You know, donating blood is really powerful as an object lesson. It's a great conversation starter, what with a neon band of gauze hanging around your arm. And most importantly, it's a way of demonstrating Christ's love for us.
I realize the illustration falls short, but think about Jesus's sacrifice this way:
Christ's blood wouldn't satisfy our dreadful need for cleansing, purification, and restoration if it was tainted in any way, just like how my own blood would be rejected if I was sick. Jesus had to be pure for His blood to work. So also do blood donors' blood cells need to be free from the effects of sin: disease, unlawful sexual relations, abusive substances. Not only that! Blood donors must also meet simple requirements of being physically fit, weighing enough for their body size and having a fit enough heart (blood pressure) to afford to spare a pint of their life. But wait! There's more! Blood donors must also have a sufficient level of iron in their blood, which means even the meals that donor eats the previous week (if not everyday) would have to be carefully and thoughtfully predetermined. So also Christ had to live a life of holiness, preparing himself for His appointment with the needles that pricked His arms and side.
But the blood not only cleanses us--His blood had to be pure to satisfy the demands for God's wrath to be satisfied, propitiated, appeased. No filthy blood would do. Just think back to the Israelites and all the sacrifices in the Temple for the cleansing of sins! We are not made right before God by the blood of goats or bulls, but by our Passover Lamb, the Firstborn without spot, whose blood is pure.
I Peter 1:19-20,22 (NIV)
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect... Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart."
I realize the illustration falls short, but think about Jesus's sacrifice this way:
Christ's blood wouldn't satisfy our dreadful need for cleansing, purification, and restoration if it was tainted in any way, just like how my own blood would be rejected if I was sick. Jesus had to be pure for His blood to work. So also do blood donors' blood cells need to be free from the effects of sin: disease, unlawful sexual relations, abusive substances. Not only that! Blood donors must also meet simple requirements of being physically fit, weighing enough for their body size and having a fit enough heart (blood pressure) to afford to spare a pint of their life. But wait! There's more! Blood donors must also have a sufficient level of iron in their blood, which means even the meals that donor eats the previous week (if not everyday) would have to be carefully and thoughtfully predetermined. So also Christ had to live a life of holiness, preparing himself for His appointment with the needles that pricked His arms and side.
But the blood not only cleanses us--His blood had to be pure to satisfy the demands for God's wrath to be satisfied, propitiated, appeased. No filthy blood would do. Just think back to the Israelites and all the sacrifices in the Temple for the cleansing of sins! We are not made right before God by the blood of goats or bulls, but by our Passover Lamb, the Firstborn without spot, whose blood is pure.
I Peter 1:19-20,22 (NIV)
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect... Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart."
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