I recently read an article, written by Jeremy Hart, which was published on 08 February 1994 in the Independent newspaper. The article dealt with antivenom that is produced to save people that have been bitten by snakes.
The first antivenom was developed in 1896, by a Frenchman, named Albert Calmette, who gave small portions of venom to pigeons and steadily increased the dosage in order for the pigeons’ immune system to develop an active immunity to the poison and produces antibodies which could be extracted to make a serum for use on humans who had been bitten by snakes.
Soon thereafter this method was used on horses, as horses was more widely available. Although this method was used for nearly a century to produce all serums/antivenoms. There was however a disadvantage to using horses.
Horses have a very strong reaction to the venom being introduced which in turn stimulates a specific immunoglobulin or also known as an antibody. This antibody contains a toxin, to whom a large percentage of humans, averaged at 40%, who receives the serum that was made from antibodies extracted from horses, proved to have an allergic reaction to. This varies from a rash, or asthma type attack to, in very extreme cases, even death.
Since the mid 1960’s to the mid 1990’s, Prof John Landon, a chemical pathologist at the Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, discovered that the antibodies produced by sheep are purer than those produced by horses. The antibodies produced by sheep, does not contain the toxin as in the case of horses.
Then it came to mind again, how great is our God and how the things of the world and our everyday life, is so intertwined with what is written in the Bible, that it is just not possible not to see His greatness in everything. Consider the following parallel I want to draw from the story above, which once again proves how great and mighty our God is.
John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world in John 1:29. Now if we go back to the Old Testament, we read in Isaiah 53:10 about the prophesy about the coming of Jesus who is the perfect sacrifice God would provide as atonement for the sins of His people which we read in Romans 8:3 and in Hebrews 10. The Israelites in Egypt also applied the blood of lambs to their doorposts to protect them from the angel of death, Exodus 12:11 to 13.
Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death and that our sins separate us from God. The only hope for man, is to believe in God and that He has sent His Son as a sacrifice in order for us to receive eternal life.
Being a Christian does not mean that life will be without trouble, to the contrary, he that is from this world will try to make life as difficult as possible for Christians, with what resources he has available to him, mostly our past. But our faith and trust in God and the sacrifice of Jesus is our saving grace.
As the blood of the sheep are used today to save people, who was bitten by snakes, so we can say the blood of the sheep is taking away the danger posed by the snake. Yes amazing, the Blood of the Lamb overcome the evil of the serpent. Therefore, I urge each and every Christian to pray every day for the protection of the Blood of the Lamb over you and your family.
The Blood of the Lamb protect us every day.
Blessings
Doric