The Authority Of The Blood
By C. Nuzum
We are told in First John 5:8 that the blood is a witness: "And there are three that bear witness in the earth, the Spirit and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." A witness is expected to speak, and Hebrews 12:22-24 tells us that the blood does speak and that it speaks better things than Abel’s blood: "But ye are come…to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
A witness is taken to the place of trial. Colossians 1:12 tells us that God "hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance" in Christ. If Satan disputes this and seeks to keep us out of any part of this great inheritance, the blood of Jesus speaks for us and declares that Jesus bought the inheritance for us on the Cross and that it is all ours.
The next verse says that God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness" (Col. 1:13). If Satan tries to use his power over our spirit, soul or body, the blood speaks for us that Jesus, on the Cross, fully delivered us from all the power of the enemy, so that Satan now has no power to put sin, sickness, pain or disease upon us. All his power over us was broken by Jesus on the Cross, and we are free and can "stand fast" in the "liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (Gal. 5:1).
Christ Has Redeemed Us from the Curse
Colossians 1:13 says that God "hath translated us" spirit, soul and body into the kingdom of His dear Son where only Jesus rules. Colossians 1:14 says, "We have redemption through His blood…." The blood of Jesus testifies that He set us free from all the curse when He was made a curse for us on the Cross, and because He bore the curse in full, we are redeemed from its power and penalty (Gal. 3:13). The devil has no power to hold or keep any of the curse upon us.
The blood testifies that because Jesus was my Substitute, and was accepted in my place, Satan has no more claim upon me. Like the usurper and deceiver that he is, the devil pretends to have a claim on me and power over me, but the blood witnesses that I am made free, and that Satan cannot hold any part of the curse upon me – unless I consent to it. God forbids me to do this when He says, "neither give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27) and "resist the devil, and he will flee" (Jas. 4:7).
It is the blood of the new covenant, the pledge that we are to have all that is promised in it. If Satan tries to keep us out of a promise of God, the blood testifies that Jesus bought the inheritance promised, and His precious blood was the price paid (Mark 14:24).
He who purchased has a right to give, and Second Peter 1:3 says, He "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." This includes all we can ever need for spirit, soul or body, and the blood will witness to God that they are given. The assurance is found in the new covenant – that the blood of Jesus has purchased all for us.
If Satan tells us that we are unworthy to receive the things of God, the blood witnesses that Jesus took our sins away, bore them in His own body on the tree; that He put away sin by the offering up of Himself; that He crucified our old man, our fallen, perverted, sinful nature, inherited from Adam; forgave our sins, blotted them out, and said He would remember them no more; for Christ has been made unto us the righteousness of God, and it is perfect and everlasting righteousness (Isa. 44:22; Jer. 31:34; 1 Cor. 1:30).
A New Creation
When we are born again we become a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). The blood is a witness that we are in Christ and that we are "complete in Him" (Col. 2:10), and that there is "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1).
Do we pray and seem to get no hearing from God? Again the blood is the witness. It is the blood of the everlasting covenant. Since God "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).
The shed blood of God’s own Son is proof that He has accomplished the first, and is a sure witness that He will do all other things for those He has redeemed with His own precious blood. It is our Redeemer’s pledge. "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Pet. 1:3).
The Blood of Jesus Witnesses to Deliverance from the Penalty and Power of Sin
It is so precious to meet the conditions of His Word, and then by an unwavering faith, steadfastly hold to the witness of the precious, shed blood of Christ. God worked in power and demonstration when the blood of Abel cried unto Him from the ground – how much more powerfully will God work, when, from the Cross, the blood of His own Son speaks better things for us? (Gen. 4:10; Heb. 12:24).
How the power of temptation is destroyed; how sin, with all its fetters, is broken, and evil appetites and passions are overcome; how the Presence of God and spiritual verities all become real, as – resolutely and steadfastly, in the name of Jesus, and through the power of His shed blood, and on the authority of His Word – we resist Satan wherever we find him at work in spirit, soul or body or in our home or business affairs.
The precious blood of Jesus is God’s remedy for the sin, sickness and sorrow inflicted by Satan. God’s remedy cannot fail! It does what God says it does, it overcomes Satan. To overcome Satan means to take away his power so he cannot hurt or harm us. "Behold, I give unto you power...over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 10:19), is the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Read also Revelation 12:9-11.)
My Blood Is Shed for You!
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Heb. 13:20-21).
The blood that flowed from Christ’s wounds is a token between God and His Beloved Son of a covenant that can never end. The Son of God has Himself fulfilled every condition of this everlasting covenant so there can be no failure. When God raised Christ from the dead, and set Him on the throne, far above all principality and power (Eph. 1:15-23) – this act declared that the covenant had been fulfilled by our Redeemer, and had been accepted of God, the Father. God is the unchanging One, and what He "doeth, it shall be for ever" (Eccl. 3:14).
Abel’s blood cried for vengeance. Our Redeemer’s blood cries for our full redemption. He "was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). When a thing is destroyed, you cannot find a trace of it.
Redeemed by the Blood! How Far and Wide that Reaches!
"Wilt thou be made whole?" (John 5:6). The conditions for this have been met and were all fulfilled when Christ cried from the Cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Now it is a matter of our will. "Wilt thou?" "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" (Mark 10:51) – is still the Master’s question to us.
Is there sin, fear, doubt, wavering, unbelief, timidity, sensitiveness, half-heartedness, instability, interest in things of time and the world? To be redeemed means to be delivered from all of these things. The word "redeem" means to be "bought back" at a price, and this is what our Kinsman-Redeemer did at the price of His own life. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
If the fixed purpose of our heart is to live only for God, and to ever obey Him in all things, the blood will cry to God for redemption – full deliverance from evil! God will never fail to listen to the cry of the blood of His Only Begotten Son – and will set us free.