From Nothing but the Blood Audio
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. —Leviticus 17

There's something special about blood.

For instance, if walk into a room where red paint has been spilled, then you might feel angry (it it's your room) or you might feel like it's a shame to waste paint. But if you walk into a room covered in blood, we vomit. Blood affects hardened detectives at crime scenes differently than any other substance. 

We can't make blood. The best we can do is . . . 

. . . harvest and split it with science, but without a stream of donors, emergency rooms all over the country grind to a halt. The umbilical cord is a mystery of science. Even the blood we do harvest, is tagged and kept separate. We can't change blood type, but something as simple as the umbilical cord has the ability to change the blood type from the mother's type to the baby's type-AND BACK! We can make a heart. We can make a knee. We can replace a bone, but we cannot make blood. There is something special about blood.

Hold that thought while we take one more detour.

We have what we call blood relatives. Ask someone who their blood relatives are and they'll name brothers, sisters, mothers, sons, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, grandchildren. Maybe even cousins.

When a blood relative makes a mistake, wins or is visited by tragedy, it affects us. A wayward daughter, a suddenly successful father and a terminal child all have one thing in common: everything will change for their blood relatives.

But then there's a point-fifth cousin or the fifteenth cousin-where mistakes, success or tragedy are just another piece of news. We're disconnected from them.

We do this because we can't possibly emotionally invest that far down the blood line.

But if the Bible is true, then Adam's blood, mixed with Eve's blood, courses through my veins. Their mistakes affect me. Their mistakes affect you. Their mistakes affect us.

In that bite of the apple, Adam and Eve broke 100% of the law. But what law have I not broken? Jesus' standard is beyond what I can accomplish. Have I looked at a woman and lusted? Yes. Have I cursed another man in my heart? Yep. Adultry and murder and we're just getting started. 

Just like Adam and Eve, just like my father, just like my children, I can't not sin.

Adam+Eve's non-negotiable with God is no different than mine. And if they were in peril, expelled, unreconcilled, then I, too, am in peril. You are in peril. We are in peril.

But from the very beginning, God had a plan. And it's a big one.

I love you.

This is the third part in a multi-part post expanding on an exceptional talk Billy Graham gave at the University of Cambridge in 1955 with influences from Tim Keller's sermon series Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). To hear an overview of this material, consider listening to the original Nothing but the Blood audio, linke here (it'll stream from a mobile device), read all the posts to date by clicking #nothingbuttheblood, or hear the most recent version of the Nothing but the Blood talk by streaming it on the player, below. If you'd like to get these posts sent to you via email when they come out (and you're not already), click here to register and make sure to tell us that you're a Back Porch Friend.

The next in this series, Part 4 - First Blood is available by clicking here.