A Search for the Blood of Atonement

In the spring of 1898, a gospel address was given by a minister in San Francisco, California, to a “Mission to Israel.” Afterward an old Jew spoke to his Jewish brethren who were present at the meeting. The minister found those remarks so interesting that he wrote them down in his own words, as nearly as he could remember them, which were as follows:

“This is Passover week among you, my Jewish brethren, and as I sit here, I was thinking of how you will be observing it. You will have put away leaven from your houses, and you will eat the matzah (unleavened wafers) and the roasted lamb. You will attend the synagogue services and carry out the rituals and directions of the Talmud. You forget, my brethren, that you have everything but that which Jehovah required first of all. God did not say, ‘When I see the leaven put away, or when I see you eat matzah or the lamb or go to the synagogue.’ His Word was, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you’ (Exodus 12:13). Ah, my brethren, you can substitute nothing for this. You must have blood, blood, blood.

“Blood—that is an awful word for one who reveres the ancient oracle and yet has no sacrifice. Turn where you will in the Book, the blood meets you, but seek as you may, you cannot find it in Judaism of the present.”

After a moment’s pause, the patriarchal man went on somewhat as follows: “I was born in Palestine nearly seventy years ago. As a child I was taught to read the law, the psalms, and the prophets. Early on, I attended the synagogue and learned Hebrew from the rabbis. At first, I believed what I was told, that ours was the true and only religion, but as I grew older and studied the law more intently, I was struck by the place that the blood had in all the ceremonies outlined there, and I was equally struck by its utter absence in the ritual to which I was brought up.

“Again and again, I read Exodus 12 and Leviticus 16 and 17. The latter chapters, especially, made me tremble as I thought on the great Day of Atonement and the place the blood had there. Day and night one verse would ring in my ears, ‘It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul’ (Leviticus 17:11). I knew I had broken the law, and I needed an atonement. Year after year, on that day, I beat my breast as I confessed my need of it, but it was to be made by blood, and there was no blood.

“In my distress, at last I opened my heart to a learned and venerable rabbi. He told me that God was angry with His people. Jerusalem was in the hands of Gentiles, the temple was destroyed, and a Mohammedan mosque was reared up in its place. The only spot on earth where we dare to shed the blood of sacrifice in accordance with Deuteronomy 12 and Leviticus 17 was desecrated, and our nation was scattered. That is why there was no blood. God Himself had closed the way to carry out the solemn service of the great Day of Atonement. Now we must turn to the Talmud and rest on its instruction and trust the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers.

“I tried to be satisfied, but I could not. Something seemed to say that the law was unaltered even though our temple was destroyed. Nothing else but blood could atone for the soul. We dared not shed blood for atonement other than in the place the Lord had chosen. Then we were left without an atonement at all.

“This thought filled me with horror. In my distress, I consulted many other rabbis. I had but one great question: where can I find the blood of atonement?

“I was over thirty years of age when I left Palestine and came to Constantinople with my still unanswered question ever before my mind, and my soul was exceedingly troubled about my sins.

“One night, I was walking down a narrow street of that city when I saw a sign telling of a meeting for Jews. Curiosity led me to open the door and go in. Just as I took a seat, I heard a man say, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7). It was my first introduction to Christianity, but I listened breathlessly as the speaker told how God had declared that ‘without shedding of blood is no remission’ (Hebrews 9:22); he said that God had given His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, to die, and those who trusted in His blood were forgiven of all their iniquities. This was the Messiah of Isaiah 53; this was the Sufferer of Psalm 22. Ah, my brethren, I had found the blood of atonement at last. I trusted in it, and now I love to read the New Testament and see how all the shadows of the law are fulfilled in Jesus. His blood has been shed for sinners. It has satisfied God, and it is the only means of salvation for either Jew or Gentile.”

Reader, have you found the blood of atonement? “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). Are you trusting in God’s smitten Lamb—the sacrifice of God?

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