| THE BLOOD OF JESUS Andrew Murray HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Aug 31, 2007
1) Surrender yourself to God the Holy Spirit; 2) Fix the eyes of your heart on the blood; 3) Open your whole inner being to its power; 4) Shelter under the ever-continuing sprinkling of the blood. The blood on which the throne of grace in heaven is founded, can make your heart the temple and throne of God; 5) Ask the Lamb of God Himself to make the blood efficacious in you. Blessings procured for us by the power of the blood of Jesus: Redemption: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (reconciliation) through faith in his blood.." Romans 3:24-25 RECONCILIATION First, sin which made reconciliation necessary (reconciliation means covering). It means that something else has taken the place where sin was established, so that sin can no longer be seen by God. Second, God's holiness which foreordained it. Because God is the Holy One, and His eyes as a flame of fire, that which covered sin had to be something of such a nature that it really counteracted the evil that sin had done, and also that it so blotted out sin before God that it was really destroyed and was not now to be seen. Third, Reconciliation obtained by the blood of Jesus. The Lord Jesus obtained reconciliation by a willing and perfect obedience, He fulfilled the law under which He had placed Himself, and He bore the curse which the law had pronounced against sin. He was made man, by becoming flesh, to become a second Adam. The Lord Jesus being the Word become flesh placed Himself in a real fellowship with our flesh which was under the power of sin and He assumed the responsibility for all that sin had done in the flesh against God. Jesus was God. This bestowed a divine power on him to unite Himself with His creatures, and to take them up into Himself. It made the merit of His blood-shedding more than sufficient to deal with all the guilt of human sin. It made His blood such a real reconciliation, such a perfect covering of sin, that the holiness of God no longer beholds it (sin). Fourth, pardon follows reconciliation. So perfect is the reconciliation and so real that sin has been covered and blotted out, that he who believes in Christ is looked upon, and treated by God, as entirely righteous. The acquittal which he has received from God is so complete that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to prevent him (man) from approaching God with the utmost freedom. This is what the New Testament calls justification, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood...To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 23-26 SANCTIFICATION The sanctification of God's people is effected by the communication to them of the holiness of God. There is no way of obtaining sanctification save by the Holy God bestowing what He alone possesses. He alone is the Holy One. He is the Lord who sanctifies. By the different meanings which Scripture attachs to the words sanctification and to sanctify, a certain relationship with God, into which we are brought is pointed out. The simplest meaning of the word sanctification is separation. That which is taken out of its surroundings, by God's command, and is set aside for His service - that is holy: separation from sin and all that is in the world even that which may be permissible. For example, God sanctified the seventh day of creation as holy - He had taken possession of this day by His own special act; God separated Israel from other nations, and in Israel had separated the priests, to be holy unto Him. This separation unto sanctification is always God's own work, "Ye shall be holy unto me...I have separated you...that ye should be mine." Leviticus 20:26; "The man whom the Lord shall choose shall be holy" Numbers 16:7; "Thou art an holy people unto the Lord, the Lord thy God hath chosen thee." Deuteronomy 7:6 God cannot take part with other lords. He must be the sole possessor and ruler of those to whom He reveals and imparts His holiness. This separation is not all that is included in the word sanctification. When separated, man stands before God in no respect differing from an object without life that has been sanctified to the service of God. If separation is to be of value, something more must take place - man must surrender himself willingly and heartily to this separation. Sanctification includes personal consecration to the Lord to be His. Sanctification can become ours only when it takes up its abode in the depths of our personal life, in our will, and in our love. God sanctifies no man against his will - therefore the personal, hearty surrender to God is an indispensable part of sanctification. We must sanctify ourselves as well. But even by consecration true sanctification is not complete. Separation and consecration are together only the preparation for the glorious work that God will do as He imparts His own holiness to the soul. But this impartation of His holiness is not a gift of something that is apart from God Himself - it is in personal fellowship with Him, and partaking of His divine life that sanctification can be obtained. As the Holy One, God dwelt among the people of Israel to sanctify his people (Exodus 29:45-46). As the Holy One, He dwells in us. It is the presence of God alone that can sanctify, that we may be "filled unto all the fullness of God." True sanctification is fellowship with