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By Lloyd Goodwin
ACTS 20:28
“God, that
made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of
heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither
is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing,
seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth….”
Acts 17:24-26.
One statement
in this passage calls for special attention. Paul says that God
hath made of one blood all nations for to dwell on all the face of
the earth. The one thing which relates all men to each other is the
blood that flows in their veins. Every other part of man’s body
differs but little from the body and the flesh of animals, but the
blood is distinct and separate from that of all other creatures.
ALL MEN ARE OF ONE BLOOD and that ONE BLOOD was the blood of Father
Adam, the first man and the progenitor of the whole human race. It
is not Eve’s blood which flows in the veins of mankind, but Adam’s.
That is why it is Adam’s sin and not Eve’s which all men inherit.
Sin, the fallen nature, is in the blood and transmitted in the blood
of man; it is not in the flesh. “Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12.
Since the LIFE
is in the blood, according to the Scriptures, Lev. 17:11,14, and the
wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23, sin affected the blood of Adam and
caused him to die. Because sin is a disease of the blood, it can
only be cured by the application of sinless blood, for it is the
blood that makes an atonement for the soul. “For 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. As the first Adam’s sin
corrupted the blood of the entire human family, so the pure sinless
blood of the last Adam makes atonement for the sin of the world.
“…and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Heb. 9:22.
It is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Eve’s
sin does not affect us, although Eve sinned before Adam did. It was
the SIN OF ADAM that brought death upon the whole race because it is
Adam’s blood which transmits original sin; for this reason we are
not called the SEED OF THE WOMAN but we are ADAM’S SEED. Only Jesus
is called the Seed of the woman, because He was born of a woman and
was without one drop of human blood in His veins; thereby He could
avoid the sin of Adam which is only transmitted through the blood
which the male contributes to his offspring. Jesus could have a
human body, but one drop of Adam’s blood would have made Him a
sinner like you and me. There was then only one remedy for sin;
sinless blood; and only One could supply this, even the sinless Son
of God.
From Genesis
to Revelation we have this message of the atoning blood. In the Old
Testament, we have it in type in the blood of the lambs and the
goats which were slain in the bloody ritual of Israel. Long, long
before the perfect Lamb of God Himself came, the Lord was preparing
the world for Him by the multitudinous types in the Old Testament.
“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ.” Col. 2:17. Without blood there could be no atonement,
and until the blood was presented the holy law of God demanded
justice and death for the sinner. That is why, when God gave the
two tables of the law to Moses upon Mount Sinai – the law which
said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” the law which demanded
perfection or death – He also gave to Moses on the same Mount the
pattern of the Tabernacle, which was indeed built on blood and whose
ritual was bathed in blood. God knew when He gave the law to Israel
that they could not keep it perfectly and MUST DIE, and so in mercy
He gave the Tabernacle and the altar and the blood, so that a
sinning people condemned by the law might have life through the
sheltering blood.
GOD’S PERFECT
LAMB
The blood of
bulls an goats and lambs could not atone for sin, Heb. 10:4, but
merely pointed forward to the One that would come in the end of that
age to PUT AWAY SIN by the sacrifice of Himself. Heb. 10:12;
13:11-12. So in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son into
the world to be born of a woman, and at the end of His life He she
His precious eternal blood ONCE and for all. After that there was
no more sacrifice. The blood of the sacrificial animals of the Old
Testament was corruptible and decayed and was soon gone, but the
blood shed on Calvary was imperishable blood. It is called
incorruptible blood. Peter says,
“Forasmuch
as ye know that 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….”
I Peter 1:18-19.
The blood of
the Lord Jesus is sinless blood, and since it is sinless, it is
incorruptible, for sin brings corruption, and where no sin is there
is no corruption. “So when this corruptible shall put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory.” I Cor. 15:54. The blood that flowed
through Jesus’ veins came from God. “…Feed the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood.” Acts 20:28.
Elsewhere in this message we shall point out why the blood which
flowed in Jesus’ body was sinless and how He escaped having one
single drop of Adam’s human blood within Him. The blood which
flowed in Jesus’ body is still in existence, in His resurrected
body, and is just as fresh as it was when much of it flowed from His
wounded brow and hands and feet and side. That which is
incorruptible – is deathless! The blood that flowed from His
unbroken skin in Gethsemane, the blood that was smeared about His
back when the cruel, weighted thongs cut through His flesh as the
flagellator scourged Him, the blood oozed out under the thorny crown
and flowed from His hands, His head, His feet, was never destroyed
for it was incorruptible blood, and as such is part of His
resurrected, incorruptible body. David, speaking of Him in the
sixteenth Psalm, which Peter quotes in Acts 2, says:
“Because
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption.”
