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What the Blood Represents
The blood of Jesus is a very exhaustive subject and therefore we will not be covering every aspect of it. Our main objective is to attain greater understanding of the intrinsic and essential qualities of 'the blood'. What the blood of Jesus Christ represents.
(1) The blood represents life - “Zoe.” Leviticus 17:11 states, “…For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” This text clearly reveals the inherent value of blood. Blood represents the 'life-force' of every living soul [as confirmed in Deuteronomy 12:23]. It is the “life” of man or animal, and therefore, when sacrificed it denotes the act of giving a life for a life. The drinking of blood is strictly prohibited in the Law of Moses. Yet, in pagan worship the drinking of blood was sometimes incorporated into ritual practice where the participant was believed to capture the 'life-force' of the creature by partaking of its blood. Accordingly, every time we have Holy Communion, symbolically we partake of the blood of Jesus and in turn receive His 'life-force' – acknowledging that a life has been given for a life. His life for ours!
(2) The blood represents a cry for all humanity. When Cain murdered Able, the Lord declared, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground” [Genesis 4:10]. Cain falsified openly before God and had no repentance, only revenge. But the One who gives life to every creature instantly responded to a 'blood cry'.
The Lord heard the blood of Able vocalising. The “life” of Able (which God had given to Him) was embodied in his blood!
In Luke's account of the garden of Gethsemane, he tells us that the Lord sweated great drops of blood. Maybe this was when the “life” (Zoë) started to seep from Christ's body? Maybe this was also when His blood started to cry out for all of humanity? Maybe the words that Jesus cried out on the cross, had already been uttered by His shed blood? The Son cried out, “Father, forgive them.” Therefore, if the Father could respond to the cries of the shed blood of Able, how much more would the blood of Jesus resound in His ears.
(3) The blood represents a sin offering. We know that the Lord hung on the cross for about six hours before He died. The last drop of His precious blood probably left His body when the soldier's spear pierced His side, “…Bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” [John 19:34]. And this was the blood that had gathered in His lungs. But I firmly believe that Jesus shed all of His blood. In Psalm 22:14 we have confirmation through the prophesy which reads, “I am poured out like water.” Also, when the Lord appears to His disciples after His death, we hear Him declare, “…Touch Me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones.” Note, there is no mention of blood! While Jesus still had divine life flowing through His veins, the sin and wrong-doings of us all could not be placed upon Him.
However, “God made Him who had no sin, to be a sin offering for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” [2 Corinthians 5:21]. Only after His precious blood had been poured out like water, were the sins and iniquities of us all placed upon Him, together with the punishment that brought us peace. “…And by His stripes we are healed” [Isaiah 53:5].
(4) The blood represents purification. Hebrews 9:22 declares, “Under the law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and it's guilt, nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins” [AMP]. Jesus offered Himself as a living sacrifice – the Lamb of God – to take away the sins of the world! He released us from the torment of guilt through purification.
(5) The blood represents redemption. Revelation 1:5 tells us, “To Him who loves us, and has once and for all, loosed and freed us from our sins by His blood.” And, in 1 Peter 1:18,19 it says, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as a lamb without blemish or defect.” You have not been redeemed with something that’s been corrupted or polluted. Your redemption has come through the precious blood of Jesus - without blemish or defect! The purest and most powerful substance in the universe.
In Ezekiel 16:6 God looks down at Jerusalem saying, “When I passed by and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, live! Yes, I said to you in your blood. Live!” The life of Jerusalem was in her blood, and therefore, God spoke directly to her blood. It was as if God pleaded the blood over Jerusalem in order to redeem her!
(6) The blood represents sanctification. Hebrews 9:13,14 “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”
The difference between purification and sanctification is this... Purification makes us feel better about ourselves (freeing us from our guilt), but sanctification makes us “holy as He is holy” – changing the way God sees us! 1 Thessalonians 5:23 - “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(7) The blood represent victory. Revelation 12:11 declares, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” We are overcomers by the word of our testimony, and, by the blood of the Lamb. It’s the blood of Jesus Christ that makes the abundant live He promised possible, and every victory should be celebrated in the context of the shed-blood. You have become more than a conqueror through Christ who loved you – who shed His precious blood for you.
Pleading the blood of Jesus has today become an acceptable part of modern church tradition, yet very few believers have ever reasoned why we should be doing this. What is it about the blood that causes the devil to run in fear? Quite simply, it represents the “life-force” of God. This “life-force” is the divine substance that contains the very “life” of God. When Jesus gave His life for yours (and shed His precious blood), you not only received forgiveness of sins, but you were able to share in a divine ‘life-substance’ (His very own life-giving force).
Pleading the blood of Jesus is the greatest testimony any human being can have. Testifying to what the blood of Jesus has done for you will release the life-force of God into your natural life. Can you see? We cannot truly testify without pleading the blood!
John 6:53 says, “Except you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and partake of His blood, you have no life in you.” As believers, we have partaken of Christ’s blood, and therefore, we have His all-conquering life-force in us. We have partaken of the divine substance that brings forth divine life.
Nothing can penetrate the blood. No sin is too great to resist the cleansing power of the blood. The devil and all his demons are terrified of the blood - it was the blood that brought about their defeat. And today, it is the blood that enforces their defeat! Divine life is in the blood, and the blood is still “alive” today! It represents the life-force of the Godhead. The Almighty Trinity, who rule and reign and are never void of mighty power. The Blood of Jesus has no boundaries, it has no limitations, it has no restrictions - it is all-powerful, all-encompassing, all-conquering!
Amen! |
Chris Demetriou, 31/03/2009 |
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