The Blood of Jesus
Galatians 3:13
An old song says, “Oh, the blood of Jesus, Oh the blood of Jesus, Oh the blood of Jesus, has never lost its power. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah for the blood, Hallelujah, hallelujah it has never suffered loss.”
The blood of Jesus is not often talked about in church in today’s society. It is thought to be deemed passe’ but it is still effective today.
Growing up in a church that believed in healing and that it was included in the atonement long with the forgiveness of sins, many songs about the blood come to mind. We were told to “plead the blood of Jesus.” What did this mean? I don’t think I ever fully grasped what it meant, but I did it to the best of my ability and said out loud, “I plead the blood of Jesus over my body.” Looking back at the history of the blood in the Old Testament, the Israelites were faithful to offer a lamb as a sacrifice for sin. It was to be an unblemished animal and this is what John the Baptist referred to when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God” when speaking of Jesus. (John 1:29 KJV).
The Old Testament sacrifices were temporary and had to be repeated. They covered where Jesus cleansed. When Jesus was on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Of the sayings of Jesus on the cross none is more important than this one. Jesus came as the final sacrifice for our sins and his death on the cross was an acceptable one to God. It didn’t hve to be repeated over nd over gain down through history. It did not mean Jesus plus one more thing. It meant Jesus, period. Jesus had finished the work God gave him to do. Jesus does not need us to add on something to salvation. Nothing else is needed for salvation. Romans 5:9 says, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
We have been redeemed from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13 says, “I am redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Jesus has the power to release the grip of the curse through his blood. We are forgiven, we are healed, we have His provision because of what He did on the cross. This provision couldn’t happen any other way. People often say, “I don’t need a savior. I can save myself, but salvation does not come through a sacrifice of animals no matter how perfect. Hebrews 10:4 says, “for it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.” Hebrews 9:22 tells us, “for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.”
We can say with Paul, “I am forgiven. I have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to his riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
What are we to think of the sacrifices of Jesus for our sins and for all the other things made available for us in the atonement. Are we to just go our merry way and say, “Ho hum, that was sure nice of Him to do that for me.”
This same blood has the power to release us from the grip of sin. Paul said in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” We have been redeemed from the curse of sin and sickness and poverty. Why are we so often letting the devil hold a curse over us and we become ensnared nd entangled all over again. The blood makes you more than a conqueror.
I Peter 1:18-19 NIV tells us “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 ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
I have been moved from the enemy’s kingdom in to the kingdom of God. I am able to come close to God. “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ”(Ephesians 2:13 NIV).
Let the blood save you on earth as well as in heaven. All that comes through the blood on earth. Your deliverance comes through the blood of Jesus. Call on the blood for what you need. Plead the blood of Jesus over the works of the enemy. The blood has never lost its power. What will the blood of Jesus do for you? The blood makes you more than a conqueror. “They [we] overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony” (Rev. 12:11).
Are we failing to overcome life’s struggles because we don’t realize the power in the blood? Are we tolerating a curse when we have been redeemed from the curse of the law? To be not healed is a curse. It is God’s will for you to be healed. Healing was a good thing back in Jesus’ day. Healing is a good thing now.
Acts 10:38 says, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him” It is God’s ill for me to be healed. I decide that healing is the way I’m going to go. I resist sickness and disease. God wants you to resist sickness and disease just as much as you resist sin. Scripture says in James 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Resisting the devil means must be accompanied by submitting to God. We have been redeemed from the curse of the law by the blood of the lamb. I’m done with the curse of sickness that the devil tries to put on me as well as the curse of poverty. Jesus has broken the fetters that chain us by his blood.
“If the blood’s applied to my heart, if the blood’s applied someday I’ll stand at the great judgment bar, I know that Jesus will not be far, If the blood’s applied to my heart, if the blood’s applied, there’ll be nothing to say, there’ll be nothing to pay if the blood’s applied” (author unknown).
