Priority 1: The Sacrifice of Jesus

Chapter 10 - Power of the Blood of Jesus #7

The message God wove into His Word on the power of Jesus' blood is like a brilliant diamond sparkling with may beautiful facets of truth. As the light of Heaven shines upon it we are overwhelmed by the beauty and the completeness of God' plan of restoration. In this study we have seen a river of life from God's heart burst forth at Calvary sweeping away the separating barriers, destroying the records of sin, bringing with it Divine Life, carrying us in it's current to a place close to God's heart. Another facet of beauty we will view in this lesson is the life of this blood and what it means to us. This is something that God made so real to me.

 

He let me see the tabernacle in heaven. God let me see the beauties of the tabernacle. When he was dealing with me that night He let me see the tabernacle in heaven. It was cold, powerless, and lifeless; it was there put together and planned before the foundation of the earth. There it was, not in operation, waiting for the application of life which is in the blood. And God let me see Jesus then taking His own blood and entering in and God said, "I want you to see the power of this blood, the life is in the blood." So as Jesus went into the tabernacle He sprinkled the Arcticles of furniture with His own blood.

 

Suddenly all the wheels of God's great plan began to turn, every sin from Adam on that was atoned for by the substitute plan that God had given in the earthly tabernacle and other ways that God had given through blood. Suddenly all of those things that had been waiting, a great big back log waiting to take it away but God said those sacrifices could never take away sin being brought. Year after year they were waiting until the machine in heaven would start to move. The only way it could run would be by the blood of Jesus and all of these things that were waiting then, all of the sins and iniquities were destroyed. God let me see the power of the blood of Jesus in God's great plan as it worked, reach out across the ages that still had not happened, clear to the end of time and draw every sin, every iniquity and also destroy the power of them.

 

You realize there are many people that are still carrying sin. They haven't availed themselves of what God has done. That's why Paul said they are suffering the motions of sins that are already taken care of and that's why John could say that He has become the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, for the sins of the whole world. That's why Paul said in Hebrews 10 that this Man when He made one sacrifice for sin forever. It's done, it's working, and He sat down at the right hand of God. It's going to take care of the past, it's going to take care of the present, and it's going to take care of the future.

 

I'd like to have you turn to Hebrews 9. I'm going to read it from the Living Bible. Now in that first agreement between God and His people there were rules for worship and there was a sacred tent down here on earth. Inside this place of worship there were two rooms. The first one contained the golden candlestick and the table with special loaves of holy bread upon it. This part was called the holy place. Then there was a curtain and behind the curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies. In that room there was a golden incense altar, and the golden chest called the Ark of the Covenant completely covered on all sides with pure gold. Inside the ark were tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them and a golden jar with some manna in it and Aaron's wooden cane that budded. Above the golden chest were statues of angels called Cherubim, the guardians of God's glory with their wings stretched out over the ark's gold cover called the mercy seat. When all were ready the priest went in and out of the first room whenever they wanted to doing their work. But only the high priest went into the inner room and then only once a year all alone, always with blood which he sprinkled on the mercy seat as an offering to God to cover his own mistakes and sins and the mistakes and sins of all the people. And the Holy Spirit uses this to point out to us that under the old system the common people could not go into the Holy of Holiest as long as the outer room and the entire system it represents were still in use.

 

Now this has an important lesson for us today. For under the old system gifts and sacrifices were offered but these failed to cleanse the hearts of the people who brought them, for the old system dealt only with certain rituals. What foods to eat and drink rules for washing themselves, rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God's new and better way. He came as High Priest of this better system which we now have. He went into the greater perfect tabernacle in heaven not made by men or part of this world. And once and for all took blood into that enter room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, He took His own blood and with it by Himself made sure of our eternal salvation.

 

"If under the old system the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of young cows would cleanse men's bodies from sin just think how much more surely the blood of Christ will transform our lives and hearts. His sacrifice frees us from the worry of having to obey the old rules. God wants us just as clean and like Him as He always did, this is His highest goal. But He freed us from the worry of having to do it ourselves. His sacrifice frees us from the worry of having to obey the old rules and makes us want to serve the Living God. For by the help of the Eternal Holy Spirit, Christ willingly gave Himself to God to die for our sins. He being perfect without a single sin or fault Christ came with this new agreement so that all who are invited may come and have forever all of the wonders that God has promised them. For Christ died to rescue them from the penalty of sins that they had committed while still under that old system."

