"What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
This view of "blood atonement" may have worked well for the early Jewish church who continually saw their sins being "washed away" at the Temple by blood sacrifice, but it can be a hurdle to faith for thinking Christians who would never consider demanding blood from their own children in order to "wash their sins away." Mercy and forgiveness do not require blood, they only require a merciful and forgiving heart, which I believe God has always had.
What is the worst sin that someone can do to me? It is not to kill or harm me, it is to harm one of my children. In the death of Jesus, we see this scenario played out as the centerpiece of human history. We see humanity at its worst. Men killed Christ out of fear and out of rebellion against His message of love and justice. God didn't demand Jesus' blood, the Jewish elite (the "religious right" of Jesus' day) called for His death. And what did the Father do about the murder of His Son? "Father, forgive them." Were any greater words ever spoken? What did the Father do to the disciples who all deserted and denied His Son? "Father, forgive them." If there was ever an opportunity for God to display His wrath toward humanity, it was when they killed His Son. But God was merciful. He always has been. The blood of Jesus didn't "buy" God's mercy, it didn't "purchase" God's grace. It simply displayed it. The blood of Jesus proved that God's mercy was real, that grace has always been there. Jesus' death proves that God is merciful to all, that God does not return evil for evil, that God, as Jesus taught, loves even His enemies.
Some may believe that God needed to kill His Son. Some may believe that only human blood could quench God's thirst. Some may believe that God's holiness and righteousness are in utter opposition to His love and grace. If all of this works for you, then, "Praise God!" (such as He is). But it doesn't work for me. It just doesn't.
The orthodox view says that God had to kill Himself (if you believe that Jesus is God) in order for us to get along with Him, in order for Him to feel good about us. Such a notion just doesn't make sense to me. I don't have to kill myself in order to have a good relationship with my children. Neither do I have to kill one of my children in order to have a good relationship with the other. But orthodox Christianity rests upon this kind of thinking. And that is exactly why I am not orthodox. I find the view of "blood atonement" to be nonsensical and cruel.
The way I see it is that God is merciful because it is His character to be merciful, not because Jesus paid Him off to be. God is gracious because it is God's character to be gracious, not because Jesus changed God's wrathful mind. God is forgiving because it is His character to be forgiving, not because Jesus' blood permits God to be forgiving. To me, Jesus' death and blood demonstrate what God has always been like so that we will change our attitudes towards God, not in order to change God's attitudes towards us.
- wayfaring