And is forgiveness of sins our salvation?
I do not belittle nor begrudge the forgiveness of sins that I have through His blood. Without this forgiveness I could not even approach the Father. My life in Him is the result of His Spirit in me making me one with Him in His death and resurrection. This is my salvation.
John 6:53-61
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
I suppose that Christ was speaking in spiritual terms knowing that He did not want anyone to drink of His blood and eat His flesh literally, because that would be a no/no according to the law and even before the law. If he was speaking in spiritual terms why were so many offended and why didn't He tell them that He was speaking spiritually so they could understand and not be offended? No, I do not think or believe for a moment that Christ wanted them to rush the cross and drink His literal blood so they could have eternal life and be some kind of blood brothers. Put that to rest in your hearts and I am not a bloodsucker.
What he wanted them to understand, before He literally shed His blood on the cross at Calvary, is that His blood was going to give them life and they would have to drink it. The blood was literal but the drinking of it would identify them with the life that was poured out on the cross for them. This same literal blood would be the very blood that the Father would accept and give them eternal life. The blood gave them eternal life, His death was a substitutionary death as our scapegoat, His burial took our sins and buried them and the resurrection justified us when we believed. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood shows forth His death until He come / 1Cor 11:26. We have no communion with the Father or with the Son without eating His flesh and drinking His blood and this is the basis of the NT covenant that we have of Him. He that has the Son (flesh & blood) has life but he that has not the Son (flesh & blood) has not life / 1Jn 5:11-13. Has what I said offended any of you or do you think me to be a mad man?
If Christ literal blood was not important, then why come and shed it. Couldn't there be remission of sins without the shedding of His literal blood?
If you were an eternal spirit-being and you witnessed God actually saving a sinner by grace, what do you think you would see happen? Would you see the believer being sanctified by the Spirit through being set apart and having a hedge put around them? Would you see God translating them from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son? Would you also witness the sprinkling of the blood upon that sanctified believer according to 1Pt 1:2, Heb 10:10? Would you actually be able to see the weapons of our warfare in action against the wiles of the devil being hurled at us? What would you see when Satan used Peter's vocal chords to rebuke the Lord from going to the cross / Mt 16:22,23? The young man that was with Elisha has his eyes opened so he could see the horses and chariots of fire that surrounded Elisha / 2Kgs 6:15-17.
This is why it is so important to live by every word of God, so we can have a picture by faith, in the imaginations and thoughts of our mind and heart, of the things that God has freely given to us by grace. Can you imagine having a picture or being able to see God imputing His righteousness to us and the glory of God it reveals in us? Why is it so difficult to see the literal blood of Christ doing such a great work on behave of the believer who has been placed in Christ. Now, we see through a glass darkly because the eternal things of God are not seen / 2Cor 4:18 and we walk by faith, which is the evidence of things not yet seen / Heb 11:1 and there is a greater blessing and mystery involved when we walk by faith in the Son and believe the promises of God / Jn 20:29.
In the book of Revelation there is no mention of Christ death or the cross in relationship to the vision of Christ that was given to John. However, we have (4) specific references that refer to the blood of Christ.
Rev 1:5 ... washed us from our own sins with His own blood
Rev 5:9 ... redeemed us to God by thy blood
Rev 7:14 ... made white by the blood of the Lamb
Rev 12:11 ... overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb
I do not think that the Lord Jesus Christ wanted us to forget about His literal blood that he shed for man. Do you? Neither does He forget the blood that we have shed for Him / Rev 19:13.