It’s like a domino effect. Lower blood plasma clotting factors in turn produce lower levels of coagulation factors. The low coagulation factors prevent the formation of fibrin. And the result, well the blood flows because it takes much longer to produce a blood clot.
The ladies, almost never experience the recessive X chromosome disorder. A deficiency in clotting factor VIII will happen in about 1 and 10K males, and a deficiency in clotting factor IX will happen in about 1 and 20K-34K males.
We know it today as hemophilia B. And it’s nicknamed the “Royal Disease”. And it has no cure.
You see, the disease affecting many of the monarchs of Europe from the mid 1800’s into the 1900’s stemmed from Queen Victoria, known as the grandmother of Europe. She had 9 children. 2 of her girls passed it through royal lines and a boy died as a result of the disease. This affected the monarchies of Prussia, Russia & Spain. Genetically the possibility still exists today that the disorder could spring up in European Royalty.
Not only is this historical, it’s prophetic.
Dan. 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
The word ‘cleave’ in the aramaic comes from the same root word that is used in Genesis, when is says a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall ‘cleave’ unto his wife.
So what is it about hemophilia that makes it so terrible? Well, we know that we must have blood, without it we die. Around Queen Victoria’s time it was once believed in the medical profession that illness could be purged from the body by bleeding the patient. If a patient were bled enough the disease will flow out with the blood. Blood-letting as it’s called, claimed the life of George Washington, and was of course later found to be erroneous. But what is so special about blood?
The Bible gives the answer.
Gen. 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Lev. 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Lev. 17:14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
Deut. 12:23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
The Bible declares that the life which we possess is in the blood. Now that is incredible. No blood, no life.
Red blood cells are quite interesting. They have no nucleus and are shaped so that they look similar to a donut except where the hole should be there is a depression in the cell. Part of the makeup of a red blood cell is the protein complex called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a quaternary protein with an heme group at the center. This heme group is the binding site for oxygen, as the heme center is made up of iron that has a two plus charge. Oxygen having a two minus charge will readily bind at this site. The hemoglobin complex has four ?pockets? that will bind oxygen, tightening the molecule with each pickup and making it that much more difficult to bind the next oxygen. When the red blood cells are carried through the body and dropped off to the sites that need oxygen, each molecule is released, relieving the on the binding complex.
So there we have it no blood, no oxygen, and no oxygen, no life.
Are we then to account that oxygen in the Bible is equivalent to breath? We could, but it would fall short of giving the full magnitude. Though a wonderful scientific explanation exists which is truly fascinating, it cannot explain one thing.
Gen. 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Five days before God breathed into Adam, oxygen existed. Other animals were around, alive, thriving and breathing it. It was in the atmosphere abundantly, in the water, all around. Yet here lied Adam, pure air all around him, yet no life. It was not until God breathed life into Him that he lived. This is a very personal and intimate act on the part of God. Nowhere is it recorded that God breathed life into the nostrils of the animals. Nowhere is it recorded where God took the tender time and care to create such a being and then bestow the living giving power through His own personal contact.
When the Bible speaks of life, gives a different perspective than that of biology.
We are not given a definition of cellular respiration, but the Bible says that a few things are life. But it only speaks of two things that are eternal life.
Here is what the Bible says is life
Psa. 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Prov. 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
Prov. 16:15 In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.
Rom. 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
And here are the two items the Bible speaks of as eternal life. As fresh as the air may be, this is the life we are most interested in.
John 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
It begs two questions. How do I keep His commandments? And how do I know God?
To answer we must look at another royal ancestry, one that also passes a disease from generation to generation.
First let’s establish the heritage, the Bible says this of our God
Rev. 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written,
KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
And this of our relation to him,
Luke 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
We have a noble lineage but one that bears a stain.
1Cor. 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Rom. 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom. 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; And what is sin?
1John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
But there is a most wonderful solution and back we come to the blood.
Rev. 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
That substance which is declared to give contain life, is the same substance by which we have eternal life.
