We have studied many of the parables of the Old Testament and found vital teachings EVERYWHERE we studied to backup the premise for these articles: there is only one. We could continue through the Old Testament for parable after parable and continue to show this premise to be true, but in fear of tiring some of the readers, we will press on to more internal proof from the New Testament.
The Church of Christ is the only church that could and did come from the side of Christ!! In John 19:34 the record reads: “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” This would have gone unnoticed had not the blood of God’s sacrifices been so pre-dominant throughout both Testaments. The first offering recorded was that which caused the life of the innocent and it should be expected, so the last!! Christ is the FIRST AND LAST and ONLY sacrifice to ever be accepted by God, the Father. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament were made to God the Son to appease the Father’s wrath because of sin. No sacrifice of the Old Testament was EVER presented to His Holiness, the Father.
It is extremely interesting that the Hebrew word for blood is the word dam, a word which also is used to describe the “juice of the grapes”. In Genesis 49:10-11 when Jacob was blessing his sons before his death, to Judah he proclaimed: “The scepter (authority to rule) shall not depart from Judah (remember the Kings of Israel from David on were from Judah), nor a lawgiver from between his feet (that is come out from the womb of one of his daughters, Mary) until Shiloh (the name of the Prince of Peace, Christ) come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine (Jesus had the new ass on which no man had ridden), and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine (blood), and his clothes in the blood (juice) of grapes.” No wonder the Lord’s Supper has the juice of the grape (fruit of the vine) as a symbol to represent the blood of Christ!!
There are two main categories for the use of the word blood in the Old Testament. One, a violent shedding of blood usually resulting in death such as during war or in murder. Two, the shedding of blood while making a sacrifice to God which always resulted in a death. Blood was required because “life is in the blood” we are told in Leviticus 17:11. Life is holy to God, it is His to give and take away, it makes the body of man function, therefore NO MAN has the right to take blood from another, medical assistance excepted.. If he does, he is taking the “role” God left for Himself in dealing with mankind. All the blood of a sacrificed animal had to be drained and distributed (Exodus 12:7, Leviticus 1:5, 4:6, Deuteronomy 12:24). Eating of blood is forbidden in both Testaments (Leviticus 3:17, 17:10-13, Acts 15:29) because blood is LIFE, no man can partake, absorb, take into himself another’s blood, he has not that right!!
Christ traded His life for ours. His blood, life was what PURCHASED His bride, Acts 20:28, it was what RANSOMED the “many”, Matthew 20:28, the “many” are they who have been baptized into Christ, Galatians 3:27. Only those, the many, who have been baptized into Christ, have met His blood, THE TRADE HAS BEEN MADE!! IF ONE DOES NOT MEET THAT SPECIFIED TRADING TOOL, GOD CANNOT TRADE!! For example: we trade $5 for $5 worth of merchandise. The $5 bill is our trading item, if we have only $1 we cannot buy, trade, and exchange one for the other. God made Christ’s life’s blood His tool of choice as a trading item, He will not use another, if man does not meet that “blood” he will be damned. Mark 16:16
