PART 1 — THE OLD TESTAMENT “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” — Leviticus 17:11 EVERY man should be able to give a reason for the hope that is in him; and I do not believe the man lives who can give a reason for his hope beyond the grave, who is a stranger to the Blood. I am often told that I make the plan of salvation too easy, and that it is folly to say that men can be saved by trusting simply to the atoning blood of Christ. Now I do not wish anyone to believe what I say, if it is not according to Scripture; and the best way is just to turn up the Bible and see what the Word of God says about it.

The first portion of Scripture I would call your attention to is from the very first book of the Bible. If you turn to Genesis 3:21, you find, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” In this verse we get the first glimpse of the blood.

Certainly God could not have clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts unless he had shed blood. And to me it is a very sweet thought that sin was covered before Adam was driven out of Eden — that God dealt in grace with him before He dealt in judgment. It may be that this was a type, away back in Eden, of Christ the coming One, of the Sacrifice to be slain; and Adam might have said to his wife, “Well, even though God had driven us out of Eden He loves us, and this coat is a token of His love.” Someone has said God put a lamp of promise into his hand before He drove him out. “The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.” Did you ever think what a terrible state of things it would be if man in his lost and ruined state were allowed to live forever? It was from love to Adam that God drove him out of Eden, that he should not live forever. God put the cherubim there with the flaming sword. But now Christ has come and taken the sword into his own bosom, and opened wide the gates, so that man can come in and eat. Adam might have been in Eden ten thousand years and then be led astray by Satan; but now “our life is hid with Christ in God.” Yes, man is safer with the second Adam out of Eden than with the first Adam in Eden.

Then let us turn to Genesis 4:4: “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell.” Now here were two boys who were born and brought up outside of Eden. They were children of the same parents, and brought up under precisely similar circumstances and under the same influences, and there is no account of any difference between these two boys until they go to offer sacrifice.

Abel brings the blood, and is accepted; Cain comes in his own way, and is rejected. Undoubtedly, when our first parents fell, God marked out the way by which man might come to Him; Abel walked in God’s way, but Cain in his own. You may have wondered why Cain’s offering was not just as acceptable to Him as Abel’s; but one took God’s way and the other took his own. Perhaps Cain said he could not bear the sight of blood, and took that which God had cursed, and laid it on the altar. Perhaps he said to himself, “I shall certainly not bring a bleeding lamb. I don’t like that doctrine at all. Here is the grain and the beautiful fruit which I have raised by my industry, and I’m sure it looks better than blood.” And there are a great many Cainites in the church today. They are trying to get into heaven their own way. They bring their own good deeds to God. They prefer what is agreeable to the eye, as Cain did his beautiful corn and fruit; but they do not like the doctrine of the Blood of the Atonement. From the time Adam left Eden there have been Abelites and Cainites. The Abelites come by way of the blood — the Cainites come in a way of their own.

They wish to get rid of the doctrine of the blood. But be assured that any religion which makes light of the blood is of the devil. No matter how eloquent a man is, if he preaches against the blood he is doing the devil’s work. Do not listen to him. Do not believe him. If an angel from heaven should preach any other gospel I would not believe it. “Christ died for our sins,” — that is the gospel that Paul preached, and Peter preached, and that God has always honored in the salvation of men’s souls.

The next glimpse we get of the blood is in Genesis 8:20. “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.” We have passed out of the first dispensation and now have come to the second; and the very first thing Noah does, is to put blood between him and his sins. The second dispensation is founded upon blood. Thus Noah walked by the highway of the blood; for this the animals were taken through the flood; and all God’s people have been walking that way since, for it is the blood that atones for sin.

Would you turn to Genesis 22:13. “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham, went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.” God loved Abraham so much that He spared his son, but he so loved the world that He did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Now we are told that Abraham saw Christ’s day and was glad. I do not know when he saw it, but I have an idea that it was from this very place that God drew back the curtain of time and showed him Christ as the Bearer of sin. Just look at that scene. There is the altar, built at the command of Jehovah. God had told him to take his son, his only son whom he loved and bind and slay him. He has bound the boy; everything is ready, and now he takes the knife to slay his son. He does not know what it means, but God said it and he obeys. I wish we had men like Abraham, nowadays, willing to obey God in the dark, not asking the reason why. I can see him put his arms round his boy as he takes him to his bosom and weeps over him. I can hear him telling him the secret he had hidden from him so long. What a scene! What a struggle it must have been!

