The Blood of Adam
The Fall of Adam, the federal head of the human race, in the Garden at Eden
changed the nature of mankind from innocence to incorrigibly sinful. It brought
the death of the first innocent animal in providing a covering for Adam &
Eve’s shameful nakedness, and the subsequent death of every creature of God’s
making. His Fall was of immense and immeasurable proportion to us and all
living. The blood of Adam was tainted with the deadly leprosy of sin. All since
have inherited that sin-tainted blood of Adam. Though we try ever so hard, no
man can resist the temptations and lure of sin. If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us……. If we say that
we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1
John 1:8,10)
God had told Adam that he should not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
(Gen 2:17)
So what happened when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit? Did he keel over dead at
the instant? No, he did not physically die immediately, but physical death
began at that moment to work in his members until he did, indeed, die. So what
did God mean concerning the same day that Adam would die when he ate of the
fruit? He meant that Adam would no longer be innocent and would be dead in
trespasses and sin as described in Ephesians, chapter 2. All who are not healed
by the Blood of Christ of our sinful blood disease (sin) are literally ‘zombies
– walking dead.’
The Blood of Christ
The redeeming Blood of Christ was illustrated in that first innocent animal
whose life God took to cover Adam’s nakedness. It is, as well, illustrated in
the blood of the innocent lamb of the first Passover down in old Egypt. It was
illustrated in the blood of goats, lambs and oxen that were sacrificed as a
visible shadow of that true sacrifice to come of the Blood of Christ at
Calvary. All past sacrifices only symbolized that ultimate sacrifice to come: But
Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to
God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:11-14)
I fear that I have done little justice to the brilliant work of Dr. DeHaan on
this subject. Knowing that, why not go out and purchase his book for yourself.
It may even change your understanding of what Christ has done for you in most
remarkable ways.
