The Passover Lamb Each year the High Priest of Israel would slaughter a lamb, after symbolically placing

on it the guilt of the entire nation of Israel. It was an act to remind the people that sin had a penalty and that the remedy for sin, and the possibility of forgiveness for sin, lay only in the nature and mercy of God. In that sacrifice, God saw His people's acknowledgement of their sin, their desire for forgiveness and so He extended to them His mercy. The sacrifice also provided a prophetic representation of the sacrifice yet to come of the Messiah who would deal once and for all with the nature of sin. Leviticus 17 v 11 tells us 'the life of a creature is in the blood... it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Each year, as the life bled out of the tender little lamb, the awesomeness of the consequences of sin and the price of redemption - a life - was brought home to the people of God. The Lamb of God The blood of Jesus' earthly body ran down the cross from the vicious wounds in His head, His hands and His feet. For six hours, He bled slowly and agonizingly to death. In His death, atonement was made, by that spilled blood, for all the imperfection, pain, wickedness and terror of the sin brought into the world by man's disobedience. The blood of the Passover lamb had availed only for the point in time at which it was shed, but the blood of Jesus, however, avails for all time, because the life that was in His blood was eternal life. The 'life' in Jesus' blood was the living Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The 'power, power, wonder working power in the Blood of the Lamb' is the power of the eternal Holy Spirit. When we draw close to Jesus at communion we are acknowledging that we need the cleansing power of His Blood, that we need the awesome holiness and purity of the Holy Spirit to deal with our sin and shortcomings, and we acknowledge that His Blood and His Blood alone makes us competent to stand in the presence of God and to call Him 'Father'. As we take the bread and the cup at communion, we are affirming, too, that there is no darkness so deep that the Blood of Jesus cannot reach it, no fault so grievous that the Blood of Jesus cannot atone for it, no sorrow so painful that the Blood of Jesus cannot heal it, no life so damaged and corrupted that the Blood of Jesus cannot purify it, no demon so vicious that the Blood of Jesus cannot overcome it. The Blood of Jesus can deal with anything we, this world or the devil can come up with. It is the purest, most perfect, most potent force in the universe. And it is available each time we commune with Him, the Lover of our souls, who shed it for us.