The message has gone out: the Red Cross needs blood donations. Shortages of all blood types happen during the summer and around holidays, due to increased travel and accidents. Blood centers most often run short of types O and B red blood cells.

Statistics show that 25 percent or more of us will require blood at least once in our lifetime. About one in seven people entering a hospital needs blood. On average, a hip replacement uses one unit of blood, a cardiac bypass or heart transplant uses two units, and a liver transplant ten units. Someone needs blood every two seconds in our country.

Donated blood for accident victims must be provided ahead of time, and almost always by total strangers. Once an accident occurs, there is no time to donate the blood. On the other hand, one can donate for surgeries to a specific person-even to himself, under some circumstances. Perhaps someone has donated blood for you.  Most  of  us  would  be  touched  if  someone volunteered to donate blood so that we might live.

In a spiritual sense, Jesus donated His own blood for each of us. No blood is offered by the World’s other religious-neither  Mohammed,  Buddha,  Joseph Smith, the pope, nor Confucius ever offered blood for their followers. Christ did.

Have you been to give blood? Let’s contrast our blood donations with His.

OUR  PINT  IS  A  DONATION;  JESUS’  GIFT  WAS  A  SACRIFICE.

After we give blood, we enjoy a snack and return to normal activities. After He gave blood, Jesus died. “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost” (Mark 15:37). We give what we can easily spare;  Christ  gave  His  very  life’s  blood.  Man  has  sinned  away  his  right  to  live, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Since all have sinned (Romans 3: 23),  and  sin  demands  the  death  of  the  sinner (Ezekiel  18:4),  how  can  anyone  be  saved?  The answer: Jesus died for us. “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10: 12).

OUR  DONATION  IS  IN  COMFORTABLE  AND  STERILE  CONDITIONS. JESUS  GAVE  HIS BLOOD  ON  A  RUGGED CROSS.

In your mind, contrast the two scenes: First, a patient in a comfortable chair in an air conditioned building with the best equipment; then Jesus on that cross, nearly naked, beaten and bleeding with cries of sinful men shouting for Him to die. Our blood comes out of our arm via a sterile needle-Jesus’ blood came out of His entire body via nails and a whip.

After  Pilate  ordered  Jesus’  crucifixion  (Matthew 27:26), Roman soldiers viciously carried it out (Luke 23:33). It was customary for the condemned man to carry his cross to the crucifixion site, so Jesus began carrying His cross to Golgotha (John 19:17). Under its weight, and in His weakened condition, His strength gave out en route (Like 23:26). Quite a contrast from the medical clinic, isn’t it? But there’s more . . .

The stauros was the Roman instrument of crucifixion. In five passages, the New Testament says the stauros was a “tree” (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24). Was the cross.

• in the shape of an “I” (crux simplex)?
• in the shape of a “T” (crux commissa)?
• in the shape of an “X” (crux decussata, “St. Andrew’s Cross”)? or
• in the shape of a “t” with a vertical timber extending above the “T” (crux immissa)?

Only  the  last  had  a  place  for  Pilate’s  superscription written in  Hebrew,  Latin,  and  Greek:  “JESUS  OF  NAZARETH  THE  KING  OF  THE  JEWS”  (John 19:19). To this cross, His hands and feet were nailed. Against this cross, His massacred back rubbed as He labored to breathe. Upon this cross, He died.

OUR  DONATION  IS  QUICK  AND  RELATIVELY  EASY.  HIS  WAS  DRAWN-OUT  AND  PAINFUL.

Actual blood donation today takes about ten minutes. It took Jesus six hours (Mark 15:25,34).  The entire process for us-from the time we sign in to the time we leave-takes only an hour.  For  Him,  the  process  began  at  6:00  p.m. Thursday and did not end until 3:00 p.m.  on Friday, which is twenty-one hours.

Although the Romans did not invent crucifixion, they perfected it as a form of capital punishment intended to produce  a  slow,  suffering  death.  Crucifixion  is thought  to  have  first  been practiced  among  the  Persians.  Tis origin came from the fact that the earth was considered sacred to the Persian deity Ormuzd, and the criminal was lifted off of it so he would not defile the god’s property. Alexander the Great introduced crucifixion to Egypt and Carthage in North Africa. The Romans appear to have learned of it from the Carthaginians.

There  was  no  more  terrible  death  than  death  by crucifixion. At the site of the execution the victim was literally nailed to the cross. Klausner, a Jewish writer says, “Crucifixion is the most terrible and cruel death which man has ever devised for taking vengeance on his fellowmen.” Even the Romans regarded it with a shudder. Cicero called it “the most cruel and the most horrible torture.”  Tacitus  called  it  a  “despicable death,” and “a torture only fit for slaves.”

OUR  DONATION  GOES  OUT-OF-DATE  AFTER  FORTY-TWO  DAYS; CHRIST’S  BLOOD  IS  ETERNALLY  FRESH.

U.S.  blood centers  often  have  difficulty  maintaining even  a  three-day  supply  for  routine  transfusion  demands. Christ’s blood’s life-giving power is as strong today as it was when it was given at the cross.