Acts 2:27.
Although the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ lay in the tomb in death for three
days and three nights, no corruption entered it, for that body
contained incorruptible blood. Lazarus being dead only one day more
was said by his sister to be stinking with corruption, but this
One saw no corruption because the only cause of corruption,
SINFUL BLOOD, was absent from His flesh. That blood is still in
existence. Perhaps when the great High Priest ascended into Heaven,
He went, like the High Priest of old, into the Holy of Holies, into
the presence of God, to sprinkle the blood upon the Mercy Seat in
Heaven, of which the material Mercy Seat and Ark in the Tabernacle
were merely copies. Lev. 16:15-16. In Hebrews we read,
“Then
verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and
a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first,
wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which
is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle
which is called the Holiest of all; Which had the golden censer, and
the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was
the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the
tables of the covenant; And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing
the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when
these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the
second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the
people: The Holy Ghost
this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which
was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both
gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats
and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on
them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an
high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this
building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 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 made under the first testament, they which
are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For
where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of
the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead:
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according
to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water,
and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all
the people. Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God
hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the
tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 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 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.” Heb. 9:1-24.
THE VIRGIN
BIRTH
“Now the birth
of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man,
and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her
away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou
son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost….Now all this was
done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is, God with us.”
Matt. 1:18-23.
Is it not
strange that with such a clear record anyone can deny that the BIBLE
TEACHES THE VIRGIN BIRTH. We can understand how men can reject the
Bible record, but how men can say that the Bible does not teach the
virgin birth is beyond conception.
The Bible
teaches plainly that Jesus was conceived in the womb of a virgin
Jewish mother by a supernatural insemination of the Holy Ghost,
wholly and apart from any generation by a human father. This the
Bible teaches so plainly that to the believer there is no room for
doubt. The record cannot be mistaken by the enlightened and honest
student of the Word.
JESUS SINLESS
The Bible
teaches, in addition, that Jesus was a SINLESS man. Whereas all men
from Adam to this day are born with Adam’s sinful nature, and
therefore are subject to the curse and eternal death, the Man Jesus
was without sin and therefore DEATHLESS, until He took the sin of
others upon Himself and died THEIR death. “All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6.
Although Jesus was of Adam’s race according to the flesh, yet He did
not inherit Adam’s nature. “For such an high priest became us,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heavens.” Heb. 7:26.
This fact
alone will prove that sin is not transmitted through the flesh. It
is transmitted through the blood and not the flesh, and even though
Jesus was of the “seed of David according to the flesh,” Rom.
1:3, this could not make Him a sinner. God has made of ONE BLOOD
ALL THE NATIONS of the earth. Acts 17:26. Sinful heredity is
transmitted through the blood and not through the flesh. Even
though Jesus, therefore, received His flesh, His body, from a sinful
race, he could still be sinless as long as no drop of blood of this
sinful race entered His veins. God must find a way whereby Jesus
could be perfectly human according to the flesh and yet not have the
poisoned – corruptible blood of sinful humanity. That was the
problem solved by the virgin birth.
ORIGIN OF THE
BLOOD
It is now
definitely known that the blood which flows in an unborn babe’s
arteries and veins is not derived from the mother, but is produced
within the body of the fetus itself only after the introduction of
the male sperm. An unfertilized ovum can never develop blood since
the female egg does not by itself contain the elements essential for
the production of this blood. It is only after the male element has
entered the ovum that blood can develop. As a very simple
illustration of this, think of the egg of a hen. An unfertilized
egg is simply an ovum on a much larger scale than the human ovum.
You may incubate this unfertilized hen’s egg, but it will never
develop. It will dry up completely but no chick will result. But
let that egg be fertilized by the introduction of the male sperm,
and incubation will bring to light the presence of LIFE IN THAT
EGG. After a few hours it visibly develops. In a little while red
streaks occur in the egg, denoting the presence of BLOOD. This can
never occur and never does occur until THE MALE SPERM HAS BEEN
UNITED WITH THE FEMAL OVUM. The male element has added life to the
egg. Life is in the blood according to the Scripture, for Moses
says:
“For 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….For it is the life of all
flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof….”
Lev. 17:11,
14.
Since there is
no life in the egg until the male sperm unites with it, and the life
is in the blood, it follows that the male sperm is the source of the
blood, the seat of life. Think it through!
