Blood
Life is in the blood. If you lose too much blood, you'll die: but a blood transfusion can bring you back to health. Our spiritual life also depends on a blood transfusion of sorts - a blood transfusion from the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave his life's blood on the a torturous Roman cross (see Crucify) to pay the penalty for our sin and to give us new life through a relationship with him.

Centuries before Christ's death, as a picture of what was to come, God told the Israelites (then slaves in Egypt) to apply splotches of lamb's blood (see Lamb) on the doorframes of their houses. It was a sign that they believed in God and trusted him to spare their families from the angel of death whom God sent to Egypt (see Passover). Then through a system of bloody animal sacrifices (see Sacrifice), God offered forgiveness for sins in anticipation of Jesus Christ's ultimate perfect sacrifice on the cross for the sins of us all. But these sacrifices had to be made over and over again. Jesus Christ's crucifixion paid the debt for our sins once and for all; no more sacrifices are needed.

Blood is life, and life is sacred.
Genesis 4:3-10:9:6; 37:12-34
Leviticus 7:26 - 27; 17:11
Deuteronomy12:23
To get his people's attention and to warn his enemies, the Egyptians, God turns all their water into blood. He promises similar horrors at the world's end.
Exodus 4:9; 7:19-21
Psalm 78:44
Revelation 8:7-8; 11:6; 16:3-4
Just as the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices had to be applied to take effect, we must individually apply Jesus Christ's sacrificial blood to our lives in order to have a right relationship with God.
Exodus 12:22-23;24:8; 29:20-21
Hebrews 9:11-15; 19-20, 22; 10:19-23
Blood guilt indicates responsibility for taking a life.
Joshua 2:19
2 Samuel 1:16
Matthew 27:6-8, 24-26
When Jesus Christ (the only perfect, sinless person who ever lived) was crucified, his life's blood paid the penalty for all our sins - past, present and future.
Romans 3:22-26; 5:9
Ephesians 1:7
Colossians 1:19-20
Hebrews 9:14; 13:12
1 John 1:7
Revelations 1:4-6
The blood of Jesus Christ is a precious reminder to Christians of all Jesus suffered in order to wash away our sin and bring us into a close relationship with him.
Hebrews 10:29
1 Peter 1:18-19
Revelations 1:5
The Lord Jesus asks us to remember his costly death by partaking of symbols of his body and blood - bread and wine - in Communion services with fellow believers.
Matthew 26:20, 26-28
Mark 14:22-24
Luke 22: 19-20
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
God puts a high value on flesh-and-blood relationships.
Genesis 29:10-14; 37:27
2 Samuel 19:9-14
1 Kings 8:19
Isaiah 58:7