 

Now let's look at this and pick out a few verses from the Bible that you have, I want you to see how important this is. He said there was a tabernacle made and he tells all about it. All of these things were so important because God was showing here His attitude, His plan for helping man through this life. There was the candlestick to give him light, God's light. There was the table of showbread that spoke of communion that He had made it possible for man to have communion with Him. There was the brazen altar where it made it possible for a substitute for sin to be taken and there was that Holy Place. There was a laver of cleansing so that there would be that constant cleansing as we walked through life. The cleansing was set right in the center of the laver so a person in walking toward where the throne was had to go past the basin, it wasn't off to one side. And then the beautiful alter of incense where he said, "Your prayers please God when you come to Him, and they ascend up as sweet incense in the nostrils of God. Then there's that throne room where the heavenly beings stand with their wings outstretched over this altar, this throne of God. God said to Moses in Exodus 25, He said "there's only one place in the whole universe that I'll meet with man and that's right there, there will I meet with You." That's the spot where you come and you identify and you're accepted because all of your sins are underneath the mercy seat and I can't see them, and all I see is the blood that's sprinkled on the top of that and you can have fellowship then with Me, I'll make myself real.

 

Now all of this was already made in a pattern in heaven but it wasn't working. It meant nothing yet, it had to have some life to work. This was a tedious thing for Israel to have to go through every year; it had to be so detailed, so perfect. Because Christ was the one who followed those details. I've heard people teaching on the tabernacle and say in your worship every detail has to be just exactly perfect. You're not Christ; you're not preparing yourself for the sacrifice. The work is already done there so it isn't a matter now of you having to go through. Christ sat down and made one sacrifice forever. He finished the work and the wheels were set in motion in heaven and they're still turning. Christ provided the perfect sacrifice. He sat down at the right hand of God forever. He said it is working.

 

In verse five He tells about that mercy seat, then in verse seven he said that the priest went in once a year but not without blood. Blood was so important to God because that was His plan and then he tells us in verse eight and this was the verse that God gave to me so clearly that night, "The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest where as yet the first tabernacle was still standing." I see something here that God really spoke to my heart and that is this. People who are putting their faith in what their able to do by ceremony and by their own production cease to avail themselves of what Jesus has done and they're still struggling. There's still that work, that detail, that frustration, the worry over these things. Paul mentioned this in Galatians chapter five verse four where he said, "Christ has become of no effect unto you," He's got the job all done but you're trying to do it over again yourself.

 

So we can't justify ourselves by what we're able to produce. We just as well say, "God I'll come your way." It's a lot better anyway isn't it? But sometimes people say, "No thanks God I'd rather do it myself." Let's just open our hearts and reach out and embrace what He has done. Praise God. Verse 11 and 12, "So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven not made by human hands and not part of this created world. Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever."

 

I wish people wouldn't try to weaken what God says by saying you don't want to get too strong on things like this because if you do you might be bordering on eternal security. Well God didn't say for us to shun eternal security, He says to claim eternal security because it's there. He said He obtained eternal redemption for us. He did tell us that He wasn't going to force it on us and if we took a bite and didn't like it He wasn't going to tie us there. He doesn't want anybody in heaven who doesn't want to go there. God does not do things half way. God doesn't do things that aren't good and He wouldn't have given us a vehicle to carry us from this earth to heaven that would only get us half way. His plan was for a complete and wonderful salvation that would sweep us right on into heaven because He doesn't do things half way. Whatever He did, the Word tells us, "He saw it and it was good," and He did a good job. So if we would quit looking for holes that we could fall out of and look at what God has prepared and what He's doing we would be a lot better off.

 

Leviticus 17:11 and verse 14, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given you the blood so you can make atonement for your sins. It is the blood, representing life that brings you atonement. The life of every creature is in the blood. That is why I have told the people of Israel never to eat or drink it, for the life of any bird or animal is in the blood. So whoever eats or drinks blood must be cut off." These facets of truth that I want to show you, the power that the life of Jesus brings when applied, I showed you that the tabernacle in heaven and all of God's great plan didn't go into effect until the blood was applied and then it started to move. Now the same goes for the atonement.

