THE BLOOD TESTIFIES

By Thomas Miller

"The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground." Genesis 4:10

Weighted down by festering feelings of frustration and failure, Cain cracks open a door he would soon regret. God comes and warns him: “Watch out! Sin is crouching at the door!” But, the fire within him will not be quenched. Fueled by an alchemy of rejection, resentment, and rage and set aflame by pure envy, Cain sets out to right the wrong, ease the pain, and destroy the competition.

Cain kills Abel thinking no one will ever know. Then a conversation occurs. 

GOD: “Where is your brother, Cain?” 

CAIN: “I don’t know. Is he my responsibility?”

GOD: “What have you done?!”

[Silence.]

GOD: “Cain! The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”

That moment—the first time blood is mentioned in the Bible—God lets Cain know that his brother’s blood has a voice and it’s calling out, giving witness to the atrocity that’s been committed. It testifies, crying: Guilty! Condemned! Murderer!

Thousands of years later, crowds stand before Pilate demanding him to condemn Jesus to His death. Making a bold and terrifying declaration, they say, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). In other words, “We will bear the guilt.”

Within hours Jesus hangs on a cross with His flesh ripped and torn apart by the beatings. His blood drains from His body. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, breathes His last.

And then ... His blood begins to cry out. But this time, unlike the blood of Abel, it cries out something new:

Clean! Forgiven! Holy!

This time, the blood cries out for all eternity to hear:

Not guilty! Loved!

This time, the blood testifies to God’s limitless love and audacious grace: 

Forever Mine!

Blood is powerful and it speaks volumes in the spiritual realm. Hebrews 12:24 (NLT) tells us, “You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.” When Jesus’ blood covers us, all other voices are silenced.

Today, I pray this over you: May the blood of Jesus, the blood that testifies, the blood that sanctifies and purifies, the blood that will never lose its power, may that blood be on you and on your children.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You that Your blood cries out over me that I am clean, forgiven, and holy. Thank You that I forever stand in Your love because Your blood testifies for all eternity that I am Yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Memory Verse

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130 (ESV)