God and His dwelling in us. So it was necessary that God in Christ should take up His abode in the flesh, and that the Holy Spirit should come to dwell in us. Sanctification is the object for which Christ suffered, "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without..." Hebrews 13:12 In the wisdom of God a participation in His holiness is the highest destiny of man. Therefore also, this was the central object of the coming of our Lord Jesus to earth; and above all, His sufferings and death. It was "that he might sanctify his people" and "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" Ephesians 1:4 Through all our Lord's life, from the temptation in the wilderness onwards, He had subjected His will to the will of His Father, and had consecrated Himself as a sacrifice to God. But it was chiefly in Gethsemane He did this. The hour of temptation was upon him to put away the terrible cup of wrath from His lips, but He rejected the temptation. He offered up Himself and His will to the will and holiness of God. He sanctified Himself by a perfect oneness of will with that of God. The offering of His body was His surrender of Himself to do the will of God that we become sanctified by that will. This sanctification of Himself has become the power by which we also may be sanctified through the truth, "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Hebrews 2:11 CLEANSING IN THE BLOOD In the Old Testament (as ordained by the hand of Moses for Israel), there were two ceremonies to be observed by God's people in preparation for approach to Him. These were the offerings or sacrifices and the cleansings or purifications. Both were to be observed but in different manners. Both were intended to remind man how sinful he was, and how unfit to draw near to a holy God. Both were to typify the redemption by which the Lord Jesus Christ would restore to man fellowship with God. Cleansings and offerings were twofold. The offering had definite reference to the transgression for which reconciliation had to be made - nothing was done to the offerer himself. He saw the blood sprinkled on the altar or carried into the Holy Place; he must believe that this procures reconciliation before God. Cleansing had more to do with conditions which were not sinful in themselves, but were the result of sin, and therefore must be acknowledged by God's holy people as defiled. In cleansing, what happened to the person was the chief thing. Defilement was something either through internal disease or outward touch, had come upon the man; so the washing or sprinkling with waster must take place on himself as ordained by God. Cleansing was something that he could feel and experience. It brought about a change not only in his relationship to God, but in his own condition. In the offering, something was done for him. In the New Testament, cleansing by water, by blood, and by fire are all typical of the cleansing which would take place under the New Covenant - an inner cleansing and deliverance from the stain of sin. We read of those who are described as God's people that God purified (cleansed) their hearts through faith (Acts 15:9). That the purpose of the Lord Jesus concerning those who were His was, "to purify (cleanse) to himself a people of his own possession" Titus 2: 14 We are told in 1 John 1:7, that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The blood exercises its spiritual, heavenly power in the soul. The believer in whose life the blood is fully efficacious, experiences that the old nature is hindered from manifesting its power. Through the blood, its lusts and desires are subdued and slain, and everything is cleansed that the Spirit can bring forth His glorious fruit. Keep yourself cleansed in the blood of Jesus. Come to Him with all the sins of which you are conscious and ask the Lamb "to cleanse you in His blood from all unrighteousness."; Psalms 1,2,7 says, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin...Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Rely on your great High Priest to manifest in your heart also, by His Spirit, the heavenly wonder-working power which His blood has exercised for the cleansing in the "Holies." Rely on the blood of the Lamb which destroyed the authority and effect of sin before God, in heaven, to destroy it also in your heart. With full assurance of faith, that a heart which is through Him "by blood made clean" is prepared, as a temple to be filled with the glory of God - the fullness of the Holy Spirit. God has provided a way to keep yourselves cleansed from sin. DWELLING IN "THE HOLIEST" THROUGH THE BLOOD "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:19-22 To bring us into the Holiest is the end of the redemptive work of Jesus. The Holiest is the place where God dwells; the Holiest, the dwelling place of the Most High. This does not refer only to heaven, but to the spiritual Holiest place of God's presence. It is a privilege to enter into the Holiest and dwell there, to walk all the day in the presence of God. Under the Old Covenant, everything was material: the sanctuary also was material and local. Under the New Covenant, everything is spiritual: the true Sanctuary owes its existence to the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the right to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus. LIFE IN THE BLOOD "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." John 