 

Because His blood is living and the blood of Jesus has all the power in that blood of the entire Godhead, all the power of creation is in that blood. And so God told Moses "I want you to take that blood and because the life is in it it's going to be able to make atonement, it's going to be able to speak. When God looked down at that mercy seat and saw the blood, the blood carried a message to Him because the life of that animal that was slain represented life, and in tabernacle worship the priest could not say one word while he was in that holy place. There was to be no sound in that place. They couldn't even make any sound in that place when they were building it. That was a holy place. When he came in, God wanted to let the people know that He listened to another kind of a voice. When he came in with that blood, the blood spoke.

 

So when God let Paul have a glimpse of heaven and he saw the Father, Jesus, and an innumerable company of angels, he happened to look and he said, "There's the blood and look it's still speaking." The blood he said is speaking to God. It's eternal; it will never lose its power. It carries a message, "God they're forgiven, I've taken their place, and their sins are atoned for." The blood is speaking before God. And so when Christ went in, His blood carried a message to God and when He applied it to that tabernacle all at once God's ears picked up the message. The blood was speaking, it was saying, "they're forgiven, their sins are destroyed, the records are gone, that blood of atonement."

 

God's planning is so unique and beautiful. Every little old part of God's plan is so well synchronized with everything else and to think that God would even make a word that would say what He wanted to say when there's so many thousands and thousands of words. How could he put one together that was there, but He did. So in looking up the definition of this word which is in the Hebrew pronounced Kawhfer. And this word has nine definitions in that Hebrew dictionary. God included in that atonement when He made that atonement it just said everything that needed to be said. The blood was speaking and here are the things that He covered in that.

 

That word means first of all to cover. That's what the blood's doing. That atonement covers. God can't see the sin. When you said, "Jesus I give you my life," God took a blanket and covered your life. He imputed to you righteousness. You were covered with His robe of righteousness. You read that in Romans 4:22-24, "And because of Abraham's faith God declared him to be righteous. Now this wonderful truth that God declared him to be righteous wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was for us too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead." When you believe, and accept what He did, not what I'm doing, a couple of big angels takes that and covers your life. And God looks down at you and He says, "Perfect, perfect."

 

And so God looks at people, some real good people, some medium good people, some medium bad people and some that are real bad but they're all putting their faith in Jesus and He says, "They're all level." Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:5, "not that we are sufficient to think anything of our self. But our sufficiency is Christ. Christ has become our sufficiency." So what really has happened you see is that Jesus has to stand in the gap for this person way down here that's real bad that hasn't done good at all and Jesus makes up the gap. He doesn't make him stick way above everyone else, He just makes him level. And so that person that's standing on their tip toes, the most moral person in the world is a little bit short and Jesus says here quit stretching, let me make up the gap. There's no way we can reach it so He has to be our sufficiency.

 

1 John 2:2. "He is the propitiation for our sin and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." The word in the Greek for atonement is propitiation. So it means Jesus has become the covering for our sin. The second meaning that this word had was to expiate, to remove the old thing that was in the way, to cancel the dept. That's what atonement is doing. When the enemy comes up and says, "Hey God, that person's really in dept. I know they did this." God says, "There's a voice coming from this blood that says the dept is all taken care of." And it has to keep speaking because we keep getting ourselves in trouble and the blood just has to keep on talking. It's a message that just keeps on going up before God.

 

The third meaning is to appease the wrath or the remove the cause of wrath so God is not angry anymore. We're not enemies anymore. 1 John 1:7. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." It means to cleanse then. Then to disannul, this meaning is included. Disannul. This means to render the charges void or any records that were there, to render them void. To obliterate the pronounced sentence, to remove whatever is there. The pronounced sentence of death abolished. The soul that sins it shall die but the atonement says, "I'm disannulling this thing that was against you, I'm destroying it." Leaving this body isn't death but that sentence of death that separates you from God is destroyed.

 

2 Timothy 1:10. "And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the good news." The sixth definition was forgiveness, restored to the original place in God's heart the spot that He had when He created Adam and Eve. Then another meaning is to obtain mercy. The best definition is kindness with sympathy. People can be kind and still not feel. But when mercy is shown, it's kindness with sympathy.

 

Hebrews 9:14. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?" It purges. This atonement has a purging, cleansing influence. The last one mentioned there is to reconcile and to make peace. The third great work that the life in the blood does, you notice it made the tabernacle come alive, it made the atonement go to work because of the life of Jesus, it makes God's Word come alive. Because of the blood the Bible can be more to you than just a book. It can be a living pulsating Word from God Himself. It is alive. Its life is in the Blood.

