As there is a scarlet thread running through every bit of rope made for the British navy, and it is seen wherever the rope is cut, so from Genesis to Revelation is to be found the great truth of atonement by blood. From the coats of skin, wherewith the Lord clothed Adam and Eve after their fall, until it is said in Revelation 7:14, they "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," and "they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony," the doctrine of atonement by blood has been proclaimed by God.
A gentleman once said to Sir Isaac Newton, "I do not see the atonement in the Scriptures."
"Sir," said Newton, "sometimes, in my absent-mindedness, I try to light my candle with the extinguisher on. You take the extinguisher off, and you will see the atonement."
Friend, when you are freed from the base influence of unbelief, then you see the atonement all through Scripture. Like the scarlet thread in the rope, it is seen everywhere. Take the "extinguisher" off, and all is clear.
To refuse the doctrine of atonement by blood is to deny what God says, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. 9:22. And again, "The life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Lev. 17:11.
God also says: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."
One thing alone sheltered the firstborn in the land of Egypt 4000 years ago, and one thing only will shelter the sinner today from the impending judgment of God. It is the blood. The blood of the paschal lamb then. was but a type of "the precious blood of Christ" that redeems and shelters now. 1 Peter 1:18-20 says: "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."
Reader, stop and ask yourself the important question: "Am I sheltered by the precious blood of the Lamb of God?" God says, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Does He see the blood of Christ sprinkled on you? Nothing else can redeem but the "precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."
God is holy. Heaven is a holy place. No sin can find an entrance there. You are a sinner, defiled by sin. Therefore you are unfit for the presence and home of God, who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Hab. 1:13.
What can wash away your sin, and make you clean in God's sight? Only the precious blood of Christ. Neither baptismal waters nor sacramental wine can remove the stain of sin, or give a ransom for your guilty soul. What can? Ah, listen, fellow sinner; for in the answer is our only hope. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
"Put my finger," said a dying woman, "on that word 'all.' I can go into the presence of God resting on that word 'all.' "
A woman who was known to be a vile sinner in a small town where she lived, confidently affirmed, when dying, that she was going to heaven. "You going to heaven?" said someone. "Don't you know what a sinner you have been?"
"Yes," said the poor dying woman. "I know I am a sinner; but it is the blood, the blood, the precious blood, that cleanses!"
"Though the restless foe accuses,
Sins recounting like a flood,
Every charge our God refuses:
Christ has answered with His blood."