NO MOTHER”S
BLOOD
For this very
reason it is unnecessary that a single drop of blood be given to the
developing embryo in the womb of the mother. Such is the case
according to science. The mother provides the fetus (the unborn
developing infant) with the nutritive elements for the building of
the little body in the secret of her bosom, but all the blood which
forms in it is formed in the embryo itself and only as a result of
the contribution of the male parent. From the time of conception to
the time of birth of the infant, not ONE SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD ever
passes from mother to child. The placenta, that mass of temporary
tissue known better as “afterbirth,” forming the union between
mother and child, is so constructed that although all the soluble
nutritive elements such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, salts,
minerals and even antibodies pass freely from mother to child and
the waste products of the child’s metabolism are passed back to the
mother’s circulation, no actual interchange of a single drop of
blood ever occurs normally. All the blood which is in that child is
produced within the child itself as a result of the introduction of
the male sperm. The mother contributes no blood at all. This is
why a blood test determines the parentage of the father, never the
mother.
TESTIMONY OF
SCIENCE
Now for the
sake of some of the skeptics who may doubt these statements, let me
quote from a few reliable authorities. In Howell’s “Textbook of
Physiology,” Second Edition, pages 885 and 886, I read:
“For the
purpose of understanding its general functions it is sufficient to
recall that the placenta consists essentially of vascular chorionic
papillae from the fetus (the unborn child) bathed in the large blood
spaces of the decidual membrane of the mother. The fetal and
maternal blood DO NOT COME INTO ACTUAL CONTACT. THEY ARE SEPARATED
FROM EACH OTHER by the walls of the fetal blood vessels and the
epithelial layers of the chorionic villi.”
Or let me
quote from Williams’ “Practice of Obstetrics,” Third Edition, page
133:
“The fetal
blood in the vessels of the chorionic villi AT NO TIME GAINS ACCESS
TO THE MATERNAL BLOOD in the intervillous spaces, BEING SEPARATED
FROM ONE ANOTHER by the double layer of chorionic epithelium.”
And from page
136 of the same recognized textbook I quote:
“Normally
there is no communication between the fetal blood and the maternal
blood.”
Now for the
benefit of those of you who may be nurses, let me quote from a
textbook which is familiar to you. I quote as follows from “Nurse’s
Handbook of Obstetrics’ by Louise Zabriskie, R. N., Fifth Edition,
page 75:
“When the
circulation of the blood begins in the embryo, IT REMAINS
SEPARATE AND DISTINCT FROM THAT OF THE MOTHER. All food and
waste material which are interchanged between the embryo and the
mother must pass through the blood vessel walls from one circulation
to the other.”
And from page
82 of the same book I quote:
“The fetus
receives its nourishment and oxygen from the mother’s blood into its
own through the medium of the placenta. The fetal heart pumps blood
through the arteries of the umbilical cord into the placenta
vessels, which, looping in and out of the uterine tissue and lying
in close contact with the uterine vessels, permit a diffusion,
through their walls, of waste products from child to mother and of
nourishment and oxygen from mother to child. As has been said, this
interchange is effected by the process of osmosis, and there is
no direct mingling of the two blood currents. In other words,
no maternal blood actually flows to the fetus, nor is there any
direct fetal blood flow to the mother.”
GOD’S WONDERFUL
PROVISION
How
wonderfully God prepared for the virgin birth of His Son. When He
created woman He made her so that no blood would be able to pass
from her to her offspring. That blood is the result of the
male. Since Adam was the federal head of the race, it is HIS
BLOOD which transmits Adam’s sin and not Eve’s. It is by one man –
not one woman! “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by
one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift
of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
Rom. 5:17. Judgment – the curse – was transmitted by one – Adam ….
not by two – Adam and Eve. “Therefore as by the offence of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life.” Rom. 5:18.
In order to
produce a sinless man who would yet be the son of Adam, God must
provide a way whereby that man would have a human body derived from
Adam, but have not a drop of Adam’s sinful blood. Right here is
the scientific, biological reason for the sinlessness of the Man
Christ Jesus. Some have tried to answer the question, “How
could He be sinless and yet born of a woman?” by making Mary the
“Immaculate Virgin”. That, however, does not answer the question of
how Jesus was sinless, since it is through the male that the
blood line runs.
Sin is not
transmitted through the body given by the mother….sin is transmitted
and is in the blood given by the father. “Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12.
THE PLACENTA
In the early
weeks of pregnancy one cluster of cells begins to develop into the
placenta, which is an organ grown especially to nourish the baby and
to excrete its waste products. The outside layer of this cell
cluster develops into a membrane with hundreds of tiny roots which
penetrate the uterine tissues.