6:53-56 Jesus tells us that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood, who partake of His body as their sustenance, will experience also in their own bodies the power of eternal life. Nourishment by His flesh and blood effects the most perfect union with Him. Our Lord declares here that those who believe in Him are to experience not only certain influences from Him in their hearts, but are to be brought into the most close and abiding union with Him. The concept of "drinking" indicates the deep, true appropriation in our spirit, by faith, all we understand concerning the power of the blood. When the heart of anyone is filled with a sense of the preciousness and power of the blood, when he with real joy is lost in the contemplation of it, when he with whole-hearted faith takes it for himself and seeks to be convinced in his inner being of the life-giving power of that blood, then it may be rightly said that he "drinks the blood of Jesus." All that faith enables him to see of redemption, of cleansing, of sanctification by the blood, he absorbs into the depths of his soul. The communion of the flesh and blood of Christ is necessary for all who desire to inherit eternal life. It is by the Holy Spirit that the thirsty soul will be made to drink of the heavenly refreshment of this life- giving drink: this drinking is a heavenly mystery. All the thoughts that we can entertain about the blood or the life of Jesus, about our share in that blood as members of His body, and about the impartation to us of the living power of that blood, all are but feeble rays of the glorious reality which He, the Holy Spirit, will bring into being in us through our union with Jesus. Communion as we know it, partaking in the eating of bread and the drinking of wine is only symbolic of this work of the Holy Spirit. VICTORY THROUGH THE BLOOD Satan, the great enemy of the human race, occupied a high position, had entrance into heaven and appeared there as the accuser of the brethren and as the opponent of whatever was done in the interest of God's people. When he had brought about the fall of man, and had also transferred the world to himself and became its prince, he had real authority over all that was in it. Man had been destined to be king of this world, for God has said, "Have thou authority." When Satan had conquered the king (Adam), he took his entire kingdom under his authority; and this authority was recognized by God. God, in His holy will, had ordained that if man listened to Satan, he must suffer the consequences and become subject to his tyranny. God, never in this matter used His power or exercised force, but always took the way of law and right - and so Satan retained his authority until it was taken from him in a lawful manner. For this reason also at the commencement of His public life, our Lord, after His anointing, being thus openly recognized as the Son of God, "was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Victory over Satan could be gained only after He had personally endured and resisted his temptations. But even this victory was not sufficient.. Christ came in order that "through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil." The devil had that power of death because of the law of God. That law had installed him as jailer of its prisoners. Scripture says, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law." Victory over the casting out of Satan could not take place till the righteous demands of the law were perfectly fulfilled. The sinner must be delivered from the power of the law, before he could be delivered from the authority of Satan. It was through His death and the shedding of His blood that the Lord Jesus fulfilled the law's demands: by the typical ministry of the temple, by the sacrifices with the shedding of blood and sprinkling of blood, the law had foretold that reconciliation and redemption could take place only by the shedding of blood As a surety, the Son of God was born under the law, He obeyed it perfectly, He resisted the temptations of Satan to withdraw Himself from under its authority and He willingly gave Himself up to bear the punishment of sin. He gave no ear to the temptation of Satan to refuse the cup of suffering and when He shed His blood, He had devoted His whole life, to its very end, to the fulfilling of law. When the law had been thus perfectly fulfilled, the authority of sin and Satan was brought to an end. In that holy moment when our Lord shed His blood in death, and it seemed as if Satan were victorious, the adversary was robbed of the authority he had hitherto possessed. The vision of the casting out of Satan from heaven as a result of the ascension of Christ is found in Revelation 12:5-9, "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Then follows the song from which the text is taken, "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Revelation 10-12 Victory ....carried on There is a progressive victory which follows on...this is indicated in the words of the song of victory, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb." The victory in heaven ad on earth progresses simultaneously, resting on the same ground. The preaching of "the blood of the cross" as the reconciliation for the sin of the world and the ground of God's free, forgiving love is the power by which the most darkened heart is opened and softened, and, from being a dwelling place