Every animal sacrifice of the Old Testament adds its voice of strong insistence that apart from the shedding of blood there can be no true relationship with God at all. Sin has caused a total barrier that only the blood of a perfectly acceptable sacrifice can remove. All of this pointed to God's one great provision of the New Testament: "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,. . . But with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18).

What infinite value is in that blood, and what infinite blessing has been secured by it for the sake of innumerable sinners saved by the grace of God! Let us consider some of the dreadfully devastating effects sin has caused, and the wonderful value in the blood of Christ that is sufficient to fully remove them all.

1. The contamination of sin has rendered us all unclean. For this reason cleansing by the blood of Christ is an absolute necessity. Only His blood can cleanse us in the eyes of God from such filth. Every believer may have the firm assurance that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

2. Because sin is an offence against God, an insult to His supreme power and authority, therefore we require forgiveness; and forgiveness is impossible without a basis of truth when we have offended the Creator of heaven and earth. This perfectly satisfactory basis is "the precious blood of Christ." In Him "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7). But "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). God forgives because He sees perfect virtue in the blood of Christ.

3. Sin has also brought all mankind into bondage: it has enslaved us. Therefore redemption is another great necessity. God's Word says concerning believers, that in Christ "we have redemption through His blood" (Eph. 1:7). That signifies the complete setting free and bringing back by virtue of a price paid; that price the bloodshedding of the Son of God. Only God can measure the greatness of that price, but believers can certainly appreciate the marvellous liberty it has brought them.

4. The guilt and stigma of sin is another of its dreadful consequences. For this we require justification. "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5:9). The true believer is "now justified by His blood." He is completely cleared from every charge, and righteousness is imputed to him, that is, it is put to his account, though he has no righteousness of his own. It is a perfect justification because of the perfection of the value God sees in the blood of Christ.

5. Because sin has also affected us by involvement with a world of evil, a separation from this involvement is necessary. This is sanctification, or being set apart. We could never accomplish this, for we were hopelessly enmeshed and beyond all human help. God has accomplished this wonderful work for believers, again by the blood of His beloved Son, setting us apart to Himself from the world and its evil associations. "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate" (Heb. 13:12).

6. Sin has also caused enmity toward God, and though the need then for peace was great, no human effort could accomplish this. Not that God was our enemy, but we were His enemies. Only concerning Christ, the Son of God, could it be said, "having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:20). This is the only basis of peace for sinful mankind, and therefore all who receive Christ receive peace with God.

7. Closely connected with this is the fact that sin has caused distance between mankind and God. Humans in their sins do not like to think of being near to God. But nearness to God is what people need, and this too is accomplished only by Christ Jesus, through the shedding of His blood. Scripture says concerning true believers, "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13).

8. Because sin has caused the false service of dead works in our outward conduct, this required the blood of Christ to purge the conscience in order that one may do true service to God. "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. 9:14).

9. Because sin has made man an idolater, worshipping almost anything but the true God, only the blood of Christ could change this, and transform one into a true worshipper of God. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Heb. 10:19). Apart from that precious blood shed, one can never enter God's presence as a true worshipper of the living God. But what a transformation, from idolater to worshipper!

These are some of the wonderful reasons we have for profoundest thanksgiving to God for "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," and all of this is applicable to all of those who have truly received Christ as Saviour.