The Holy One calls to me this morning and there is urgency to His call or maybe just urgency in my need to talk to Him. His voice is strong and commanding, "Remember the Blood of Jesus and what it has done for you".
The Holy One has been providing deep lessons for a few weeks now and they all center on the Blood of Jesus that was shed for us when our Savior was crucified. When I say He has been providing lessons, I have been drawn to and stumbled upon some pretty random studies that have meandered me to the central theme which has "coincidentally" been the same from a variety of sources: The power of the Blood of Jesus.
Evil saturates the atmosphere of our world. We struggle against sin from within and evil from without. Rev 12 tells us that we share this earth turf with a dark demonic being called the Devil. Rev 12 speaks of the war the Devil has declared and wages against us humans.
From a study of end times prophecy where the Blood of the Lamb is brought out as a weapon to defeat the enemy of our souls in Rev 12, and to answer some hard questions concerning the issues of the healing that are so desperately needed in our lives and world today, the Holy One keeps pointing to the Blood of Jesus.
I was raised in a church that celebrated the Lord's Supper and provided "communion" time every Sunday. Over the years and passing through denominational differences, it seems that the practice of "communion" is a tradition that is less consistently or regularly returned to than I experienced as a child.
The Lord did not give a specific time requirement for us to come to His table, but rather said that when we take the symbolic elements of that Last Supper that we do so in remembrance of Him.
For some it may have come to be a "legalistic" symbol of a religious churchy act and dismissed as just another thing we do on a given Sunday. Maybe there are those who are moving way from the sacrament in exchange for a more feel good Gospel so as not to offend the visitors with our "blood based" religion. Whatever the reasons I would venture to suggest that perhaps the absence of our reminder may be connected to the powerlessness of the Body of Christ.
Paul brings the instruction to the Church for remembering the Lord's supper in I Corinthians 11:17-34. He spoke about divisions and factions occurring when they came together to eat. He then returns us to the night before the crucifixion of our Lord and what Jesus said the night He was betrayed:
"And when He had given thanks, He broke it (the bread) and said "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me". In the same manner He also took the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink, in remembrance of Me". For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death til He comes."
Taking a regular time to think about the meaning of why it was important in the first place is a doorway into the Presence of Holiness. This communion is a place of self analysis, personal confession of sin and then provides a visual reminder that His blood was shed and does cleanse us in a God ordained forgiveness. But why is this blood...... "His" blood different?
Over the course of history God has spoken that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission or pardon of sin. He has through the Law brought the tragic reality that no one is righteous and all have been judged as guilty by the standard of Holiness. In other words all must die because all have sinned and missed the mark or standard used to judge righteousness. Accountability is individual since "The soul who sins shall die", so no blame shifting is allowed in Divine judgement. (Ezekiel 18:4 NKJV)
However, the Lord God also established the Divine principle of substitution. Animal sacrifice was used as a symbolic sacrifice for the guilty human and the life blood of the animal was accepted instead of the humans life blood. But the sacrificial lamb had to be "without blemish" and "perfect".
For centuries this practice of substitution was performed within the Nation of Israel and followed all the Divine guidelines set by the Lord God Himself.
What we come to learn is that this practice was established to prepare the world for Jesus, who came as the ultimate "perfect", substitution, sacrificial Lamb of God and for the purpose of shedding the only Blood that has the power of resurrection life associated to it.
The life and essence of our being is in our blood. If our blood stops pumping through our veins we die. Life and death is in the blood. The very blood that brings life, upon death brings corruption. It is the chemical that breaks down our physical body and turns us back to the elements from which we come.
The life and essence of Jesus is Holy and was at the time of His earthy invasion, as the eternal God wrapped in flesh. He came in a flesh body so flesh could see and relate personally to God but the essence of His being was the eternal God who can not die.
Jesus was always of Divine origin. His conception was supernatural and His blood was not tainted by sin. Therefore, His Blood is unique and while His body was flesh and temporal, His blood was Holy and Eternal.
I have always thought when Abraham offer up Isaac, that whether Abraham killed him or not, the lad would be restored and if necessary resurrected. Until now, when I realize for myself that apart from the Blood of Jesus, humans cannot resurrect. There is no eternal component to our blood that allows for resurrection life. If Abraham had been allowed to plunge the death knife into Isaac, the child and promise would have remained dead.
