The Blood of Christ is indeed sacred and potent when you understand how it is the means of our Salvation. The strength of the Blood is in the act that it depicts rather than its chemical or biological formula. This Blood signifies the Lord’s Death. Blood is the symbol of life and the shedding of blood is the symbol of death. The Bible is literal in this picture of Christ’s death. The humanity of Christ was literally put to death (executed by God on our behalf). Shedding of blood was a very familiar phrase that the Jews used in the concept of loss of life.

In 1 Corinthians 11 the Word of God speaks of the communion elements the bread and the wine which represent the body and the blood of Christ. What do these elements speak of and what do they represent? They portray His death. It is this perception that must be embraced to fully understand the significance of the Blood of Christ and why "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin"

(1 Cor 11:24-26) And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is .  .  .     for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.

The bread (body of Christ) and the cup (blood of Christ) are sinificant because they show (represent) His death.

Verses that clearly show that shedding of blood speak of loss of life (death)

(Heb 9:22-26) And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

(Gen 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood  (kills a man), by man shall his blood be shed  (put to death): for in the image of God made he man.

(Gen 37:22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood   (don’t kill him), but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

(Heb 9:14,15) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

(Ex 22:2 ) If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.( No one needs to be put to death)

(Deu 21:6,7) And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

(Psa 79:3) Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

(Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

(Acts 22;20) And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

The issue in all of these verses is loss of life not bleeding or blood letting. The crime or payment was focused on the life of the individual. The familiar phrase "Shedding of blood" was well understood at the time the scriptures were written. We should worship the act not the symbol of our Salvation. Just like the Children of Israel we are in danger of worshiping the Brazen Serpent rather than the event it portrayed (Christ being made sin and judged for us) if we pay homage to the red corpuscles and serum rather than the substitutionary death blood depicts.

The accusation that this train of thought distorts the literal meaning of God’s Word is unfounded. I believe the literal meaning of "shedding of blood" is always loss of life throughout the Bible and that the literal death of Jesus Christ’s humanity is clearly in focus. I believe in a literal death not a bleeding. There are many other examples that are consistent with this descriptive concept.

The Lamb of God speaks of a literal sacrifice not a wooly animal.

"I am the door" speaks of an avenue of approach rather than a physical doorway on hinges.

"Bread of life" speaks of life giving sustenance not loaf bread.

Christ the vine and believers the branches speaks of a literal relationship or union not a plant.

Shepard and sheep are similar pictures of association.

"The Son of God" is not literal progeny but descriptive of functional relationship.

When the Word of God is called powerful, sharper than a two edged sword, it is not the paper and print that is in focus but the message.

Living water is not literal H₂ O.

Israel when called the wife of God depicts a relationship not a literal wife.

Wood Hay and Stubble, Gold Silver and Precious Stones are not literal but representative of a literal evaluation of the production of the believer.

I believe in literal meaning not literal objects of description. These descriptive phrases carry a message that must be grasped. To glorify the objects or phrases of communication over the message being conveyed is a subtle form of Idolatry. Images of Christ hanging on the Cross is an example of focusing on the picture rather than the judicial implication. Christianity is not like heathen religions with unexplained rituals and symbolism. Every picture or object that is used has teaching significance. The value is in the concept not the display of it. Man naturally loves to glorify objects buildings and ceremony at the expense of the intrinsic truth. Some elevate the communion elements others place unwarranted spiritual significance on water baptism, speaking in tongues and healing phenomena while ignoring the message being conveyed. Let us not be quick to make an icon out of the physical at the expense of the spiritual. The Blood of Christ is indeed precious since it is His death on the Cross. When we claim the Blood we claim the substitutionary death that was given on our behalf. To make the blood represent anything else is misuse of the Word of God.

The Christian Counter