Now he is ready to plunge the knife into the heart of his son. But hark! there comes a voice from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham! spare thy son.”

Ah! there was no voice at Calvary, no cry from heaven then, “Spare thy Son.” He gave him up freely for us all, the Innocent for the guilty, the Just for the unjust.

Turn now to < 021201 > Exodus 12 — one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. At the thirteenth verse we read, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you.” God did not say, “When I see your good deeds — how you have prayed, and wept, and groaned, I will pass over you,” but “when I see the blood .” It was not their good resolutions, their tears, their prayers, their works, their faith, that saved those men in Egypt; it was the blood. What were they to do to be saved? They were to put the blood on the doorposts and lintel. They were not to put it on the threshold. God would not have them trample upon the blood. But that is what the world is doing today.

Men say it is not the death of Christ; it is his life. But God did not say, “Take a white, spotless lamb, and put it there at the front of the door, and when I see the lamb I will pass over you.” Had an Israelite done that, the angel of death would have passed by the lamb; would have entered that house; would have laid his cold hand on the eldest born. A live lamb could not have kept death out that night; he would have fallen a victim like the Egyptian. Very likely, when some of the lords and dukes and great men rode through Goshen, and saw the Israelites sprinkling their dwellings, they said they never saw such foolishness. Very likely they thought they were just spoiling their houses. Every house had blood on it. No Egyptian could understand it. But on that memorable night when death entered every house from the palace of the king to the hovel of the poor, when the wail of sorrow went up from that stricken land, it was the blood that kept him from the homes of Goshen. Yes, it is the blood that must cover our sins. I beg of you, do not let the world move you on this point. Let it go on mocking, and laughing, and making light of the precious blood of the Son of God. It is our only refuge, our only hope. We cannot cover sin by any good deeds of our own. It is a very common saying, “If I were only as good as that man who has preached the gospel for fifty years, or that mother in Israel who has visited the sick and been so kind to the poor, I would feel safe for heaven.” But I want to say if you are sheltered behind the blood of the Son of God, you are as safe as any saint that ever walked this earth. It is not a long life of good deeds that is going to save us. It is not our Christian usefulness that will ever commend us to God. Certainly we must work for Christ; certainly it will be better for you in the future if you do. But that is not salvation. Certainly you must follow Christ; certainly you must imitate His pure and holy life. I would go further, and say it is an absolute necessity you should do so; but the life of Christ may be preached forever, and if His death be left out, it will never save a soul.

People say you must work, work, work, in order to get salvation. Ten thousand times no! You get it as a gift; “Whosoever will, let him take .”

You can work as much as you like after you have taken it. “Work out your own salvation.” Yes, but that was spoken to Christians, people who had taken it. So we must first take it, and then we can work it out. We take salvation as a gift and then begin to work because we cannot help it. All work done before that must go for nothing. When the angel of death swept through the land that night, the good and the bad were destroyed together.

Into every house where the blood was not sprinkled, the destroying angel came. But wherever the blood was on doorpost and lintel, whether they had worked much, or whether they had worked none, God passed them over.

The little child in the humblest tent was just as safe as Moses or Aaron, as Joshua or Caleb, as safe as any in the land. God did not say, “When I see your gilded palace, or your beautiful home; when I see your goodness, your life of service, or your faith,” but, “when I see the blood, it shall be a token.” Not for their own sakes, but for Christ’s, did He pass them by that night. Someone has said, that the little fly in Noah’s ark was just as safe as the great elephant. It was the ark that saved them both. So Christ saves the weak disciple just as well as the strong one.

When you go to a railway station you find all classes of people wishing to travel. They have their tickets and take their places in the cars. When the conductor comes to ask for the tickets, he does not look to see what or who you are. You may be rich or poor, learned or unlearned, this or that; he looks for the tickets , and if you have your ticket you pass. The ticket is the token . So if you are sheltered behind the blood of Christ, you may be very ignorant or poor in this world, but you are as safe as the wisest or healthiest.

