The Scarlet Ribbon — Welcome Detweiler

In Washington, Georgia, I have a friend who spends a great deal of his time in bringing the gospel message to the children, and to hold their interest he very often uses some object lesson so that the children can see the gospel illustrated as they hear the message.

The Scarlet Ribbon and Salvation Through Blood

Some ten or more years ago, as I sat in on one of the children's meetings, he used for an object lesson a black-covered Bible through which he had drilled a hole and placed a scarlet ribbon through the hole.

As he opened the Bible, you would see the scarlet ribbon. It made no difference whether he opened it in Genesis, or Matthew, or the last book, the Revelation. The scarlet cord would be seen on every page.

He was trying to impress upon the tender hearts of his listeners that important truth that the Bible presents that salvation is always by means of the shedding of blood. There is no truth portrayed more graphically throughout the pages of Scripture than that of the power of the blood.

As the human body is dead without the blood, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, so likewise the Bible, without the blood, has no life-giving principle. To every student of the Scriptures, it is clear that the doctrine of the blood runs through the Bible like a scarlet thread from the book of Genesis through the book of the Revelation.

Blood Sacrifice from Genesis to Isaac

When we turn to the third chapter of Genesis, we read the narrative of the fall of Adam and Eve, and how they sewed fig leaves together that they might have a covering after they sinned. But that covering did not suffice, and the Lord God Himself made coats of skin to enclose them.

This necessitated the shedding of blood. The Lord God sacrificed the animals that Adam and Eve might have an appropriate covering after the fall. Doubtless, at this point, God instructed Adam and Eve of the need of a blood sacrifice for sin.

For in the following chapter, we read that Abel brought an offering unto the Lord, the firstling of his flock, and God had respect upon Abel and his offering, but to Cain and his offering he had not respect because Cain's offering was not the prescribed blood offering for sin.

Again in the eighth chapter of Genesis, we read where Noah, after the flood, built an altar and offered a blood offering, and the Lord God again accepted the blood sacrifice. Then over in Genesis chapter 22, we have the remarkable story of Abram and Isaac, where God desired to test Abram and asked Abram to offer up his son Isaac for a burnt offering.

However, when the Lord saw Abram's willingness to obey, God stayed his hand and Isaac's life was spared. A ram was caught in the thicket, and it was offered for a burnt offering instead of Isaac and his son.

Passover Protection and Levitical Atonement

In the book of Exodus, we have the wonderful experience of the children of Israel recorded. How did the Lord preserve them in the midst of Egypt when he brought judgment down upon the land of Egypt? But Israel as a nation was sheltered under the blood when the Lord God came through Egypt in judgment, for Israel had applied the blood on the lintel and two side posts of the door, as she was commanded to do by the Lord.

It was the power of the blood that saved Israel in Egypt that dreadful night, for the Lord said, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. There was protecting power in the blood. When we turn to the book of Leviticus, we learn that there is a great deal stated about the need of blood sacrifices.

In chapter 17 and verse 11, we have these words, For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. The Lord God, through his prophets, commanded the nation of Israel to offer a blood offering as the only means of atonement for sin.

Christ the True Lamb and Redemption by Blood

Throughout the history of the nation of Israel, and back to the Garden of Eden, there runs the bloodstream like a scarlet thread, all to prefigure and symbolize that one was to come, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

It is very clear from the Bible that the blood of bulls and goats that were slain on Jewish altars could not by any means put away sin, but they all pointed forward to God's true Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Christ was about to go to the cross to die for our sins, he was led as a lamb to the slaughter. His blood was shed, and without the shedding of his precious blood there could be no remission. Peter, in his first epistle, says, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by perdition from your fathers, but with a precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

In these extremely modern days, when the doctrine of redemption by blood is frowned upon and sneeringly called the gospel of the shambles, it is high time for every true Christian to underscore and emphasize that redemption is ever and only by the shedding of blood.

No Blood, No Remission

Did you ever stop to consider just what would happen to the gospel message or to your Bible if you removed every mention of the blood? If you ever find time to undertake such a task, you will have to write on the cover of your Bible, No Blood, No Remission, for there is no scripture to offer remission of sins apart from the shed blood of Christ.

You may keep on working till your life's last hour, but you'll never get to heaven that way. You may keep on praying till you can't pray more, but you'll never get to heaven that way. You may keep on hoping, you may keep on weeping while your soul lies still in darkness sleeping, but you'll never, never get to heaven that way.

Without blood is no remission, thus the Lord proclaims from heaven. Blood must flow on this condition. This alone is sin forgiven. Yes, a victim must be slain, else all hope of life is vain. But the victim, who shall find it?

Such an one of sinners need. To the altar, who shall bind it? Who shall make the victim bleed? Such a victim as must die, all the world could not supply. God himself provides the victim. Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Heaven and earth and hell afflict him while he bears the sinner's load. Jesus' blood, his blood alone can pour human guilt atone. Joyful truth, he bore transgression in his body on the cross. Through his blood there's full remission for the vilest, even for us.

Jesus for the sinner bleeds. Nothing more the sinner needs. Again, when you remove the doctrine of redemption by blood from the Bible, you must write on the cover, no blood, no peace, for in Colossians 1 .20 I read, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

This verse assures us that if the blood has no value, then there is no such thing as peace. And this is proved daily in human experience for those who are not trusting in Christ and his shed blood for salvation know nothing of soul peace.

No Blood, No Access to God

Remove the blood from your Bible and you remove something else. Let me read it in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way.

Now you can write on the covers of your Bible, no blood, no access to God. How tragic is the thought of a soul without the possibility of approaching God. If such were the case, his prayers would be unheard and unanswered.

You wouldn't be able to sing, what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. As we trace the theme of the blood of Christ through the Bible, we see that he extends even into the future, for the theme song in heaven will be unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

The Blood in Heaven's Song

The redeemed of all ages will join in singing this song of redemption and forever and ever we shall be reminded of our own unworthiness and that our place in heaven was secured at the tremendous cost of his precious blood.

Those who have been born again need not wait until they get to heaven to sing this song, for even here and now they find great delight in worshiping Christ and praising him for the cruel death that he died in order to cleanse us from our sins.

The Blood and True Christian Worship

If you remove the doctrine of the shed blood of Christ from the Bible, then you will also want to remove it from your hymn book, and you will remove the cream of the hymns when you do so. There's nothing quite so monotonous and disinteresting as the cold forms and ceremonies of a church service where the vital things have been set aside.

If you went to the service dead, you will come home deader. That may be an awkward expression, but it fills the bill. If the doctrine of salvation by the shed blood of Christ is not mentioned in your church, you will likely discover someday that you are not in a church.

You are in a religious clubhouse, and spiritually speaking, you will eventually freeze to death. Only when the doctrine of salvation through the blood of Christ is preached do you see souls really saved and lives changed.

The Power of Christ's Blood to Transform Sinners

The power of the blood of Christ is still the greatest force on earth, even though it is in competition with atomic and hydrogen power. No competitive power on earth can regenerate deep-dyed sinners and transform them into new creatures in Christ Jesus, changing their whole outlook, their ambitions, and their habits.

Christ's Blood as the Only Hope of Salvation

The preaching of the simple and clear message of Christ and his atoning sacrifice must go forth, for it is this that is the only hope for this poor world. One by one, those who are sick and weary of living without Christ will turn to him and receive the glorious salvation that he offers as a free gift.

I may be speaking to an earnest soul who is seeking for peace and satisfaction. You have no doubt tried many things already. I ask you to turn to Christ, who has never lost the case. Believe that he died for you.

Believe that his shed blood is the only hope for your salvation.