THE BLOOD OF JESUS - Part 2

HIS GLORY REIGNS
B. Childress
Sep 7, 2007


"They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."  Revelation 12:11

"Every benefit and blessing we possess in our redemption, including complete and total victory over Satan, is based
on Jesus and His triumph over Satan at the Cross. We have victory over Satan because of Jesus' shed Blood.  The
old-timers in Pentecost understood a truth about the Blood of Jesus. They would preach the Blood against the devil.
That's scriptural."             Kenneth E. Hagin  

As we inquire from the Word, in faith, what the Blood has accomplished, it must be a settled matter with us that the
Blood can manifest its full power also in us.  No sense of unworthiness, or of ignorance, or of helplessness must cause
us to doubt.  The Blood works in the surrendered soul with a ceaseless power of life.

  • Satan has systematically tried to rob from the Church the truth about the Blood of Jesus and its practical use as
    a primary weapon against him.  The Blood in some cases has been removed from preaching, teaching, even
    hymnals - leaving the door open to Satan and resulting in a loss of power.

  • A.E. Mitchell said, "All Bible doctrine is built and runs its course in a circular form:...All divine circles culminate in
    'glory.'"

Jesus' Mission, "I came forth from the Father, and am come unto the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the
Father."  John 16:28  We see this circular pattern in Jesus' earthly ministry.  Jesus Christ came from Heaven and
brought to us salvation, and He returned to God the Father bringing Him Glory and Honor and eternal pleasure.

  • Isaiah 55:8-11 provides another example of how God's Word travels a circular route:  "For my thoughts are not
    your thought, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
    are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the
    snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it
    may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it
    shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
    I sent it."

Rain and snow, in the natural realm, demonstrate the path God's Word travels.  They come down earthward.  They
return heavenward in the natural process of evaporation, yet they do not return without first bringing forth fruit upon
the earth.  Likewise God's Word originates in Him, travels earthward, accomplishes, and then returns to bring God
glory:  The Glory travels that path, the Church travels that path.  The Blood traveled that path.

THE CIRCLE OF THE BLOOD

The circular path of the Blood began in Heaven "before the foundation of the world: (1 Peter 1:18-20)

*  Before God created man He knew he would fall - He foreordained his redemption with "precious blood."

*  Man would be spirit.  In God's image, on God's order and kind.

*  Man would be able to fellowship and love God.

*   Man would be created to work with God - to have dominion over the works of God's hands.  For such high eternal
purpose man,  could not be a robot.

*  Spirit man would be given a soul - a mind, will, and emotions.

*  Fallen Lucifer would tempt man's will.

*  Man would fall into the tempter's hand, but God would redeem man.

*  God would design man for redemption in his creation.  God would make man a creature of blood.  (God was not
limited to create creatures of blood.  Angels were not created with blood.  Lucifer was not created with blood.)

*  God would call man Adam, connecting him in the wonderfully revealing Hebrew language to blood(dam) and to the
ground (adamah).  Both blood and ground are red (adom).

*  God would put spirit man and his soul into a body of flesh made of the dust of the ground (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

*  The life of the flesh would be in the blood (Leviticus 17:11-14).

*  Man's body, and earthen vessel, could be broken and the blood poured out, a life for a life.

*  If a Divine One would go to earth Incarnate and live without sin in "a body prepared." His vessel could be broken and
His perfect Life poured out in His blood for the remission of all sin.

*  In some eternal moment, in some heavenly place, the One we call Savior agreed to fulfill the Father's great plan of
redemption.  First in Heaven, and eventually at Calvary, our Lord Jesus offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit,
without spot to God:

"Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU WOULDEST NOT, BUT A
BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME: IN BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN THOU HAST HAD NO
PLEASURE.  THEN SAID I, LO, I COME (IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME,) TO DO THY
WILL, O GOD.  Above when he said, SACRIFICE AND OFFERING AND BURNT OFFERINGS AND OFFERING FOR
SIN THOU WOULDEST NOT, NEITHER HADST PLEASURE THEREIN; which are offered by the law; Then said he,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.  He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.  By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."  Hebrews 10:5-10

- In what is a great mystery, God the Son became "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."  Revelation 13:8

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...But with the precious
blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these times for you."  1 Peter 1:18-20

The Blood line began in heaven...

  • It circled eastward - first in Revelation through types and shadows:  God had to reveal to fallen man the place
    and power of the Blood of the Lamb to redeem him.

  • God Himself shed the first blood type when He made coats of animal skin to cover man - Blood would cover man
    until he was gain fit for glory.

  • The blood of every animal on every legitimate altar of the Old Testament times was to reveal the Lamb slain
    from the foundation of the world, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar
    to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Leviticus 17:11

  • The precious Blood was manifested in the earth when Jesus came.  John the Baptist looked upon Jesus and
    said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29

  • The earthly part of the Blood's path was consummated when the manifested Lamb poured out His life in His
    Blood on Calvary's altar.

  • The circle of the Blood turned upward again on the third day.  Our Lord Jesus Christ arose - triumphant over
    death, hell, and the grave and carried His own precious Blood into the Heavenly Holy of Holies where it was
    accepted for man.

  • The resurrected Lamb closed the circle giving glory to God the Father:  the powerful redemptive Blood is
    returned to its Heavenly Terminal.

  • There before the throne of the Living God, the Blood ever speaks "mercy" for man (Hebrews 12:24)

THE BLOOD LINE

  • God drew a blood line from Heaven to earth and back to Heaven.

