BY JAMES L. KILGORE
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for the cup of suffering to pass from Him. As God He recognized the significance of blood in His plan for the salvation of mankind. As a man His flesh
recoiled at the thought of having to endure the shame, humiliation, and suffering that lay ahead He prayed for three long hours, until as the Bible records, His sweat became as great drops of blood. My doctor told me that this phenomenon happens when one is under extreme emotional stress. It is a result of hemorrhage into the sweat glands. In Gethsemane, Jesus’ heart of compassion was under extreme stress for you and me, and the blood began to pour through the pores of His skin. The bloody sweat from the fragile skin of Jesus represents the first dimension of His precious blood.

The next dimension of the blood of Jesus is that which flowed when the soldiers tied him to the whipping post in Pilate’s hall and laid thirty-nine stripes on his back with cruel lashes of a whip. This
whip had little pieces of bone tied in the leather, purposefully designed to rip the flesh away during the scourging, inflicting unimaginable pain. His heart was broken, and then the flesh on His back was broken, so that when we are bent over, sick, and suffering, we can know that it is by His stripes we are healed.

I want to thank all of you who prayed for my dear companion during her illness. I don’t understand why she wasn’t healed, but a miracle of healing did happen as a result of the prayers that went up for her. One night as our church was praying in deep travail, one of our ladies who had a back injury began to pray with an enormous burden for my wife. Before she realized it, she was standing with her hands lifted high, her back healed by the power of God as she was praying for the healing of another.

The third dimension of the blood of Jesus is that which flowed when the crown of thorns was thrust upon His brow. He allowed His tormentors to mock Him with this painful crown, because He wanted the
blood from His brow to cover our minds. Our minds, and the thoughts and intents of our minds, must be covered with the blood of Jesus.

Next, the blood flowed from His cheeks. As they plucked his beard his tender cheeks bled, so our faces can reflect His redemptive power. Our faces must show forth His love. Our countenances should reveal His righteousness in a world that is searching for truth and compassion.

The fifth dimension of His blood that was shed for us is that which streamed from His hands. The hands which had done only good among the little children, among the sick and dying, among the demented and
the hungry, those were hands that were pierced with the nails holding Jesus, the King of Kings, to the cross of Calvary. A poet once said, “He died upon a cross of wood / yet He made the hill on which it stood. / The grave in which His form was laid / was hewn from rocks His hands had made.” The blood from His creative, and now nail-scarred hands, is the dimension that compels us to lift up holy hands unto Him.

His feet were also pierced, and the blood ran down that old rugged cross onto the ground below. The precious blood that flowed from His feet that dark day directs us to walk uprightly and to live according to the Word of God. This sixth dimension of the blood Jesus shed causes us to dive dives of holiness before the Lord.

Finally, the seventh dimension of the blood is that which flowed as the spear was thrust into His side. From this wound gushed blood and water, representing the washing of a bride, the cleansing of the bride
of Christ-the church of the living God. His blood cleanses us and perfects us, so that we can live forever with Him in heaven.

These few words on the seven dimensions of the blood of Jesus were a part of a church dedication message I preached earlier this year, but as Easter approaches, my thoughts turn again to the redemptive power of His wonderful and precious blood. At Easter we remember that Jesus bled, died, and rose again, just for me, just for you. We are reminded that His blood covers us, protects us, heals us,
and reminds us of our blessed hope: eternal life with the One Who gave Himself for us two thousand years ago on a hill called Calvary.
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY THE APOSTOLIC SENTINEL, APRIL 2001, PAGE 3. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.