The issue was not one of atonement sacrifice but trusted devotion to the God of the promise. And then even more so we gain the understanding that God is the only one who can and did provide the acceptable sacrifice for sin that gives us eternal life.
Until God Himself made that sacrifice, humanity was doomed to remain dead and was not eligible for eternal life in Heaven. At salvation, His Holy Blood is mysteriously and miraculously transferred to us, His righteousness is imputed to us and His life becomes ours. I realize this has everything to do with resurrection life and a glorified body but the jury is still out on the mysterious details of that.
I am thankful that we do not have to know everything in order to believe. Our lessons about our Sovereign God are life long and we will never arrive at the place where we know it all. Today the truth about the Blood of Jesus offers so much encouragement because of all that it provides. Through the Blood of Jesus:
We have been and continually are forgiven for all sin. There is no unsettled claim against us.
We have been redeemed out of the hands of the devil and he has no ultimate power in or over us.
We can walk in the light and as we do, we are cleansed and being cleansed from all unrighteousness, even a guilty conscience.
We are justified in God's eyes and as I live my life with my Lord, it is just-as-if-I'd never sinned.
We are sanctified, made Holy and set apart to God for His Divine use and purpose.
Jesus is God. And Only God can save His creation. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
It is by the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus) and the word of our testimony that the devil is overcome and death has no power over us. The word of our testimony is our declared witness that we accept and believe that Jesus Christ is the One God sent to save us and that He died in our place and for our sin. We declare our belief that He is the resurrected Savior and that we belong to Him.
Our declaration of the Truth, our belief in it and surrender to it causes the enemy to flee and the Lord to work His will through our lives. But it is the power in the Holy Blood of our eternal God that provides for our participation in eternal life and the resurrection of our soul.
If the power of resurrection is ours though the Blood, so is the power to live a Holy life here on earth. Time to tap into my Divine inheritance and embrace all that the Holy, eternal Blood of Jesus provides.
Today I feel the need to have regular personal communion times and to "do (all) in remembrance" of Him. I do not need the church to provide the opportunity I can make for myself. To appropriate the power and influence of the Holy Blood of Jesus is within my grasp and with the Holy Spirit, today is a great day to begin that discipline.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The Holy One has been providing deep lessons for a few weeks now and they all center on the Blood of Jesus that was shed for us when our Savior was crucified. When I say He has been providing lessons, I have been drawn to and stumbled upon some pretty random studies that have meandered me to the central theme which has "coincidentally" been the same from a variety of sources: The power of the Blood of Jesus.
Evil saturates the atmosphere of our world. We struggle against sin from within and evil from without. Rev 12 tells us that we share this earth turf with a dark demonic being called the Devil. Rev 12 speaks of the war the Devil has declared and wages against us humans.
From a study of end times prophecy where the Blood of the Lamb is brought out as a weapon to defeat the enemy of our souls in Rev 12, and to answer some hard questions concerning the issues of the healing that are so desperately needed in our lives and world today, the Holy One keeps pointing to the Blood of Jesus.
I was raised in a church that celebrated the Lord's Supper and provided "communion" time every Sunday. Over the years and passing through denominational differences, it seems that the practice of "communion" is a tradition that is less consistently or regularly returned to than I experienced as a child.
The Lord did not give a specific time requirement for us to come to His table, but rather said that when we take the symbolic elements of that Last Supper that we do so in remembrance of Him.
For some it may have come to be a "legalistic" symbol of a religious churchy act and dismissed as just another thing we do on a given Sunday. Maybe there are those who are moving way from the sacrament in exchange for a more feel good Gospel so as not to offend the visitors with our "blood based" religion. Whatever the reasons I would venture to suggest that perhaps the absence of our reminder may be connected to the powerlessness of the Body of Christ.
Paul brings the instruction to the Church for remembering the Lord's supper in I Corinthians 11:17-34. He spoke about divisions and factions occurring when they came together to eat. He then returns us to the night before the crucifixion of our Lord and what Jesus said the night He was betrayed:
"And when He had given thanks, He broke it (the bread) and said "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me". In the same manner He also took the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink, in remembrance of Me". For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death til He comes."