of Satan, is changed into a temple of the Most High. What avails for the church is available also for each Christian. In "the blood of the Lamb," he always has victory and where the holy blood of the Lamb is sprinkled, there God dwells, and Satan is put to flight. No victory without strife... There is no victory without strife...the believer who desires to share in the victory over Satan "through the blood of the Lamb" must be a fighter. He must take pains to understand the character of his enemy. He must allow himself to be taught by the Spirit through the Word what the secret cunning of Satan is. He must know that this strife is "...not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.." Ephesians 6:12 He must devote himself in every way, and at all costs to carry on the strife till death. No victory without faith... By unbelief, by ignorance of, or by letting go our hold of the fact that we have a participation in the victory of Jesus, we may give Satan again an authority over us which otherwise he does not possess. But when we know, by a living faith, that we are one with the Lord Jesus, that the Lord Himself lives in us, and that He maintains, and carries on in us that victory which He gained, then Satan has no power over me. Victory "through the blood of the Lamb" is the power of our lives. Victory in fellowship with the blood of the Lamb... Seek to enter more deeply into the perfect reconciliation with God. Live constantly, exercising faith in the assurance that "the blood cleanseth from all sin;" yield yourself to be sanctified and brought nigh to God through the blood; let it be your life-giving nourishment and power. You will thus have an unbroken experience of victory over Satan and his temptations. Believer, our Lord Jesus by His blood has made us not only priests but kings unto God, that we may draw near to God not only in priestly purity and ministry, but that also in kingly power we may rule for God. A kingly spirit must inspire us, a kingly courage to rule over our enemies. The blood of the Lamb must increasingly be a token and seal, not only of reconciliation for all guilt, but of victory over all the power of sin. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the casting out of Satan were the results of the shedding of His blood. In you also, the sprinkling of the blood will open the way for the full enjoyment of resurrection with Jesus, and of being seated with Him in the heavenly places. HEAVENLY JOY THROUGH THE BLOOD We must come to understand what a true and vital connection there is between "the sprinkling of the blood" and the joys of heaven, and that a true intimate connection with the blood on earth will enable the believer while still on earth to share the joy and glory of heaven: - The blood bestows the right to a place in heaven. - The blood bestows the fitness for heaven. - Inner agreement in mind and will - a oneness with God's will. - Delight in His nearness and fellowship Not only had the act of shedding His blood an eternally availing worth, the blood itself has Spirit and life in it. The blood is made effective by the power of an eternal life. This is why the Epistle to the Hebrews lays much emphasis on the work of Christ as being one for all and eternal: the Lord Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek possessing an unchanging priesthood (Hebrews 7:17). "After the power of an eternal" (verse 16); "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." (verses 24,25); He is "the Son who is consecrated for evermore" (verse 28)." By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:12); "By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:12). The believer ought to grow in knowledge also; thus only can he enter into the full blessing which is prepared for him. We have not only the right, but it is our duty to inquire what the essential connection is between the blessed effect of the blood, and our sanctification, and in what way the Lord Jesus will work out in us, by His blood, those things which we have ascertained to be the chief qualities of sanctification. The beginning of all sanctification is separation to God, as His entire possession, to be at His disposal. This is just what the blood proclaims: that the power of sin is broken; that we are loosed from its bonds; that we are no longer its bond-servants, but belong to Him who purchased our freedom with His blood, "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price." Entire sanctification takes place when God takes possession of and fills with His glory the temple that is consecrated to Him.
"My comrades in redemption: This life is for you and me. May the blood be all our glory, not only at the cross with its awful wonders, but also at the throne. Let us plunge deep, and ever deeper, into the living fountain of the blood of the Lamb. Let us open our hearts wide, and ever wider, for its operation. Let us firmly, and ever more firmly, believe in the ceaseless cleansing by which the great Eternal Priest Himself will apply that blood to us....Let us unite joyfully, and ever more joyfully, in the song of the great multitude, who know of nothing so glorious this: "Thou hast redeemed us to God, by thy blood." Andrew Murray Source: The Power of the Blood of Jesus, Andrew Murray, copyright 1993 by Whitaker House. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
2010 - HIS GLORY REIGNS
| LIFE IN JESUS-MINISTRIES |