The Power of the Blood of Jesus What does Christs blood mean to us? 1.) His blood redeems us. There was a price against us that we could not pay, but the blood of Jesus redeemed us. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 2.) His blood brings us into fellowship with God. According to Ephesians 2:13, But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Without the blood of Christ, man is a long way from God. 3.) His blood makes peace with God. Man, by nature, is at war with God. We can only come to God on His peace terms - the blood atonement. The Bible says in Colossians 1:20, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 4.) His blood cleanses. Not only does it remove the punishment of sin, it removes the pollution. I dont care what sin youve committed, it says very clearly in 1 John 1:7, But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. His blood gives power over the devil. People give way too much credit to the devil because, although he is the god of this world, and roams around seeking whom he can devour, he has been defeated! Even Satan has to obey to God! Its the blood that Satan fears. Revelation 12:11 says, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. The devil doesnt want you to learn about the blood. He hates it! He wants you to stay in the dark about its power because it is exactly what Satan FEARS the most! There are many examples of Blood Sacrifices in the Old Testament. They were specifically done to cover the sins of the people. There was even one instance where the blood was applied at the doorpost so the judgment of God would pass over them. Mat 26:28, For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And look what it says in Act 20:28, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. There are 4 occasions where Jesus shed His Blood (but is useful to Gods people in a thousand ways!) All of these occasions have significant meanings and speak to us about the Power of Jesus Blood. Lets take a look at some of them for a moment. A) Praying with Sweat and Blood - Luke 22:42-44, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” v43) Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. v44) And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.[a] See, Jesus, as a human being, is showing us and teaching TO us that God’s Will is above His human Will. Our Flesh follows our old human will, which is our old nature, the nature of the unregenerate man, the old person and the old nature before we came to know God. Romans 7:18, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. Hebrews 10:6-7, In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, You had no pleasure. v7) Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come - In the volume of the book it is written of Me - To do Your will, O God. God doesnt take much pleasure in us if we want to do our own will instead of God’s Will. Jesus shed His Blood to deal with our will because its against the Will of God. So we need to surrender our will, totally surrendering ourselves to Him and take HIS WILL for our lives! B) Whipping until Blood flowed - John 19:1, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. His body was whipped 39 times! In scourging, a soldier used a whip called a flagrum consisting of leather straps embedded with metal and glass fragments with small metal balls sewn into the end of each thong. This whip was brought down with full force and when struck against the back of Jesus, was pulled, whereby tearing the skin off, exposing muscle, and maybe even exposing His very bones. Scourging stops when it is determined that the victim is near death or 39 lashes was reached. 39 was the number of mercy according to Jewish law. Isaiah 53:4-6, Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. v5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. v6) All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Our sins will ultimately lead to pain and suffering, punishment, losing direction and confusion. And we know confusion is NOT from the Lord....its from our adversary, the devil! So confessing our sins, leads to daily cleansing by God as it speaks of in 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. C) Wearing the Thorns until Blood Flows - Mark 15:17, And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head.... They put a crown of thorns on His head, thorns that were shoved between His scalp and skull and were ripping and tearing at His skin. Imagine the great pain Jesus suffered for our sins! His blood was shed for US! Thorns represent a curse. Genesis 3:17-18, Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. v18) Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. Some of the types of curses spoken about are: a) Generational Curses which are curses passed down from one generation to another because of judgement. Found in Exodus 20:5 b) Self Curses which are curses that you consciously or unconsciously speak over yourself. Found in Genesis 27:13 c) Other curses which have been placed on you by other people, knowingly or unknowingly. Found in Numbers 22:6 d) Objects of a curse, which are objects that are abominations in the sight of God. Found in Deuteronomy 7:26. The good news is that Jesus can take away all our curses! Galatians 3:13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” We need to reject ALL curses against us, even those we unknowingly speak over ourselves from time to time. Luke 6:28 tells us, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. This is the antidote for all types of curses that are put upon us. To live the victorious life that Jesus Christ has promised us, we need to start blessing people and especially those who curse us. D) Crucified with the Shedding of Blood - Mark 15:15, Pilate wanted to please the crowd. So he set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross. The Cross is a representation of Discipleship as taught in Matthew 10:38, And he who does not take up your cross and come with me, you are not fit to be my disciples. A Disciple is one who loves God above everything, and everyone, else - your family, your job, your life, your children. Jesus called us to become disciples and He called us to make disciples. He went to the cross so we could do just that! Luke 14:26 says, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. We really need to make a commitment to become a disciple for Jesus. He gave His ALL for us, I think we can give Him all of US! In my personal opinion, we dont hear enough about the blood of Jesus! Its not being taught in the majority of the sound churches. He had to pay a debt of sin that He didnt owe! Why? Because WE owed a debt of SIN that we couldnt PAY! Our sins were so atrocious that they had to be paid for with Jesus BLOOD! What a wonderful Savior is HE! The Bible is very plain that Jesus entered into the heavenly holy place after He arose from the dead. He ascended into Heaven with His blood. The blood had to be applied as it is said in Hebrews 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Its ALL about the blood of Jesus! Thats why I feel the churches need to teach, preach and speak on the Blood more often! Its ALL about the BLOOD, from the blood of Abels slain lamb in Genesis, to the saints robes that were washed in the blood of the Lamb in Revelation, the whole Word of God centers around the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:22, “...without shedding of blood is no remission.” Jesus death was just as important as His blood sacrifice, and equally important was the burial and resurrection. BUT everything concerning the events of Jesus life were leading up to the blood being applied to the Mercy Seat in Heaven. Hebrews 9:24-26 state, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us...” (that is, God the Father). Jesus took His shed blood to Heaven to present unto the Father, by applying it to the Mercy Seat. This is why Jesus said to Mary in John 20:17, ”Jesus saith unto her, TOUCH ME NOT; for I am not yet ascended to my Father...” The blood couldnt be tainted. I found a very good statement from one of the many great bible teachers by the name of M.R. DeHaan, M.D. that I will share here in its entirety: SOURCE: The TABERNACLE, by M.R. DeHaan, M.D., ISBN 0-310-23491-3, page 129. The blood was to be sprinkled, remember, on the mercy seat right after the death of the substitutionary animal of sacrifice, Now Christ is, of course, our substitute. He was slain for us upon the Cross, and entered into death for us, and when He arose, He immediately went to heaven, entered into the holy of holies in heaven, sprinkled His precious blood upon the mercy seat before the throne of God, and forever settled the sin questions, and delivered us from the curse of the law. This is clearly taught in the New testament. Hebrews 9:12 is very definite on this: But by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The Bible also makes plain when He accomplished this. On the morning of the resurrection He meets Mary at the tomb. As soon as Mary recognized Him, she prostrated herself upon Him, and would have kissed His feet, but with shocking suddenness, Jesus emphatically says to her: Touch me not; and then He proceeds immediately to give the reason why Mary is not permitted to touch Him at all. For I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17) Literally the Lord Jesus Christ said, Touch me not; for I now am about to ascend unto my Father. We can understand this action when we remember the the high priest after he had offered the sacrifice, was to enter the holy of holies, before he did anything else, with the precious blood. No one was allowed to approach him. Everyone was shut out until this was completely done. And here in the record of the meeting with Mary we have the fulfillment of this type. Here Mary meets her great High Priest, just arisen from the tomb, but before He had entered the holy of holies with the reconciling blood. And so He says to her, TOUCH ME NOT. What a wonderful truth! The Bible is so clear when you accept it as its written. Thank God for the precious redeeming literal blood of Christ Jesus! Blood at the scene of a terrible accident, murder or some other form of violent crime is a sign of injury and death. But when blood is coursing through our veins, or even when its given as a transfusion to a dying patient, it is a sign of life. However, its the pale, pasty color of a face without blood that we take as a sign of death. Our society of this age seems drawn towards violence, death and blood. Ive written about it in some of my other articles and it just seems to get worse with each passing day. Its starts very young too, grabbing the attention of our young children, conditioning them and numbing them to the beauty of LIFE. Ive read a few years back that by the time an average child leaves elementary school, he or she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and over 100,000 other acts of violence. Thats ASTOUNDING! By the time that child is 18 years-of-age; he or she will witness 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders. Television is relatively new as it relates to technology, but the violence and bloodletting isnt. In the Crusades, in the Inquisition, in the Holocaust, those interested in power and wealth at any cost have seen death as the final solution. They have bloodied the teachings of the Bible and twisted the direction of the church to accomplish their unholy purposes and to justify, even dare I say, glorify, the spilling of innocent blood. One of the reasons that I support and continue to pray about the churches preaching the Blood of Jesus more often then they do, is because of the culture we do live in! Its full of the gory fascination with blood, violence and death. Since its so blatantly common, and honest discussion of it is so rare, its extremely easy to misread and/or misinterpret the Bible, with only looking at the blood of Jesus only as a symbol of His death, rather than as a symbol of His Life and Truth. For new believers, or for non-believers who are feeling the call of the Lord knocking at their hearts door, this can be a problem! And its because of this reason that I am writing this post! The focus needs to be on LIFE not DEATH! One reason Jesus died was to overcome the power of hell. Jesus worked against evil spirits throughout His life, and His suffering was the final struggle against evil, and His resurrection the final victory over evil. For every person, overcoming evil involves temptation or struggle against evil, and “dying to sin and the world.” As we struggle against evil individually, Christ struggled against evil on a GRAND scale, and His death was the conclusion of that struggle. So the Bible says that God took on flesh and blood so that “through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14,15) Still, in Romans 5:10, For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Another reason that Bible gives for Jesus’ death was that He might make His human nature completely one with His Divine nature, so that He were “to make in Himself of two one new man,” (Ephesians 2:14-16, cf. John 17:11,21; 10:30), so that He could “go to the Father” (John 13:3; 14:2,28; 16:10), or be “glorified” (John 17:1,5) or “enter into His glory” (Luke 24:26), that is, “be perfected” (Luke 13:32), or “sanctified” (John 17:19). The blood of Christ is the ultimate proof of Gods love. Romans 5:8-9, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. v9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. He loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood (Revelation 1:5). In 1 Peter 1:17- 19, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; v18) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, v19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. God proves His love by the price He was willing to pay for our salvation. In Acts 20:28, it tells us that the church was purchased by the blood of Christ! The grace of God is demonstrated by the blood of Christ. We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith (Romans 3:24,25). In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). The blood of Christ frees us from Satan and places us in the kingdom of God and allows us to stand in white before the throne of God. Much more than anything, and the greatest of all, is SALVATION! Romans 5:9, Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. And in Ephesians 1:7, we read, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace With the Blood of Jesus, salvation is sure. Its a free gift of our Loving God! Our Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood for the salvation of our souls. What a price to pay! His blood gives us full access to GOD. Foolishly, people believe their own self righteousness can save them....their good deeds. Theyre so mistaken! Our own self righteousness cant save us. We are sinners. We NEED a Savior! And a Savior was given unto us! Its ONLY through His blood that we are saved. It saves is from sin and we should ALL want to be saved from sin because it saves us from eternal death. The blood justifies and saves us from condemnation. It rescues us when were in trouble. Romans 5:1, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justified is another powerful word used in the Bible to describe the forgiveness of our sins and the beautiful restoration of our relationship with God. If we take the word justified in this verse, and look it up, we are given the Greek word dikaioo, which means, to render (to show or regard as) just or innocent: - free, justify (-ier), be righteous. When a person is justified, it makes them innocent, just as though theyd never sinned! That, my dear readers, is exceptionally great news for us! This is the very reason that we can live a new life in Christ, as a new creation, because when weve repented of our sins, were made right with God and have the righteousness of God upon us! Romans 3:22, Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe... This is often referred to as part of the divine exchange. Christ was punished for our sins, so that we can receive forgiveness, He was given our shame so that we can receive His righteousness. So, in conclusion, why is the blood of Jesus so precious? Through it, we have redemption, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, access to God, and daily forgiveness. Nothing else in this life has the power to do any of these things. Apart from the blood of Christ, you and I would be destined to an eternity separated from almighty God. If you havent accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so now! Its never too late and it will change your life forever! Your life will never be the same!
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 23:01:12 +0000
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