A great many people are wondering why they are so weak; why they fall so often when temptation comes, why so little spiritual power is given them. I think you will find a lesson in that same chapter, in the 11th verse: “Thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.” They were not only to kill the lamb and take the blood and sprinkle it on the doorposts, but they were to eat of it. That is the way to get spiritual strength.. The reason why we are such sickly Christians, is because we do not feed on the Lamb. We have a wilderness journey before us as the children of Israel had, and if we do not feed upon Christ we must starve by the way. We have not only to look to the blood for safety, but we must feed on Christ for strength. How much the soul needs to be fed!

Day by day our souls must be fed with the heavenly manna. The Lord has given Him up for us; He calls Himself the Bread of Life. Feeding upon Christ is feeding on his Word. There is no book that will feed the soul but the Bible. If I feed on the Word of God, I get spiritual strength and power.

Some people think if they get one glimpse at Christ it is enough. We must live by faith as well as be saved by faith. The just shall live by faith. Each day we must gather the manna afresh. A good many people seem to be living on stale manna — manna that they got months or years ago when they were converted. We should no more think of laying in spiritual food to last for ten years than we should of bodily food.

In verse 2 we read, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.” For 400 years they had been serving the king of the Egyptians, but God would not let them count those years. They must make a fresh start, as it were. So all the years that we spend in the service of the devil go for nought. Life never really begins until we have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ.

Everything dates from the blood, and even the Jew has to own that the death upon the cross was the beginning of days.

Turn now to Exodus 29:16: “And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” I used to read these words and these books of the Old Testament, wondering what they meant. They were to take the blood and sprinkle it “round about upon the altar.” Now I think I understand it. It teaches that there is no way of approaching God without coming by the blood. It has been so in all ages. Even Aaron, the high priest, had to take blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar, before he could have an interview with God — teaching us the great lesson that approach to God never has been, never will be, never can be, except through the blood of the Lamb.

We have the same thing brought before us again in the thirtieth verse of the tenth chapter. “And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of the altar, once in a year, with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations; it is most holy unto the Lord.” Atonement means at-one-ment; the blood of Christ makes the sinner and God at one. Before Adam fell God had bound him to the throne with a golden chain, which was broken by the fall.

But Christ came down and linked man back to God again. At-one-ment — that is what the blood of Christ does, makes atonement. We talk about sins being forgiven; they are forgiven, but no sin ever committed in this world was forgiven without being punished. They were punished in Christ; He made expiation — “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Think what it cost Christ to make expiation. Think what it cost God when He had to give up his only-begotten Son, to give Him up to die!

Turn for a moment to Leviticus 8:23: “And he slew it, and Moses took of the blood of it and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.” That is another verse I used to stumble over. What did it mean? blood on the ear, blood on the hand, blood on the foot? I think I understand it now. Blood on the ear — without it man cannot hear the voice of God. No uncircumcised ear can hear his voice. Men heard the voice of God and they said it thundered; they did not know the difference. But when the blood is applied, men know the voice of God — we know that it is the voice of our loving Father in heaven. Blood on the hand — that a man may work for God. Those men that think they are working for God, and yet ignore the blood, are deceiving their own souls. One day they will wake up to find that their labor is in vain.

Salvation is “to him that worketh not but believeth.” No man can work his way into the kingdom of God. They said to Christ, “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” Perhaps these men had got their pockets full of money, and were ready and willing to build churches. “This is the work of God,” said Christ, “that we believe on Him whom He hath sent.” No man or woman can do anything to please God until they have believed on his Son.

