Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From Evangelist Delbert Maupin's reproof of Pastor John, in Louisville, KY, late 1970's.
I was teaching the saints in Louisville when I misquoted Luke 24:39. I said that the resurrected Lord Jesus told his disciples, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and blood as ye see me have." Fortunately for both me and for the people whom I was teaching, Brother Delbert Maupin was there. And fortunately for all of us, Brother Delbert had enough of the love of God to stop me and point out that Jesus didn't say that. If it had been a small matter, he might have let it pass, but this was important.
He explained to us that Jesus, after his resurrection, would not have said that he had flesh and blood because he had no blood left in his body. All of his natural blood had been spilled from his body during his cruel torture at the hands of the Jews who arrested him, the brutal whipping given him by Roman soldiers, and finally, his barbarous crucifixion. What Jesus said, therefore, to his disciples was this: "a spirit hath not flesh and BONE as ye see me have." The resurrected Jesus was in his fleshly body, with its bones unbroken (Jn. 19:36), but he had no blood running through it.
Men have learned that it is the blood that gives life to our bodies, as the book of Leviticus long ago stated (17:11-14). How, then, was Jesus able to come back to life, seeing he had no physical blood to give life to his slain body? The book of Hebrews tells us. In the last chapter of that great book, the writer states that Jesus was raised from the dead by the "blood of the everlasting covenant" (13:20). This "blood" is the holy Ghost. Jesus' natural blood could not have brought his crucified body back to life. People die all the time with their bodies full of their natural blood. Natural blood can revive no dead man. But the blood of this New Covenant, the holy Ghost, has the power to bring back to the land of the living those who have passed through death's door. Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the holy Ghost (Rom. 1:4), which is the true "blood of Christ."
This is the blood that Jesus said we must drink if we want to live forever (Jn. 6:53-56). This is the blood that washes away the stain of sin (1Cor. 6:9-11; Rev. 7:13-14). And this is the blood that will raise from the dead all who have been made clean by it. This is incorruptible blood, and without its cleansing power, no man will stand clean before God. The holy Spirit is the "blood of Christ". It was poured out upon his disciples on Pentecost morning (Acts 2), and it is still flowing from heaven now, an endless stream of healing power and joy.
I am grateful for the help that God gave to me, through such older saints as Brother Delbert Maupin. "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness", sang David. "Let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head" (Ps. 141:5). Without the help of older and wiser saints, I might well have fallen victim to the spirits of this age long ago. Instead, with the help they gave to me, I am still free and happy in Jesus.