The Old Testament tells us very strongly about the sinful nature of man and God's wrath on man for his sin. The sin of man was so great and the wrath of God so strong that nothing we could ever do would satisfy His wrath. This notwithstanding, God loves man so much that He decided to appease himself on our behalves- He sent His only begotten son, Jesus to shed His blood, and to die for our sins. This ushered in the New Testament. You see, if Pirate had ordered that Jesus be not killed but that His blood be shed by cutting Him with a sword, we still would not have perfect salvation... He had to die! It wasn't meant to be a sacrifice of blood alone but also of life. Again, If anybody had died in place of Jesus, we would not have perfect salvation. Oh what manner of Love the Father has bestowed on us! (Ref: Matthew 27: 22-26, Acts 4: 10-12) Have you ever been hurt by someone before, that you found it so difficult to forgive? But when somebody so valuable to you; that you respect so much- somebody you can't say NO to- comes to appeal on their behalf, you let go. Why? It's because the value you place on that 'somebody' is greater than the value you place on the offense of that 'someone'... That’s exactly what happened to God, the value He placed on His only begotten son is tremendously high- high enough to appease Him for us. God's love for Jesus was large enough to cover the multitude of our sins. You see, not just anybody could have died to get us saved, no other person could pay our bail. The offeror was what gave the offering its value. THE MAN who died was what gave the death its meaning. Great thanksgiving we ought to give to Jesus. When you go to appeal for someone, your decision to plead for them means that you are choosing to identify with that person, and his sin. Same with Jesus, He chose to identify with us and with our sin, that’s why the scriptures say that ‘HE made HIM who knew no sin to be sin for us’... 'HE made HIM' God actually set himself up for our a sakes. He boxed himself into a corner by sending Jesus to die for us! And when JESUS died, the wrath of GOD was fully satisfied and quenched. David, in 2 Samuel 23: 15-17, longed to drink water from the well of Bethlehem, and his choicest soldiers risked their lives and broke through the host of the Philippines to get him the water. When the water was brought to him, David took the water and poured it out as an offering before God because it was an offering too rich for him to drink; not in its content but in its getting... The most expensive things in this world are expensive because of their rarity, scarcity and/or cost of production. The beauty and magnificence of Christ's death and resurrection is that It didn't only bring the forgiveness of our sins but also the redemption of our souls from the greatest depths of perversity and depravity. He saved us not only from the consequences of sin but also from the power of sin; He didn’t only wash away our history in sin but also secured our future against it and destroyed its power on us... How great is the power of the blood of Jesus! Not only was the Blood of Jesus rare (No one else's blood would have done the job) His willingness to leave the majesty of heaven, take on mortality and go through the shame and humiliation of the cross for our sakes is also very rare! If we can't worship Jesus for His rare blood, let's thank Him for His rare willingness to sacrifice Himself for us. No blood is like His, no will is like His! No other than Him could have taken such a step and done such an act. I will sing unto The Lord for He has triumphed gloriously, sin and its master have been thrown into the deep. Halleluyah!!