In the Bible, the life is in the blood — so blood stands for life itself, and for life given up in death. From the animal skins that clothed Adam and Eve, through the Passover lamb, to the sacrifices of the temple, blood was the appointed means of atonement: without shedding of blood is no remission. Forgiveness, Scripture insists, is never cheap; it costs a life.
All those sacrifices pointed forward. At the cross, Jesus shed his own blood — the blood of the new covenant, shed for many for the remission of sins. Where the blood of animals could only cover sin temporarily, the blood of Christ cleanses completely and for ever. To be washed in the blood of the Lamb is the Bible's startling, precious image of a conscience made clean.
Blood in Scripture
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.