 

Hebrews 4:12. "For the Word of God is quick and powerful… God's Word lives because Jesus is alive and so He said the Word is quick. Now that word quick means alive. So the Word of God, because of the blood of Jesus becomes a living, pulsating thing, different from all other books. The Bible has life circulating through every page and every verse, it's alive. No wonder it gets a hold of you and will do things for you that no other book can do. John 6:63 hear what Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that quickened, the flesh profited nothing. The Words that I speak to you are spirit and life."

 

1 Peter 1:23-25. "For you have been born again and your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living Word of God. As the prophet says, people are like grass that dies away; their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of wildflowers. The grass withers and the flowers fall away. But the Word of the Lord will last forever." And that Word is the Good News that was preached to you. He spoke about the incorruptible seed. Peter tells you we have not been redeemed by corruptible things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ. Every drop that fell to the ground did not fall into the ground and become part of the ground and lost. The Word tells us that His blood was incorruptible. God kept every bit. The picture that He gave in the tabernacle was when the blood of the sacrifice, when the sacrificial lamb was slain where it was butchered there, there had to be a little trough. The reason why he had to have it so exact God said, "I'm not going to let any of this fall to the ground. It is preserved forever, it's incorruptible." That's why he said, "Forever oh Lord Your Word is settled and will never be destroyed." Infidels have tried to destroy it, people have burned up the paper and the print but the Word just keeps going on. The Living Word.

 

What are some of the blessings of the Word when it is alive? It comforts you, it inspires, and it brings peace. The Word is actually a companion. It rebukes us, it speaks to us. It convicts us. It makes us feel like we're standing on solid ground. It provides assurance. I jotted down a few of them here. The Word feeds us; the Word says that's the way to go. The Word says if you can't see where you're going, here's a light. It's a light to our path. It reveals Jesus, the Word of God holds Him up in all of His beauty to us. The Word convicts and shows us where we have gone astray. Abundant victorious living is within the reach of all because of what has been accomplished by the blood of Jesus. Now we can have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The past, present and the future are all included in the atonement.

 

One of the things that trouble many people is the past. Then there's another bunch of people that are afraid of what hasn't happened yet. But all God gives you for strength is just enough for today so we get in trouble when we start pulling yesterday's problem. We get in trouble when we pull tomorrow's because you may never get there. Hebrews 9:24-28, "For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. He did not go into the earthly place of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again like the earthly high priest who enters the most Holy Place year after year to offer the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary he would have had to die again and again ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us. And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again but not to deal with our sins again. This time he will bring salvation to all those who are eagerly waiting for him."

 

Everybody knows that death is certain. If you believe that death is sure you can also believe that He will appear. So the blood of Jesus Christ tells us because of the power of His blood that He's going to come back for us without sin, this time unto salvation. Without the living blood, God's great plan of the sanctuary would be like a highly developed engine without a force to activate it. A lot of people don't realize the present work of Jesus. The sacrifice flows as far as His light. This ties in with 1 John 1:7 where he said, "if we walk in the light, in fellowship with Him as He is the light, His blood just keeps on cleansing us all the time." But if you quit and say God I know that you hate this thing but I'm going to break fellowship for a little while, I'm going to go out and do this thing that you hate, God says the sacrifice doesn't flow that far. He has to come back and say, "Jesus let your blood flow again."

 

It's a dangerous business for a person to take themselves out of God's care. The Lord knows the way of the righteous and everything that happens in that sphere, beautiful fellowship. But the way of the unrighteous, those that get out from under this fellowship that are proving their unrighteous by wanting to willfully disobey God, that person is in an area where they will perish. The enemy can do a lot of things to you when you're out of fellowship with God. Many are called but few have chosen to accept the call. God's chosen them all. He wasn't willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. He said when you're making the foundation for the door of the tabernacle, take the name of every person, take a half a shekel and have one for every person in Israel and melt it all together and make the foundation out of it, so that the names are already recorded. God will help them and urge them to get them to the door but there He said you have to choose. And they don't confirm what God has until they choose themselves.

 

So the thing that God wants us to do is to know that that sacrifice and the beautiful intricate plan that seems so complex but still so beautiful that even the very word that God chose would say everything God wanted it to say, the atonement, the blood is still speaking. When Paul had a chance to visit heaven he saw the spirits of just men made perfect and he said, "There's the blood and it's still speaking."

 

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