Power In The Blood Of Jesus

Power in the Blood of Jesus

No subject is as relevant! No theme is as timely! No topic is more critical

than the STORY, of the POWER, IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS. This is the most important topic that anyone can have the privilege to address.

Someone may say “I have heard that story before,” but I submit to you, that you should hear it again and again because this is the greatest story ever told. It is greater than Aesop’s fables, which bring out moral truths. Greater than Aristotle’s Athenian Constitution which covers the history and politics of Athens up to 328 BC, or Plato’s Republic that strives to define the nature of justice. This story is more profound than Shakespeare’s almost fifty didactic works. More relevant than Mark Twain’s commentary on American life, is the story of the Power in the Blood of Jesus. This is the greatest story ever told.

Blood sacrifices have been practiced in many cultures and civilizations throughout history.

Native Americans Aymara, Incas and Aztec rituals involved blood sacrifices. North of the Rio Grande, many of the Natives practiced blood sacrifices.

Traditional Africa Traditional African religions and Egyptian religions employed blood sacrifices to appease their deities and obtain fruitful harvests.

Europe, Asia and the Middle East The Greeks, the Romans, the Hindus, the Babylonians, the Canaanites, the Philistines and the Jews all practiced blood sacrifice.

Blood Sacrifices

Some cultures also performed human sacrifices. The idea behind sacrifice was the surrender of life. Blood had to be drained. Sacrifice was the pouring out of life and because life is in blood, blood was shed. In many religions, the devotees often consumed sacrificial blood. In addition to prohibiting human sacrifices, God barred the Jewish nation from consuming animal sacrificial blood, because life is in the blood. Blood is life and life must be allowed to return to the God of the universe who gave it.

The First Blood Sacrifice

After humankind had sinned against God in the garden in Eden and was therefore condemned to die, God performed the first sacrifice and obtained animals’ hides and blood to cover the physical and spiritual nakedness of Adam and Eve.

God’s Covenant with the Jewish Nation required the shedding of blood through animal sacrifices. The lives of millions of animals surrendered under the Jewish blood covenant were presented to satisfy the demands of divine justice. However, the blood of bulls, goats, sheep and turtledoves failed to make a permanent, and acceptable transformation in the human condition. Humanity was steeped in sin. Humankind had sunken to the depths of degradation.

Isaiah the prophet looking through the eyes of divinity saw the human condition and exclaimed “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” (Isaiah 1:5-6)

God Hates Sin

Seeing the sinful condition of humankind, in Genesis 6:7… the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

In Psalm 5:4-6, the Psalmist writes, “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee… thou hatest all workers of iniquity… the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 declares, “16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Proverbs 15:8-9 says, “8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord… 9 The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord:”

Proverbs 21:27 says, “The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?”

In Isaiah 43:14, the Lord says, “… you have wearied me with your iniquities.”

In Zechariah 8:14 the prophet prophesied saying “And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.”

God hates sin. Sin is repugnant to God. He is immaculate. He is righteous and dwells at the utmost height of glorious purity. His very nature resists and repels sin. However, this pure and holy God continually seeks a relationship with His human creation, but sin has separated humanity from their Creator. Sin separates us from God.

Isaiah 59:1,2 declares “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Humanity was doomed and cut off, condemned and alienated from God for eternity. But blood was shed. Blood was shed from the foundation of the earth. Blood was shed in the mind of God. Blood was shed from the heart of God. Blood was shed for the lives of men and women. The Blood of Jesus has been shed, and in His Blood, there is power.