Shedding of Blood = Forgiveness?!

When I prepare for these messages, I will pray that God’s words be spoken and not my own. I find passages within scripture that stand out to me. Sometimes I see those scriptures in a new light, and sometimes questions linger. One portion of today’s message, in Hebrews 9, that I had lingering questions on was in verse 22 “Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins.”

Photo credit: http://lifeverlaasting.blogspot.ca/2012/04/crucifixion-jesus-crucifixion-from.html

(The above link also has an interesting article about the crucifixion from a medical perspective)

This is a verse that immediately tweaked the question “Why?” Why couldn’t God have done it any other way? Why does it have to be this way? I searched through commentaries and other sermons online and I found a particularly moving sermon delivered by Reverend Charles Spurgeon in 1857. I wanted to share some portions with you.

First, he begins his sermon by telling a story of three “fools”. The first fool is a soldier, wounded in battle, who—instead of asking if the wound is fatal or if the doctor has the means to heal him—asks by what sword and by which soldier he was wounded. The second fool is a ship captain who, in the midst of a fierce storm as gone into his quarters to ponder from where this storm came, rather than steering his ship to safety. The third fool is a regular person, sick and wounded with sin in the midst of the storm of Almighty vengeance, who---instead of asking how he can be saved—he is ponders what the origin of evil is.

Spurgeon goes on to address the very question I had. He says: “But some men will say that God's way of saving men, by shedding of blood, is a cruel way, an unjust way, an unkind way; and all kinds of things they will say of it….If you have any faults to find with your Maker, fight your battles out with him at last. But take heed before you throw the gauntlet down; it will go ill with a worm when he fighteth with his Maker, and it will go ill with you when you contend with him. The doctrine of atonement when rightly understood and faithfully received, is delightful, for it exhibits boundless love, immeasurable goodness, and infinite truth; but to unbelievers it will always be a hated doctrine.”

“O sinner, are there tears in your eyes? Look through them. Do you see that man in the garden? That man sweats drops of blood for you. Do you see that man on the cross? That man was nailed there for you. Oh! if I could be nailed on a cross this morning for you all, I know what you would do: you would fall down and kiss my feet, and weep that I should have to die for you. But sinner, lost sinner, Jesus died for you—for you… he died for no one in vain.”

At communion, we have emblems representing the body and blood of our Savior. We are asking the wrong question if we wonder why it had to be this way. Why Salvation is in Christ alone and through his bloodshed. The right thing for the saved to say is thank you. The right question for the lost is how is it that I can be saved?

I find myself too often getting caught up on the confusing “whys” in my faith, rather than accepting that there are things I will never know or understand---the only important thing I need to know at this point as that Christ died so that I could be forgiven and made right with God. And that is worth being thankful for.