The Chemistry Of The Blood - by M.R. DeHaan, M.D.

SERMON ONE

"Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people." Leviticus 7:26, 27.

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."

Hebrews 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;

"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."

Leviticus 17:11

This same inspired principle is repeated in the 14th verse where we read again,

"For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof."

Leviticus 17:14

Life, that mysterious something that science has never yet been able to define or fathom, is said by God to be in the blood of the flesh, so that there can be no life without the blood. Now while this is true of all flesh, we are mainly interested in the human blood and particularly in the blood of the man Christ Jesus because in His blood was not only life as we think of it physically but ETERNAL life as well.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BLOOD

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.

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Now all this is true of a physical body, but all points to a greater, deeper spiritual truth. The church of Jesus Christ is called His body and we "are members of His body" and "severally members one of another." In this body Jesus Christ is the head and all believers are the members. These members are related by the blood of Christ. The life of each member depends on His blood and is dependent solely for life, nourishment, cleansing and growth upon the blood of the Lamb of God for "the life is in the blood." Every born-again believer is a member of that body and lives the common life of every other member by the one thing which unites them and makes them “relatives and brothers,” even the blood of Christ. These members may be widely separated in the body like the hands and the feet.

They may differ widely in color; such as the white members-the teeth, and the black members-the hair or pigments of the eyes. They may differ widely in function such as nerves and skin, or differ in structure such as fat and muscle, but they are all members of one body and united by the one tissue, the blood that reaches every member everywhere. Even so it is with the Body of Christ, the true Church. They may differ in color and be white, or negro or yellow. They may differ in function according to their gift and talent. They may differ in their place as far as Eskimos are removed from the Boers in South Africa.

They may differ in form as much as Catholics and Plymouth Brethren but all born-again believers who have trusted the Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Body, are brothers by blood, members of one family and body, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, white or black, Catholic or Protestant, kings or peasants. All are one through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

ALL ONE BY THE BLOOD

Listen, my friends, God cares nothing about our manmade divisions and groups and is not interested in our self-righteous, hair-splitting, and religious, man-made formulas and organizations. He wants you to recognize the UNITY of the body of Christ. Our business is not building denominations and proselytizing men and women from one so-called faith to another but to preach the truth that "Ye must be born again" and that you are lost no matter what church you belong to unless you have been washed in the precious blood of Christ.

Show me the man or the woman who is more interested in getting members for his church than winning them for Christ, and I will show you a person who does not yet know the Unifying and purifying power of the Blood, in making us all ONE in Him, not in form or ritual or mode of worship but one in common interest to EXALT OUR HEAD, the Lord Jesus, and to love one another. Some folks are so busy defending their pet doctrines and sectarian views and getting church members, that they never win a soul for Christ.

ALL RELATED BY BLOOD

All men are related by the blood of Adam, sinful and polluted blood, dead in trespasses and in sins. Scripture teaches that God —

"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

Acts 17:26a

All men have a common origin from Adam. It is Adam's blood which courses in every man's veins whether white or black, Jew or Gentile, pagan or cultured. This blood carries the sentence of death because of Adam’s sin and for this reason all men die a common death, with no exceptions. Now remember that the life is in the blood, and so if man must die it is because there is death in the blood. Whatever the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was we to know that eating of it caused “blood poisoning” and resulted in death for God had said:

"The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Genesis 2:17b

So potent was this poison that six thousand years after all who are related to Adam by human birth still succumb to that poison of sin which is transmitted through the blood. A review of the story of Adam’s creation will make clear this truth. We are told that God formed man out of the dust of the earth. Up to this, Adam was a lifeless clump of clay. Materially he was just so much dust, and merely molded into the shape of a man, but without life, he was a mere dummy. Then the record tells us that —

"And [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Genesis 2:7b

The breath of God put something in man that made him ALIVE. That something was blood. It must have been. It could be nothing else: for we have already shown that the "Life of the flesh is in the blood thereof, and so when life was added by the breath of God, He imparted to that lump of clay in the shape of a man the blood, and a man became a living soul." Adam’s body was of the ground. His blood was the separate gift of God for God is Life and the Author of all life.

SIN AND DEATH

Then man sinned and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and HE DIED. DIED SPIRITUALLY -- and, ultimately, physically. Now since life is in the blood ... when man died, something happened to the blood. Sin affected the blood of man not his body, except indirectly because it is supplied by the blood. For this very reason sin is not in the flesh but in the blood and flesh can only be called "sinful" flesh because it is nourished and fed and sustained by sinful blood. Sin is transmitted through the blood and since god "hath made of one blood all nations," the sin is transmitted to all of Adam's progeny. For in that one sinned all have sinned.

THE VIRGIN BIRTH

This very fact that sin is in the blood necessitated the VIRGIN BIRTH of Christ if He was to be a son of Adam and yet a sinless man. For this very reason, Christ could partake of Adam’s flesh which is not inherently sinful, but He could not partake of Adam’s blood which was completely impregnated with sin. God found a way by which Jesus "born of a woman" (not man) could be a perfect human being but, because He had not a drop of Adam’s sin in His veins He did not share in Adam’s sin. We take up this subject of the virgin birth in another message, but we just anticipated this thought here to further prove the statement that sin is in the blood and the whole plan of redemption, therefore, revolves around the blood.

THE LINE OF THE BLOOD

Now I am sure that what we have so said so far will answer the question "Why is the Bible a Book of blood?" Because sin is in the blood, and it follows that if sin is to be atoned for, sinless blood must be provided by someone who is totally unaffected by Adam's sin and yet belong to the human race. So we can trace throughout the Scriptures this line of the blood. The first mention of the blood is in chapter four [of Genesis] where the blood of Abel cried from the ground for vengeance. In the preceding chapter the blood, while it is not mentioned by name is inferred. you remember how Adam and Eve after their sin have tried to make garments to cover their shame from fig leaves.

That is the history of man. Instead of realizing that sin needs not COVERING but ATONEMENT, man has ever after been trying to save himself by the work of his own hands and by garments of his own manufacture. So he weaves the flimsy fig leaf garment of morality and culture and good works and law works, religion, education and reformation and a social gospel, repeating the error of our first parents when they tried to save themselves by the work of their own hands. They failed us all, [and] since then [mankind] has failed and will fail. Then God comes to them and we read in Genesis 3:21 these words,

In this first record of sacrifice, we have the whole story of the blood. Notice three things about this act of God which was a preview of the whole plan of redemption. First, Adam's sin called for God's intervention. It must be God's work and not man's. GOD MADE THE COAT OF SKINS. Salvation must be ALL of the Lord. Second, Salvation must be by the DEATH of an innocent substitute.

Since these coats were made of skin and animal first had to die to provide the covering. A poor substitute (probably a little lamb) had to die that Adam might be saved. Third, it MUST BE BY SHEDDING OF BLOOD, for the animal must be killed to give it's skin and in this sacrifice it's blood must be shed. Without shedding of blood is no remission. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the sole. "The blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin."