There is a stanza of a well- known hymn that says; “Would you be free from your burden of sin. There’s power in the blood power in the blood. Would you o’er evil a victory win There’s wonderful power in the blood. There is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb There is power power wonder working power in the precious blood of lamb.”
This hymn in its entirety speaks about the power of the blood of Jesus that can deliver us from the power of sin and Satan and subdue the works of the flesh. The Bible says much about the blood of the Lamb. Of course our Lord Jesus the Messiah is the sacrificial Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). In the Book of Exodus when the Children of Israel were about to be set free from their slavery in Egypt God told them through Moses to kill a male lamb without spot or blemish or any defect of any kind and to splash it’s blood on the sides and tops of their doorframes of their houses forming a cross as it were, because that night the destroying angel was about to pass through Egypt to kill the firstborn of all the Egyptians.
It was God’s judgement on Egypt, a nation steeped in the occult and whose people by and large had grown to hate the Israelites and had been persecuting them to the point where the Israelites were desperate to be delivered from their slave masters. God’s people were about to be rescued out of their slavery in Egypt and the price for their redemption was the shed blood of an innocent lamb without spot, blemish or defect of any kind.
God Himself said through Moses “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). Their total deliverance from the power of their overlord Pharaoh and the slave masters was only possible through the blood of the Lamb! Of course we know that this was a foreshadow of the cross where the pure, untainted blood of the sinless Messiah our Lord Jesus was shed to redeem us out of the Egypt of this world, from the power of its overlord Satan, the god of this world, and from the grip of sin. As it is written; “For the Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
We can know about the blood of Jesus and what it can do intellectually but when it becomes a spiritual revelation deep down on the inside, which only the blessed Holy Spirit can give, the power of Jesus blood becomes a dynamic spiritual reality deep within the inner spirit that cleanses and delivers us from all sin and unrighteousness and from the temptations and the weight of sin that can so easily beset us and trip us up spiritually. What does the blood of Jesus have power to do? There are seven things I would like to mention…
1. By the blood of Jesus we are justified and acquitted of all our sins by faith in Jesus and in His blood, and will be protected from the coming wrath on the Egypt of this world and on its overlord Satan (Romans 5:9).
2. By the blood of Jesus we have redemption and the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of God’s unearned and unmerited favour (Ephesians 1:7).
3. By the blood of Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, our conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14).
4. By the blood of Jesus we are being set apart to God exclusively for His service (Hebrews 14:12).
5. By the blood of Jesus we are being continuously cleansed as we walk in the light of His Word and if we do sin but confess it and forsake it, His blood will cleanse us from all unrighteousness because the Lord Jesus is our advocate between us and God and the one who has fully and forever atoned for our sins by His blood (1 John 1:7) (1 John 2:2).
6. By the blood of Jesus we have boldness and confidence to enter into the very presence of God in the Spirit through prayer, having been made possible through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus’ body represented by the curtain in the temple being torn the very moment the Lord Jesus died (Hebrews 10: 19-20).
7. By the blood of Jesus and because of His undying love for us, we have been loosed from the grip of our sins (Revelation 1:5).
In the Book of Revelation we are told that as New Covenant believers we can overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony and by not loving our lives in this world even if it means martyrdom (Revelation 12:11). When the Israelites killed the lamb its blood was first poured into a basin. Now even though the blood was that of a spotless lamb, it was not effective to protect the Israelites until that blood was taken out of the basin and applied by hyssop to the top and sides of the door posts of the Israelite houses. It is the same principle that applies to the blood of Jesus.
We can know about the blood and what the Bible says about it and even Satan knows this. However, when by faith we speak into the unseen spiritual realm of fallen spirits testifying to them what the Bible says the blood of Jesus does for us, the blessed Holy Spirit living in our inner spirit empowers us to overcome whatever Satan and his cohorts from hell throw our way. Confession is a part of the salvation experience (Romans 10:9-13). Even the Lord Jesus said “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
So you see brothers and sisters that our confession expressed verbally in faith activates God’s power in our lives to stand against whatever Satan has been throwing our way. This is akin to taking the blood out of the basin and applying it to the doorposts. This is when it becomes effective. Not only will it protect us from God’s wrath on that day when it is unleashed upon a Messiah hating, Messiah rejecting world, but also Jesus’ blood will be the means of overcoming Satan especially during the time of Great Tribulation.
All of us as New Covenant believers have things in the past we know were wrong, sins we committed even after we were saved, things we failed to say or do and entertained thoughts and images that ran contrary to the Word of God and we did not have the power to resist temptation when it assailed the sense gates of our soul. Even after confessing our past sins we are accosted by the accuser of the brethren who not only accuses us but also accuses us before God.
Even though we have been washed in the blood and received the Holy Spirit there are things from the past that can still bother us. Most of us if we are honest struggle with past sins that have a way of rising up in our minds like a spectre out of the darkness and afflicting our souls. In the blood of Jesus God has given us a very powerful spiritual weapon with which to combat Satan’s relentless assault on our minds, on our emotions and especially where our wills are concerned. Satan is too strong for us and if we try to resist him in our own strength or even by the power of our wills we will fail every time and end up in despair and depression and with a sense of hopelessness that anything will ever change in us spiritually speaking.
This is not God’s plan for us as New Covenant believers. The only way to subdue those desires and appetites of the flesh that daily assault us and militate against the desires of the Spirit in us is to use the blood of Jesus as a spiritual weapon which will bring us relief and deliverance. It takes perseverance and endurance but it will reap a tremendous spiritual victory for us. What we thought would never be possible becomes possible because we are relying upon, and using the spiritual power by faith that resides in the blood of Jesus.
That blood of Jesus is not just a Biblical doctrine to be believed in but also a dynamic spiritual weapon when released by faith audibly in words empowered by the Holy Spirit, will bring us deliverance and victory over those lusts of the eyes, over those lusts of the flesh and over those things in this world that promote the pride of life. As we persevere over time we will become stronger in the area we have been having the most trouble with spiritually! Not only this but it will draw us closere to our Lord Jesus and deepen our personal relationship with Him.
How then can we have this victory over the world the flesh and the devil?
Firstly; before the activities of the day when we have our time with the Lord we need to wait before the Lord, read from the Psalms out loud and start to thank and praise God, not focusing on ourselves or our problems, but on the excellence and faithfulness of His character and what He does by His sovereign power. This will allow us to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need
The Lord Jesus has been where we have been yet He never gave in to the temptations that He experienced in the same way we experience them. After all He is our great high priest who has been tempted in every way that we are but overcame every temptation to sin. Because He has been tempted in this way and overcome He can enter into our struggle and those private thoughts that assail our minds and bombard our wills and help us in our extremity (Hebrews 4:14-16). As the psalmist says to God concerning the spiritual welfare of his brethren; “Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”
Secondly; after we have spent some time thanking the Lord and praising Him for His mercy and grace and if necessary having confessed any sin that has come to light, we can then take communion. This act will remind us of what the Lord Jesus accomplished for us when He died on the cross. Hold up the bread and give Him thanks for His body broken for you and that He was made to be a sacrifice for sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
After this hold up the glass or cup containing the wine and declare verbally what the Bible says the blood of Jesus does for us. This will reinforce the spiritual reality of the power of God that resides in the blood of Jesus, not only to protect us in the day of His coming wrath, but to give us the power to resist those temptations and fleshly desires that will most certainly come our way during the day and especially at night when we are tired. At such times of temptation we will remember what we did in the morning and the blessed Holy Spirit will give us the grace of God that teaches us to just say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and empower us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus the Messiah (Titus 2:11-13).
Thirdly; we need to put on the whole armour of God every morning and start out our day praying in the Holy Spirit and committing the day’s activities to our Lord Jesus. As we start to do this we will find at first distractions and thoughts and no spiritual feelings whatsoever, but as we persevere in faith over time we will find ourselves overcoming those areas that have tripped us over spiritually in the past and find their power to grip us will be diminished as we keep praying in the Holy Spirit throughout the day building ourselves up in our most holy faith (Jude 1:20).
While our emotions may be tossed and our minds assailed we will come to know deep down on the inside of us in our heart that peace of God which transcends all human understanding and that will garrison our hearts and minds in the Messiah Jesus our Lord (Philippians 4:7). In doing this we will have the deep assurance that there is power in the blood of Jesus!
