Nothing But the Blood with Natalie Brand

Written By Natalie Brand
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Today we get to hear from author Natalie Brand about the theme of blood and sacrifice throughout the Scriptures. Our hope is that this conversation makes you think well about the cross and the living in light of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf.

 

NOTES & QUOTES

“Biblical theology is very simply the grand narrative, the grand story of the Bible. I think it's better to say the Bible is the book of all books, the story of all stories, the epic of all epics. And biblical theology is simply, as we're talking about it today, is that overarching and unfolding story of scripture.”

“The story of scripture is unified, it's organic, it's an unfolding self-revelation of God and his Redemptive plan.”

“We need to be looking at Calvary. We need to never outgrow the cross. We need to be living in view of Calvary every single day, so much so that we can see the blood stains on the cross.”

“The gift of Calvary is that all our sin was nailed to the cross of Christ.”

“The cross is our breath, it is our life, and we never outgrow it.”

“Blood is the currency of heaven. We know that there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. We know that the wages of sin is death.”

“We know that there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. We know that the wages of sin is death. And so that is why it's so, so important to understand this theme of blood, this theme of sacrifice. You cannot make sense of Calvary without it.”

“Abel's blood was screaming for justice. It had a voice to the Maker for righteousness, for justice. But the Snake Crusher’s blood, King Jesus' blood, it shouts out, “justify!”, “forgiven!”, “innocent!”, “clean!”, “free!”, “accepted!”, “adopted!”

“There are these key moments of creation, incarnation, and Pentecost where God, the triune God is working in three persons to restore his people to himself and I think if we go back to Calvary, if you spend time studying biblical theology and you spend time savouring the honey drops of scripture in the big metanarrative, you see how beautiful Jesus is. You see that he is a sufficient savior. I mean, we kind of touched on that. You see that his blood is sufficient and it's been paid once for all.”

“How many of us struggle with scripture and we say, “I can't make sense of that passage. I'm going to skip it. I'm uncomfortable with this scripture.”? A lot of scripture is uncomfortable. And we don't like how it feels and it's not palatable, but the more you get into the grand narrative of the Bible, it's not that it just becomes palatable, it becomes delicious. You see the fullness of, you see the sufficiency of Jesus. You see that he is our portion above all things. You see that his blood was worth more than the universe. And he is our ransom. His blood is our ransom. And that is gonna make you get down on your knees.”

“From Genesis three, all the way to Revelation 21, God is bringing back his people by the blood of Jesus.”

“The Bible is a story penned by the character of our God, the perfection, the excellencies of our God and all his goodness. And I think, we cannot spend time in the Word, we cannot spend time in biblical theology and not know God more.”

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Col. 2:13–14

 

RESOURCES

From Crimson to White: Finding Gospel Joy at Calvary by Natalie Brand

The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross by Carl Laferton

Athanasius, On the Incarnation, trans. by John Behr

The Bible Project (YouTube)

ESV Study Bible

Even Better Than Eden & Biblical Theology Workshop by Nancy Guthrie

What is Biblical Theology? by James Hamiliton

According to Plan: the Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible by Graeme Goldsworthy

Biblical Theology by Geerhardus Vos

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

Gen 3:15

The account of Calvary

Hebrews 12:24

Isaiah 53

Colossians 2:13–14

Revelation 21

 
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. What passages of Scripture come to mind when you think about the theme of blood/sacrifice? How do they fit into the grand narrative of God redeeming a people for himself?

  2. How does thinking about God’s fatherly smile toward you change the way you think about your sin and Christ’s atonement?

  3. How has this episode changed the way you read passages about blood or sacrifice?

  4. What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?

 

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Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.

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Natalie Brand

Natalie Brand (Ph.d, Trinity St David) is a writer, conference speaker, and Bible teacher. Passionate about women treasuring theology, she has taught at Union School of Theology, Oak Hill, and London Seminary. She is married to a minister and has three daughters. She is the author of multiple books, including Priscilla, Where Are You? and The Scuttlebutt Letters.

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Creation and New Creation with Alex Duke