May 21 | Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 13–15; John 7:1–27

No Healing Without Blood

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22

READ Hebrews 9:11–22

“There’s no healing without blood.”

I didn’t hear this short, compelling sermon from my pastor, but from my physiotherapist. When I asked why he wanted to use ultrasound on my injured shoulder, he explained that a combination of massage, exercise and ultrasound would force blood into the area. Without a flow of blood, he explained, healing would be impossible.

The Bible agrees: there’s no healing without blood. In the Old Testament, the blood of animals was used to pay for sin, so that God’s people would be clean before Him. “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death!” (Hebrews 9:14).

A clean conscience is something which we all long to experience. But because we still sin, we still wrestle with feelings of guilt, forgetting that there is an answer beyond just trying harder. My efforts cannot cover even one sin—but Jesus’ blood cleanses even the worst one. What was true on the first day of our salvation is still true today: healing only comes through the flow of Christ’s blood, shed upon the cross for us.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (v. 22). Praise Jesus! In Him, we are forgiven; cleansed—healed. Jesus has done this “once for all” (10:10). The flow of blood still covers and restores; healing and hope can be found in Him alone.

By Debbi Fralick

Is your instinct to try harder and do better when you feel guilty? How does Jesus’ “once-for-all” sacrifice bring you comfort and reassurance today?

Jesus, forgive me for trying to cover my own sin. Thank You for doing everything to clean and heal me. I don’t need to cover myself, for I am always covered by Your blood.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

The writer of Hebrews compares the old covenant initiated by Moses (9:1–23) with the new covenant initiated by Jesus (9:24–10:18). As High Priest and "mediator of a new covenant" (9:15), Christ did not offer the blood of animals (v. 19) that could not take away sins; He sacrificed Himself "once for all . . . to do away with sin" ( v. 26).