My sister and I were high school students when we had the opportunity to shadow a doctor who was performing a medical procedure.  We were thrilled with this chance, but we were not prepared to witness the amount of blood lost from the patient.

My stomach felt funny…my sister almost fainted.

Blood phobia is fairly common and some people have a natural reflex reaction at the sight of it.

It’s hard to think of blood as a beautiful thing, isn’t it?  But… did you know that your red blood cells carry and transport oxygen throughout your body and remove carbon dioxide from the body?  That’s pretty amazing.

Without blood, we literally could not survive.

In a spiritual sense, we could not survive without the blood of Jesus.

Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

The blood of Jesus was “poured out….for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28).

It is through the blood of Jesus…his precious blood…that saved us from eternal separation from God.  He redeemed us from sin’s grip through His blood.

Hebrews 10 says that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Before Christ came into the world, the people of God relied on such animals for the forgiveness of sins year after year.  When Jesus came into the world, everything changed.  By God’s will, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10).

Once for all.

We will celebrate Christmas in a few weeks.  Do you think there was a Christmas tree or a wreath set up that first Christmas in the stable?  No.

That first Christmas, there was a baby born in a manger to save a broken world.  That baby would live a perfect life for 33 years and would then shed his precious blood for a broken people.  Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice.   His blood was shed for your redemption.

That’s why he came.

That’s why we celebrate Christmas.

As we start to enjoy the cooler weather and the early nights, we start to see glimpses of Christmas.  While it is a memorable time with our family and friends, remember that Jesus’ blood is the reason we celebrate this special time.

He came to be the sacrifice.

And we could never have survived without His blood.

“Oh, precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

(Robert Lowry, Nothing but the Blood)

~Betsy