Taking a regular time to think about the meaning of why it was important in the first place is a doorway into the Presence of Holiness. This communion is a place of self analysis, personal confession of sin and then provides a visual reminder that His blood was shed and does cleanse us in a God ordained forgiveness. But why is this blood...... "His" blood different?
Over the course of history God has spoken that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission or pardon of sin. He has through the Law brought the tragic reality that no one is righteous and all have been judged as guilty by the standard of Holiness. In other words all must die because all have sinned and missed the mark or standard used to judge righteousness. Accountability is individual since "The soul who sins shall die", so no blame shifting is allowed in Divine judgement. (Ezekiel 18:4 NKJV)
However, the Lord God also established the Divine principle of substitution. Animal sacrifice was used as a symbolic sacrifice for the guilty human and the life blood of the animal was accepted instead of the humans life blood. But the sacrificial lamb had to be "without blemish" and "perfect".
For centuries this practice of substitution was performed within the Nation of Israel and followed all the Divine guidelines set by the Lord God Himself.
What we come to learn is that this practice was established to prepare the world for Jesus, who came as the ultimate "perfect", substitution, sacrificial Lamb of God and for the purpose of shedding the only Blood that has the power of resurrection life associated to it.
The life and essence of our being is in our blood. If our blood stops pumping through our veins we die. Life and death is in the blood. The very blood that brings life, upon death brings corruption. It is the chemical that breaks down our physical body and turns us back to the elements from which we come.
The life and essence of Jesus is Holy and was at the time of His earthy invasion, as the eternal God wrapped in flesh. He came in a flesh body so flesh could see and relate personally to God but the essence of His being was the eternal God who can not die.
Jesus was always of Divine origin. His conception was supernatural and His blood was not tainted by sin. Therefore, His Blood is unique and while His body was flesh and temporal, His blood was Holy and Eternal.
I have always thought when Abraham offer up Isaac, that whether Abraham killed him or not, the lad would be restored and if necessary resurrected. Until now, when I realize for myself that apart from the Blood of Jesus, humans cannot resurrect. There is no eternal component to our blood that allows for resurrection life. If Abraham had been allowed to plunge the death knife into Isaac, the child and promise would have remained dead.
The issue was not one of atonement sacrifice but trusted devotion to the God of the promise. And then even more so we gain the understanding that God is the only one who can and did provide the acceptable sacrifice for sin that gives us eternal life.
Until God Himself made that sacrifice, humanity was doomed to remain dead and was not eligible for eternal life in Heaven. At salvation, His Holy Blood is mysteriously and miraculously transferred to us, His righteousness is imputed to us and His life becomes ours. I realize this has everything to do with resurrection life and a glorified body but the jury is still out on the mysterious details of that.
I am thankful that we do not have to know everything in order to believe. Our lessons about our Sovereign God are life long and we will never arrive at the place where we know it all. Today the truth about the Blood of Jesus offers so much encouragement because of all that it provides. Through the Blood of Jesus:
We have been and continually are forgiven for all sin. There is no unsettled claim against us.
We have been redeemed out of the hands of the devil and he has no ultimate power in or over us.
We can walk in the light and as we do, we are cleansed and being cleansed from all unrighteousness, even a guilty conscience.
We are justified in God's eyes and as I live my life with my Lord, it is just-as-if-I'd never sinned.
We are sanctified, made Holy and set apart to God for His Divine use and purpose.
Jesus is God. And Only God can save His creation. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
It is by the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus) and the word of our testimony that the devil is overcome and death has no power over us. The word of our testimony is our declared witness that we accept and believe that Jesus Christ is the One God sent to save us and that He died in our place and for our sin. We declare our belief that He is the resurrected Savior and that we belong to Him.
Our declaration of the Truth, our belief in it and surrender to it causes the enemy to flee and the Lord to work His will through our lives. But it is the power in the Holy Blood of our eternal God that provides for our participation in eternal life and the resurrection of our soul.
If the power of resurrection is ours though the Blood, so is the power to live a Holy life here on earth. Time to tap into my Divine inheritance and embrace all that the Holy, eternal Blood of Jesus provides.
Today I feel the need to have regular personal communion times and to "do (all) in remembrance" of Him. I do not need the church to provide the opportunity I can make for myself. To appropriate the power and influence of the Holy Blood of Jesus is within my grasp and with the Holy Spirit, today is a great day to begin that discipline.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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