But it still has not told us how to keep His commandments and know Him.
The Bible says this of those who profess to know God.
Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
The converse must be true by the above statement, you cannot know God and leave out works.
Just what are those works you may ask? Well they must do several things, first they must glorify God and cause others to glorify God.
Matt. 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
1Pet. 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Secondly the must be maintained
Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Titus 3:14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
They must be something that shows love for fellow man.
1Tim. 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
1Tim. 5:10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints?
feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
The text in Titus also says to not be abominable, which in the greek basically translates to not being detestable with the implication that one is involved in idolatry. This makes sense, how can you know God if you dedicate your time to someone or something else?
And the text also makes an interesting observation, it mentions those that are disobedient do not know God. Can you know someone you don?t obey? Or maybe this is not an intimate form of knowledge we?re talking about in this text, after all there are different levels of knowing people.
1492. eido? eido?; a primary verb; used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent 3700 and 3708; properly, to see (literally or figuratively); by implication, (in the perfect tense only) to know: ? be aware, behold, x can (+ not tell), consider, (have) know(-ledge), look (on), perceive, see, be sure, tell, understand, wish, wot. Compare 3700.
3700. optanomai optanomai; a (middle voice) prolonged form of the primary (middle voice)
optomai optomai; which is used for it in certain tenses; and both as alternate of 3708 to gaze (i.e. with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable; and thus differing from 991, which denotes simply voluntary observation; and from 1492, which expresses merely mechanical, passive or casual vision; while 2300, and still more emphatically its intensive 2334, signifies an earnest but more continued inspection; and 4648 a watching from a distance): ? appear, look, see, shew self.
3708. horao? horao?; properly, to stare at (compare 3700), i.e. (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally); by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear: ? behold, perceive, see, take heed.
There we have it, it’s a very intimate form of knowledge the text is speaking of. So to know God, we have to be full of good works, be conscious of our idolatrous ways so as not to make Him first in our lives and we have to be obedient.
Which brings us to the next point. How do we keep God’s commandments?
God is into practicing what He preaches. Many times it is recorded in scripture that God told the children of Israel to ?keep? His commandments. The full force of the word can only be understood by looking into the Hebrew for ?keep?
8104. s?a?mar s?a?mar; a primitive root; properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.: ? beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
The idea is preserved in the Greek.
5083. te?reo? te?reo?; from teros teros (a watch; perhaps akin to 2334); to guard (from loss or injury, properly, by keeping the eye upon; and thus differing from 5442, which is properly to prevent escaping; and from 2892, which implies a fortress or full military lines of apparatus), i.e. to note (a prophecy; figuratively, to fulfil a command); by implication, to detain (in custody; figuratively, to maintain); by extension, to withhold (for personal ends; figuratively, to keep unmarried); by extension, to withhold (for personal ends; figuratively, to keep unmarried): ? hold fast, keep(- er), (pre-, re-)serve, watch.
God’s law is so precious that He sent His Son, not just to die for us, but to protect, to guard, and uphold His law. It is that meaningful to Him.
We keep His commandments by having the same regard for them as He does.
Queen Victoria’s disease came at an interesting time in history, it shaped the destiny of nations, it was part of a fulfillment of prophecy, and yet it has no explanation. Her mother was not a carrier and her father did not have the disease. Her expression of hemophilia is a 1 in 50,000 chance point mutation. How it happened is a mystery to all but God.
God’s dear Son also came at an interesting time in history, but His life giving act was no accident, rather a calculated selfless gift to save us all. It is also mysterious, that blood which contains life that sustains us, can also save us by being spilt.
You can live your entire life without the light of day, thought it will not be very healthy. You can live 4-6 weeks without food, though it will be tough, and it may have serious side effects. You can live about a week without water, though it will be quite miraculous. You can live about three to four minutes without air. But you cannot live one second without the life giving power of Christ, and you will most certainly not live eternally without the precious blood that was shed for your life.