WE  MAY  GIVE  MANY  TIMES,  BUT  JESUS  COULD  GIVE  ONLY  ONCE.

It will never need to be replenished.  It will  remain  effective  untill  the  end  of  times.  If  you  began  donating  blood  at  age  seventeen  and  donated  every  fifty-six  days  until  you  reached  seventy-six,  you would have donated forty-eight gallons of blood.

The New Testament places an emphasis on the “once offering” of Jesus. The Spirit says,

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 . . . . So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:26-28).

It  was  “one  sacrifice  for  sins  for  ever”  (Hebrews 10: 12). Peter adds,

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but  quickened  by  the  Spirit (1 Peter 3:18).

There  is  an  unlimited  supply  in  the  incorruptible  blood of the Son of God.

OUR  DONATION  DOES  NOT  MATCH  EVERY  TYPE  OR  MEET  EVERY  NEED.

Christ’s  is  a  perfect  match  for  everybody. O Positive is the most common blood type (37.4 percent of people have it). AB  Negative  is  the rarest (only  1  in  167  people).  Most donor cards have this not-so-subtle reminder:  “The rarest blood type is the one that’s not there when you need it.”

Jesus’ blood fits every soul.  You could say  His blood type was OAB+/-. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest” (Matthew  11:28).  The last chapter of the Bible reissues Jesus’ invitation:

And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life freely (Revelation 22:17).

Jesus’  blood  reaches  men  in  every  race  and  rank,  every  class  and  clime,  every  tribe  and  tongue  (Hebrews  2:9-10;  Revelation  5:9;  cf.  John  1:29;  12:32;  2 Corinthians  5:15;  1 Timothy  2:4, 6).  He embraces  every  race  (Matthew  28:19-20;  Mark 16:15-16; Galatians 3:28). The song “The Gospel Is for All” celebrates the truth of the all-inclusive sacrifice of Jesus. In the New Testament we see people of all nations and circumstances responding to His love (Ethiopian, Acts 8; Jews, Acts 2: Gentiles, Acts 10; Europeans, Acts 16; Lepers, Luke 17).  God “is not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9).

OUR  PINT  WILL  BE  EXPENSIVE  TO  THE  RECIPIENT; CHRIST’S BLOOD IS FREE TO ALL.

A pint of blood costs $35, but it can cost ten times more, depending on its typing and testing. On the other hand, you won’t need to bring your checkbook to come to Jesus. Salvation is a “gift” (Romans 6:23; John 4:10); yea, a “free gift” (Romans 5:15-18).  We are justified freely (Romans 3:24).  The water of life is freely given (Revelation 22:17).  The Spirit tells us “the things that are freely given to us” (1 Corinthians 2:12).  “Thanks  be  unto  God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

OUR  BLOOD  MAY  BE  REJECTED  DUE  TO  DISEASE, CONTAGION, OR CORRUPTION. JESUS’  BLOOD  IS PURE  AND  SINLESS.

Thirteen test (eleven for infectious disease) are performed on each unit of donated blood. Only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to give blood (only 10 percent do). Peter wrote of Christ’s sacrifice:

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,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and without  spot. . .  Seeing  ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  obeying  the  truth  through the  Spirit  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren,  see  that  ye  love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently:  being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever (1 Peter 1:18-23).

Note  four  references  to  the  purity  of  Christ  and  His  gospel:

• Precious: “Of worth much; that which is costly.” Something flawed or imperfect would not be precious.
• Without blemish: Absence of physical defect (Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 22:20-21 ; cf. Hebrews 9:14). Without any spot (amomos), as the paschal lamb.
• Without spot (aspilou). Without stain, in a moral sense (1 Timothy 6:14; James 1:27; 2 Peter 3:14).
• Incorruptible: Corruptible seed results in decay and death; incorruptible seed leads  to  eternal  life.

The  number  one  reason  blood  donors  say  they  give  is  because  they  “want  to  help  others.”  That  is  why  Jesus  came to make His donation (Luke  19:10).

Conclusion: There  is  no  substitute  for  blood.  Modern  science  has  done  much  in  the  fields  of  medicine  and  hygiene, plastic surgery, and synthetic replacements. If a leg is lost, and artificial one is made; if a nose is broken or the face burned, plastic  surgery  is  performed;  if  a  lung  collapses,  it  can  be  restored.  Even  the  heart can  be  replaced, but  no  synthetic blood has been manufactured, nor is there any substance that will substitute for it.

The precious nature of blood is clear in both the Old and the New Testament.  Blood  sacrifices  were  required  for  the  forgiveness  of  sin.  The  blood  sacrifices  of animals  never dealt with the sin problem permanently. That took the blood of Jesus. John declares, “The blood of Jesus . . . cleanseth us from all sin” (1  John  1:7).

One pint of your blood can save up to three lives; one drop of the blood of Christ can save the world. If for any reason your life has not known this divine transfusion, receive it now (Mark 16:16). There is life in the blood.