The Body of Christ started the same time the Church started, on the “cross at Calvary” where Jesus made a payment for sin and shed his blood. Some say that it started in the Book of Acts with the commission of Paul, but nothing could be further from the truth. Paul himself tells in Romans 16:7 that there were many people in the body of Christ before he was. In fact, the body of Christ doesn’t begin anywhere in the book of Acts, it begins on the cross at Calvary. “and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Ephesians 2:16)
What was Jesus doing on the cross? Lots of things. First of all, Jesus went to the cross to make a “payment for sin”, and that payment is the shed of blood of Christ as we see in Acts 20:28. That payment makes reconciliation between lost sinners and a holy and righteous God possible. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7) “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
Secondly, Jesus shed blood on the cross established something on this earth the Bible calls the body of Christ. It is Jew and Gentile come together by faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, and it is called “the church.” On the day of Pentecost, the Church, was placed into the body of Christ where it will remain for all eternity. Everyone who becomes born again by saving faith in what Jesus did on the cross, and receives that payment made in Christ’s blood, is placed into the body of Christ through the Church. “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:22-23)
By the time Paul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, the Church is well established and made up exclusively of Jews and Jewish proselytes. But when the Holy Spirit is offering them the Kingdom of Heaven in Acts 7, all they have to do is believe and repent at the preaching of Stephen, they instead murder him, an act which simultaneously put the Kingdom of Heaven on a 2,000 year pause, and ushered in what we call the dispensation of the Church Age. From this point on, Jews will be side-by-side with Gentiles in a mystery called the body of Christ which Jesus will task Paul with revealing. It didn’t start with Paul, but the knowledge of it comes through Paul by the Spirit. It began on the cross at Calvary.
“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.” (Ephesians 3:1-7)
Paul was given the job of revealing the mystery of the body of Christ. “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
The first mention of blood in the Bible is the shed blood of an innocent man Abel. This law of first mention sets the standard for blood all through the scriptures. “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10)
In the New Testament, the blood as it relates to the “shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross”, shows you that it is “a payment for sin” and to ”build His church” for the whole world. “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)
The Bible shows us that the death of Jesus on the cross is the vehicle by which the blood was applied as payment, His death itself is not the payment. If Jesus had only died in our place on the cross, and not made the payment, then we would remain in our sins with no way to receive salvation. The blood that was shed is eternal, it is Christ’s blood, and only Christ’s blood can keep you eternally safe, saved and secure.
Jesus on the cross took the punishment we rightly deserve upon Himself, and this is the first Bible doctrine ever mentioned in the Church Age. “Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:30-34) This is referring to Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Now, let’s take a look in the writings of Paul to see how important the blood Jesus shed on the cross truly is. It’s so simple, you cannot miss it. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26)
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9) “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25) “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace;” (Ephesians 1:7) “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:20)
All the way into Revelation, we see the blood is what has paid our sin debt. “and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6)
The last mention of blood in the Bible brings you full circle. As the first mention of blood was that of innocent Abel having it shed at the hands of wicked Cain, so the last mention of is of a righteous man trampling His enemies and shedding their blood. “for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” (Revelation 19:2) “He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.” (Revelation 19:13)
Remember what the gospel is: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
It is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a sacrificial death to fulfill all the Law of Moses, but it was a death in order to make and apply a payment for sin, the only payment God would or could accept – “His own blood, shed by Himself.”
China - in His image 