Power in the Blood

Think about the Passover. A bucket of blood is held in a father's hand. "Come on! Paint it on! Hurry up and paint it on, around the door and the windows. Don't miss anywhere." Who is speaking? That's right. It's little Kemuel's mother.She got excited about applying the blood, because she was aware of a terrible accuser just out of sight, standing over the life of her son. The blood took away some sort of legal right. The blood applied would negate the consequences of an accusation. It would save her son's life. If left in the bucket and unapplied, what was the use of that blood.

The blood of Christ when applied does something legally in the spiritual realm. It cleanses our history of sin and pain. Imagine being able to rewrite your history, all of those regrets gone, and the guilt and the mistakes. We can! Not physically, but spiritually it is possible. And the new revision is not read by the people around us. It is the one pored over by those dark accusers that wish to destroy us.

I was just on the Internet with my wife. We were trying to book a flight. We hesitated and then searched for it again and it was gone. It was so frustrating. The next best flight was much more expensive. What could we do? Absolutely nothing. It was there but now it is gone. That kind of frustration is what the accuser feels when we apply the blood. The opportunity is lost forever and all their best laid plans are void. The applied blood sends the accuser back to the drawing board.

The Blood of Jesus is precious. Over and over in the Bible we are told that it was the price of our redemption. That was a one-off transaction that brought us to God the Father. It is also a powerful cleansing agent. It cleanses us from our sins, day by day, in the here and now:

but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

What does that mean? Is it just that his blood was shed for us back at the cross and God remembers that and cleans our slate? No, two verses later we learn that we confess and then it is applied . . .

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

Putting the two together we might summarise it like this: If we confess our sins, the Father will forgive our sins and cleanse them with the blood of his son. That is not just remembering or looking at some kind of abstract ledger of our sins. He picks up some of the blood of Christ and applies it to our person. Our sins have stained our bodies and souls, and that stain is removed with a wonderful, heavenly detergent – the only agent that can remove such a stain!

That obnoxious “if” there bothers us. If we take action, then we will be cleansed and forgiven. What if we forget to confess one sin? Will that be enough to keep us out of heaven? Actually, it’s not about salvation or our eternal destiny. That is all secure through the work of that same blood when it was used to purchase us. The stain of sin and its eradication is about living well. Chapter 1 and verse 7 calls it walking in the light. We are real about our sin, the blood is applied and everything is great. We can also see it as living in victory:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Revelation 12:10-12(ESV)

We sin and our accuser comes. He is conquered by the blood of the lamb. He has nothing to accuse us of, if we confess our sins, and they are subsequently washed with the powerful blood of Christ. At the end the blood of Christ will be the means of victory over the accuser. We in part, day by day, live out this victory when we live in the light. We will conquer him by the blood of the lamb. When we do this, we realise in part that awesome statement:

“. . . Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. . .”

Revelation 12:10(ESV)

Essentially, we are talking about the process of continual and vigilant cleansing, so that we can walk in victory. Here the blood is seen as being applied by people rather than the Father:

. . . they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 7:14

Still the question lingers, “What if I am forgetful or lazy and don’t confess something?”

It follows that the accuser has something in our life to work with. If we hide it or deny our sin, the pressure of sin, its consequences, or the guilt associated with it can overcome us. 

If left too long, we may need someone who is living in the light to come alongside and facilitate our healing. The poison must be washed out of the wound. We must bring that moment into the light. Then the blood will be applied and the legal right of accusation silenced. The accuser will be overcome, guilt and fear will fade away and healing can begin.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

James 5:15-17

The blood of Christ is powerful to break our chains and heal our wounds. Living under its cleansing influence is victory. Through it the kingdom of God comes into our life. Through it we live in the power and authority of Christ, who of course needed no such regular remedy for sin. Jesus said:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

The application of his blood makes the difference between these two lifestyles – defeated and sick with grief and consequences, or living abundantly in victory.

Beyond Jekyll and Hyde's Potions

The mysterious case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde had been closed. When discovery of his shameful fall was certain, he had taken his life. There was enough evidence in the light now for those close to the case to understand completely what had happened. And the doctor’s letter had filled in whatever had been conjecture before. Poole and Utterson were sitting in a drawing room, discussing the case. Utterson, disturbed by all that he had seen and heard over these last days had retreated into hours of reading “dry divinity” in his library. Somewhere between two and three in the morning he had arisen with haste from his favourite chair, caught up with excitement with an idea. Now, some eight hours later, Poole had arrived at his invitation.