Suppose I say to my boy, “Willie, I want you to go out and get me a glass of water.” He says he doesn’t want to go. “I didn’t ask you whether you wanted to go or not, Willie; I told you to go.” “But I don’t want to go,” he says. “I tell you, you must go and get me a glass of water.” He does not like to go. But he knows I am very fond of grapes, and he is very fond of them himself, so he goes out, and someone gives him a beautiful cluster of grapes. He comes in and says, “Here, papa, here is a beautiful cluster of grapes for you.” “But what about the water?” “Won’t the grapes be acceptable, papa?” “No, my boy, the grapes are not acceptable; I won’t take them; I want you to get me a glass of water.” The little fellow doesn’t want to get the water, but he goes out, and this time someone gives him an orange. He brings it in and places it before me. “Is that acceptable?” he asks. “No, no, no!” I say; “I want nothing but water; you cannot do anything to please me until you get the water.” And so, my friends, to please God you must first obey Him; and the first thing he asks us to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” He has given us an unspeakable Gift — the son of His bosom — and if we reject that Son, and refuse to follow Him, do you think anything else we can do can please Him? Blood upon the foot — to walk with God. God never walked with the Israelites until the blood was sprinkled in Goshen. Then nothing could stand before them. When they came to the Red Sea, it fled at their approach. In the wilderness He opened his hand and gave them manna to eat. When they came to Jordan they walked dry shod through the bed of the river, because the Almighty God was walking beside them. Yes, it was a blood-bought people that God brought into Canaan, the promised land.

And God will walk with every blood-washed sinner, and no man shall stand before Him.

I can imagine some of you saying, “I do not understand yet why God demands blood.” A person said to me, “I hate your God; your God demands blood. I don’t believe in such a God — my God is merciful to all; I do not know your God.” But if you will turn to Leviticus 17:11, you will find why God demands blood. “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.”

Now, suppose Queen Victoria did not like any man to be deprived of his liberty, and threw all her prisons open, and was so merciful that she could not bear anyone to suffer for guilt, how long would she hold the scepter?

How long would she rule this empire? Not twenty-four hours. Those very men who cry out about God being merciful would say, “We don’t want such a Queen.” Well, God is merciful, but He is not going to take an unpardoned sinner into heaven.

God demands blood, because He said to Adam, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Then sin came into the world, and brought death in. God’s word must be kept. How could God do this and spare the sinner? How could God be just, and justify the ungodly? Man has sinned, and man must die. But what if someone should die instead of him? His own life has been forfeited — the wages of sin is death — but what if someone should buy it back for him, should redeem him? What if one should come forward and lay down his own life a ransom for many — one who had no sins of his own to condemn him to death? Glory to God in the highest; “God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Glory to God in the highest! He sent his Son, born of a woman, to take our nature and die in our stead, tasting death for every man. Glory to God in the highest! “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” If you read your Bibles carefully, you will see the scarlet thread running right through every page of them. The blood commences to flow in Genesis, and runs on to Revelation. That is what God’s book is written for. Take out the scarlet thread, and it would not be worth carrying home.

Three times in this chapter it is repeated, that the life of the flesh is in the blood. And when God demands blood, in other words, He demands life. It has been forfeited. We have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. I must die for my sins, or find some substitute to die in my stead. I cannot get this man or that man to die for me, because they have sinned themselves, and have to die for their own sins. But Christ was without sin, and therefore He could be my substitute. Here comes in the glorious doctrine of substitution Christ died for our sins, for mine; and because He died for me, I love Him. Because He died for me I will serve Him. I will work for Him; I will give Him my very life. He robbed death of its sting, and the grave of its victory. Oh! is it not the least we can do to give our poor lives to Him?

When the Californian gold fever broke out, a man went there, leaving his wife in New England with his boy. As soon as he got on and was successful he was to send for them. It was a long time before he succeeded, but at last he got money enough to send for them. The wife’s heart leaped for joy. She took her boy to New York, got on board a Pacific steamer, and sailed away to San Francisco. They had not been long at sea before the cry of “Fire! fire!” rang through the ship, and rapidly it gained on them. There was a powder magazine on board, and the captain knew the moment the fire reached the powder, every man, woman, and child must perish. They got out the lifeboats, but they were too small! In a minute they were overcrowded. The last one was just pushing away, when the mother pleaded with them to take her and her boy. “No,” they said, “we have got as many as we can hold.” She entreated them so earnestly, that at last they said they would take one more. Do you think she leaped into that boat and left her boy to die? No! She seized her boy, gave him one last hug, kissed him, and dropped him over into the boat. “My boy,” she said, “if you live to see your father, tell him that I died in your place.” That is a faint type of what Christ has done for us. He laid down His life for us, He died that we might live. Now will you not love Him? What would you say of that young man if he should speak contemptuously of such another? She went down to a watery grave to save her son. Well, shall we speak contemptuously of such a Savior? Oh, may God make us loyal to Christ!