Is the blood of Christ any different from your blood or my blood? When Christ was flogged, crucified and stabbed in His side with a spear did His blood drop onto the ground and stay there? Did it become part of the earth? Did it eventually decay and turn to dust as ours would? To answer these questions we must look at some truths about Christ's blood.
Blood
The blood is a very important organ of the body. Anyone who has taken high school biology knows that human blood is an organ of the circulatory system. It is a major component of the human body just like the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries are. The only major difference is that the blood is a liquid organ and is capable of being removed from the body much more easily than say the heart, liver, lungs, etc. Because it is such an important organ and not like other body fluids like urine, tears, sweat, stomach acid, bile, etc., it will be raised at the resurrection with the eyes and skin and other organs of the body. And then, like those other organs it will be changed,"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: ...So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body...Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:35-52) Both flesh and blood will be changed.
Blood in the Bible
The Bible also tells us that the blood is of great importance. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11) Read it again. It is very important. Only blood can make an atonement for your soul. Why? First, because blood is the vehicle of the soul (17:11a) and second, God said so and that's that. The very first sin recorded in the Bible was temporarily covered only by the shedding of blood, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21). There is a saying that goes "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Well, you can't make a coat from animal skins without shedding a little blood. Also, when the final plague was declared against Pharaoh and Egypt, the plague of the death of the firstborn, to save the Jews Moses was told by God to take the blood of an unblemished lamb, "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it....it is the LORD'S passover.... And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:6-13) The shedding of blood is necessary for God's justice to be served. Our sins would not have been forgiven if Jesus had been strangled or poisoned. His blood had to be shed.
The Blood of Christ
Now the blood of Jesus Christ has some pretty specific things mentioned about it in Scripture that sets it apart from your blood and my blood. First, it is incorruptible, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Psalms 16:10). And, "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:" (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Unless the rapture comes while we are still alive or freshly dead our blood will corrupt, break down, and turn to dust. Christ's blood did not.
Second, the blood of Christ was used to make an atonement for the sins of the whole world, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin...And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 1:7; 2:2). And, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.... And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," (John 3:16; Rev. 1:5)
The benefits that we gained from Christ's shed blood are numerous and great. Dr. D. A. Waite has listed fourteen effects of the literal blood of Christ in his book John MacArthur's Heresy on the Blood of Christ. To name a few we are, REDEEMED (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14), JUSTIFIED (Romans 5:9), MADE NIGH to God (Ephesians 2:13), given FORGIVENESS OF SINS (Ephesians 1:7), SANCTIFIED (Hebrews 13:12), RECONCILED (Colossians 1:20), CLEANSED (1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5), etc. This, our blood could not do.
This accomplishment was done by only one method. Christ's blood was offered upon the alter in heaven by Christ Himself before God, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the alter to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11). And, "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:11-14). The Greek word for "by" in the above highlighted portion of Hebrews is dia, and with all due respect for the King James translators for they did nothing wrong in translating it the way that they did. But, the word can also be translated "with" which I believe is in better keeping with the context. To continue, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: " (Hebrews 9:22-24). And only Christ's literal blood could be offered unto God, the Father for all the world's sins, yours or mine could not. Of course faith in what Christ did is still necessary for the effects to be applied to one's life.
So then the answer to the opening questions, "Is the blood of Christ any different from your blood or my blood? When Christ was flogged, crucified and stabbed in His side with a spear did His blood drop onto the ground and stay there? Did it become part of the earth? Did it eventually decay and turn to dust as ours would?" is yes and no. Yes, it is different and no, it did not corrupt! It didn't because although the blood of Jesus Christ was human it was still His blood and His blood is special. His blood is the blood of God, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. " (Acts 20:28).