The mother’s
blood does not flow directly into the baby at any stage of
pregnancy. It passes across the tissues on the maternal side of the
placenta and the baby’s blood passes back across the tissues on the
other side. The two bloodstreams are separated by the membrane;
chemical substances can be diffused from one bloodstream to the
other through the membrane, but the bloodstreams themselves never
mix. The baby can thus have a different blood group from the
mother, while still taking its nourishment from her blood. In the
same way its waste products are passed back through the placenta
into the mother’s bloodstream, to be excreted by the mother’s
kidneys.
Not only is
this a scientific fact, but it is plainly taught in Scripture that
Jesus partook of human flesh without Adam’s blood. In Hebrews 2:14
we read:
“Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same….”
You will
notice that the “children,” that is, the human children, are said to
be partakers of FLESH AND BLOOD, and then, speaking of Jesus, this
verse says that He “himself likewise took part of the same.” The
word “took part,” as applying to Christ is an entirely different
word from “partakers” as applied to the children. In my Bible, I
read that the world translated “took part” implies “taking part in
something outside of one’s self.” The Greek word for partakers is
“koinoneo” and means “to share fully,” so that all of Adam’s
children share fully in Adam’s flesh and blood. When we read that
Jesus “took part of the same,” the word is “metecho,” which means
“to take part but not all.” The children take both flesh and blood
of Adam, but Christ took only part, that is, the flesh part, whereas
the blood was the result of supernatural conception.
“For such an
high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”
Heb. 7:26.
Jesus was separated from us sinners! He may have looked like
us…even as margarine may look like butter – but it is not butter.
Jesus was a
perfect human being after the flesh. He was of the seed of David
according to the flesh, but blood is that part of a man which is the
divine addition. In the creation of man, Adam’s body was made from
the dust of the earth, but God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. Since life is in the blood, this act resulted in the
formation of blood in Adam’s body, but the first Adam’s blood was
corrupted because of transgression, and sin was transmitted through
it to all mankind. Gen. 2:17. In the last Adam and the second man,
new and divine and sinless blood was produced in a body that was the
seed of Adam and by this resulted in the production of divine blood.
DIVINE BLOOD
Conception by
the Holy Ghost was the only way the virgin birth could be
accomplished. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. Mary
contributed the body of Jesus and He became “the seed of David
according to the flesh.” The Holy Spirit contributed the blood
of Jesus and He became “the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. It is sinless
blood! It is divine blood! It is incorruptible blood! It is
precious blood, for there has never been any other like it. It is
innocent blood.
INNOCENT BLOOD
“I have
betrayed the innocent blood,” Judas confessed in Matthew 27:4. Our
Lord was innocent. He became like unto us in all things – SIN only
excepted. He “knew no sin,” 2Cor. 5:21, therefore like unto us with
ONE EXCEPTION – instead of being conceived by a human father, He was
conceived by a DIVINE FATHER. As a result, biologically, He had
DIVINE BLOOD, SINLESS BLOOD, INCORRUPTIBLE BLOOD. The apostle Paul
calls this blood – the blood of God Himself! Acts 20:28. Because
this blood is sinless. It is incorruptible blood. That which
is not subject to decay. Sinless – hence – deathless! Eternal!
INCORRUPTIBLE
BLOOD
Sin made human
blood corruptible. Soon after death decay sets in, and it begins in
the blood. That is why meat must be drained well of its blood.
That is why embalmers place the embalming fluid in the blood. David
said that Jesus’ body should not see corruption. Because the
blood of Christ had no corruption in it. It was incorruptible
blood. I Peter 1:18-19. Though He was dead three days and
three nights, His body did not corrupt. If He had lain there one
thousand days and nights, His body still would not have become
corrupt! Because He was sinless they could not put Him to death but
instead He laid down His life voluntarily that He might take it up
again. John 10:17-18. He arose by the power of God because death
had no claim on Him except the claim of other’s sin, and when that
was paid –
Death cannot
keep his prey –
Jesus, my
Savior;
He tore the
bars away –
Jesus, my
Lord.
Up from the
grave He arose,
With a mighty
triumph o’er His foes.
Have you
received Christ as your Savior and have you been washed in HIS
PRECIOUS BLOOD? If not, you are still under the curse and the awful
sentence of death. Why not accept Him today and hear Him as He
says:
“But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Rom. 5:8-9.
“For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past, through the forebearance of God; To declare, I say,
at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Rom. 3:23-26.
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