Years ago, I was in a Billy Graham film called Last Flight Out. I played a very minor role as a missionary doctor. One of the lead actors played a pilot who helps rescue a village from drug lords, and in the process, he comes to Christ.

Well, in real life, this actor was not a believer. One day, he was struggling with some lines in the script, especially one about Jesus shedding His blood for our sins. He stopped in the middle of a scene and said, "So what's the big deal about the blood of Christ?" And I had a very lively conversation with him. Basically, I said, "Look, without the blood, there is no message. There is no power. And we have no movie."

All of history, especially redemptive history, centers around one pivotal event: the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection. That is the main event.

Why? Because our greatest need is not about how to live our best life now, how to be the best you that you can be, or how to turn your scars into stars. Your greatest need—and the greatest need of all humankind—is to be forgiven. This is why, in His first words on the cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34, NIV).

Bible scholar William Evans once said, "You can cut the Bible anywhere and it will bleed." What he meant was that the atonement is on every page, in every book, in both Old and New Testaments. It's either predicted, acknowledged, or celebrated. It is the scarlet thread of redemption. It is so monumental an event that it was in God's mind before He even created the world. He knew He needed a rescue plan. So He planned beforehand to send His Son, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).

Jesus spoke about this event to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. "He said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?' And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:25-27).

All pre-New Testament history looks forward to the cross. All post-New Testament history looks back to it. The prophets anticipated it. God's people have celebrated it—and we still do. But sadly, some churches are scared of this event. They don't want to mention the blood. They're afraid it will turn people off and that unbelievers aren't going to like that we have a bloody religion. So they just talk to them about how to be the best version of themselves they can be.

Charles Spurgeon said, "There are some preachers who cannot or do not preach about the blood of Jesus Christ, and I have one thing to say to you concerning them. Never go to hear them! Never listen to them! A ministry that has not the blood in it is lifeless…and a dead ministry is no good to anybody." As Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (ESV). That's the big deal.

I hope this truth awakens your heart to the great love God has for you. We hear of His love so often that I fear it doesn't make an impact in our hearts anymore. Jesus died on the cross. "Yeah, I've heard that." Stop. Listen. Let this simple, profound truth of God's elaborate rescue mission to be the lover of your soul sink in and transform you.