“You have been thinking, my friend. It seems exceedingly strange to receive correspondence from you after midnight. You are not known for such behaviour.”

“Yes, I apologise  This strange case has caused my head to ache with a certain sort of anguish. All my life I have been happy to separate the spiritual from the scientific. Jekyll was no saint, though a good man in the beginning. He was a genius though. He saw that the two could abide together.”

“We know where that left him – embroiled in villainy and dread, and ultimately dead.”

“I would be the first to admit that. My point is that he was right. He believed that evil and good dwell within us all. And he proved it with his horrifying experiment.”

“Yes, but where are you going with all this?”

“You see, Poole, I have spent the past week reading every volume in my library on the subject of religious transformation.”

“You were always partial to such works.”

“I agree, but I have never read them other than for pleasure and relaxation.”

“Utterson, surely you are not trying to be practical with such material.”

“Is that not the genius of my friend Jekyll?”

“Yes, but he was a scientist, and you are . . .”

“Like you, a passive commentator on other people’s achievements.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself, Utterson.”

“In any case, I have read and taken notes and things are becoming clear. The difference between Jekyll and Hyde was the difference between soul and flesh, as far as my volumes on divinity are concerned. And I can see that there is a process of weakening one or the other, to manipulate the dominant agent. My guess is that Jekyll’s potions worked directly on the flesh, one inhibiting it and the other strengthening its hold.”

“That makes sense, but I do not yet understand your excitement.”

“We have spent long hours working against this monster Hyde, only to find that he was . . . somehow actually . . . an incarnation of our good friend Jekyll. I have realised that you and I and everyone we see is the same. And this newfound practical divinity has brought to me a burning resolve . . .”

“You sound as if you have got religion, my dear friend.”

“Maybe. However, there is more to be said. You see, Jekyll’s potion to weaken the flesh fell short of the real potential to transform the evil into the good. This may sound strange, but God himself is on our side.”

“Pray tell.”

“In the Bible, Galatians chapter five: The Holy Spirit wars with our flesh. Romans chapter seven shows that our souls and our flesh are in conflict as well. You know – I do what I don’t want to and I don’t do what I do want to do. It seems that this Holy Spirit is on the side of our souls. Both are against the flesh, but the soul is powerless and the Holy Spirit powerful in the battle.”

“Bravo, bravo. Surely this is the most entertaining sermon I have ever heard. Preached my none other than my good friend, Reverand Utterson!”

“Poole, you may not be so far from the truth.”

“Really? Perhaps you go too far.”

“Maybe, you are right. But if our souls are good, I suppose some reflection of their original state before the fall, and if there is a means of defeating the fleshly dominion of mankind to release that good, I for one want to be a part of it.”

“Well said. But do we not stand the risk of being a casualty of the conflict. We know what happened to that good man, Jekyll, when he toyed with such mysteries.”

“I have no interest in his science, but the idea of practical divinity has entranced me. You see I have discovered that in theory, the Holy Spirit speaks for the human soul. He reads our heart and soul and speaks for us. He speaks for us to God, and I quote:

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27

And I have concluded that he speaks to us in like fashion. He is the voice of our heart and soul when the flesh otherwise has it completly silenced. It follows that if we listen to the Holy Spirit and follow his lead we are doing what we really want, rather than living out the desires of an imposter, like that monster Hyde.”

“A most brilliant analysis, Utterson. I have heard of a wierd sect that meets over in West End. They practice this business of listening to the Spirit. Rumour has it that they are an undisciplined lot. They come mostly from the lower classes, but they have a number of worthy benefactors. It is quite the anomoly. Perhaps you should take a closer look. It might be quite amusing”

“Two nights ago I did just that.”

“Astounding. Pray tell.”

“Your choice of words, weird sect, might be appropriate. They are indeed strange. Their meetings were nothing like those we have experienced before. I interviewed a member before they began and he helped me know what to expect. He described the presence of the Holy Spirit that can be felt. And I have to say, I felt what he described and experienced some illumination on my life that I thought beyond the realms of knowledge. I really felt like I heard . . . what can only be described as . . . the cry of my heart.”

“Now you really sound as though you have gotten religion.”

“Indeed. I may have gotten into me something a little more powerful than Jekyll’s potions.”