  • Billye Brim recalls the story of a minister and his wife who were conducting meetings in a Canadian church
    which were inflicting great damage to the kingdom of darkness as many were being led to a new life in Jesus and
    being set free from bondages of Satan.  Don Gossett gave the following account in his book Praise Avenue:  
    "Because of this success, the devil became infuriated and began to torment Brother Stevens with the thought
    that he was going to kill the Stevens' children.  Brother Stevens said, 'Devil you're a liar!  You cannot kill my
    children.'  To this the devil seemed to say, 'Oh yes I can, for I have put rabies upon the foxes in the woods
    adjoining your property.'  Immediately, Brother Stevens remembered the reports of friends who had seen foxes
    roaming on his land before he left Tennessee.  In simple childlike faith, Brother Stevens gathered together three
    other believers.  Together they agreed in prayer and by faith they drew a blood line of protection around the
    Steven's property...About a week later Brother Stevens received a letter from his brother telling him that five
    dead foxes had been found lying on the boundary of his property and after being examined it was determined
    that they were indeed rabid."  The foxes had dropped dead when they tried to cross the Blood line.  There is a
    bible basis for drawing a Blood line.

God met the children of Israel in Egypt with the Blood line.  He instructed them to draw it themselves.  God revealed
the power in the Blood to protect in the first passover:

After nine terrible plagues, Pharoah still refused to let God's people go.  With the tenth - a great terror - God would
bring His people out of the land of Egypt (Jeremiah) 32:21.  Moses informed Pharoah, "Thus saith the Lord, about
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:   And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall dies, from the firstborn of
Pharoah that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill: all the firstborn
of beasts." Exodus 11:4,5  God's account of the events are required to see what He revealed:

"And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying...Speak ye unto all the congregation of
Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
father, a lamb for an house:...Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the
sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month:   and the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.  And they shall take of the blood, and striketh on the two side
posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it....And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins
girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste:  it is the LORD'S  passover.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and
beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a
token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."  Exodus 12:1, 3, 5-7, 11-13

This plague was judgment.  Sin was judged in the day man fell.  Man was due judgment.  But God in mercy had held
off the fullness of judgment.  On this night God would lift His withholding hand and allow the destroyer to execute the
sentence of the law of sin and death.  A dilemma existed.  The children of Israel, as the sons of Adam, were also due
the stroke of judgment and Satan knew it.  But God had provided for the salvation of man.  A Lamb was slain from the
foundations of the world.  The token of Blood displayed upon their houses would withhold judgment,

Moses instructed the people to draw a Blood line the destroyer could not cross:

"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your
families, and kill the passover.  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason; and
none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.  For the LORD will pass through to smite the
Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door,
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you."  Exodus 12:21-23

The destroyer would rather have killed God's chosen ones.  But he could not kill even one of their animals.  A line
drawn across their thresholds stopped him.  When the head of the household applied the blood to the doorposts of his
home, he entered the circle of the Blood from the point of time in which he lived.  The Blood line he drew across the
entryway to his home and loved ones represented the power in the Blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world.  When god the Judge of all saw the blood applied in faith, He could look at that household through the precious
redeeming Blood foreordained before the foundation and judgment could be legally stayed - God instructed Israel they
were to keep Passover a memorial, by an ordinance forever.  As a Jewish boy, Jesus kept the law.  Every year of His
life He kept Passover, even during those years He was training his disciples. But when He came to the last Passover
He would keep, the Bible emphasizes His intense desire to eat with them, "With desire I have desired to eat this
passover with you before I suffer."  Luke 22:15  The time had come when He could reveal that He was the bread
without leaven (sin) which would be broken for man, come forth from the earth - the Lamb whose Blood was shed for
man:

"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will
not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks and brake
it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you:  this do in remembrance of me.  Likewise also
the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."  Luke 22:17-20

  • Believers living under the New Covenant have the right to enter the communion of the Blood "which is shed for
    you" and to draw a Blood line Satan cannot cross.  In Egypt at the first passover, they applied the Blood with a
    hyssop branch.  Since the Lord's passion, we can apply the Blood by faith - we apply the Blood with our mouths
    over the doorposts of our lives.

  • W.B. Young, a leader at Keswick wrote a tract, Honor the Blood.  He states. "that there must be a personal
    application of the Blood of Christ in order to stem the tide of spiritual destruction in the life of the child of God...It
    is effective against satanic floods when applied by faith.  A proper application of His Blood to a given situation, if
    the believer is operating from a cleansed position, always brings deliverance...it never fails. As God built a
    hedge around Job, which limited Satan, so today He will do the same for any child of God who applies the Blood
    to a given situation.  The Blood is the hedge that stops the destroyer."

We are to continually display the token of the Blood of Jesus and its power over the doorposts and boundaries of our
lives by faith and by the words of our mouths because we believe it in our hearts; also known by the "old-timers" as
pleading the Blood of Jesus.

PLEADING THE BLOOD OF JESUS

  • Pleading the Blood has nothing to do with begging or with mechanical repetition of empty words.  Plead is legal
    terminology.

  • The Hebrew word translated plead is the root word reer.  In its verb form, it means strive, contend, to conduct a
    legal case.  In its noun form, it means dispute, controversy, case at law.  A few examples:

"The LORD  therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of
thing hand." 1 Samuel 24:15

"Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips."  Job 13:6

"I plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me."   Psalm 35:1

"Plead my cause, and deliver me..."  Psalm 119:154

"The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people."  Isaiah 3:13

This is the prophetic of Jesus and His triumphant death and subsequent justification.  He says, "Who will conduct a
legal case or suit with Me?  The answer, of course is that no case or adversary can stand against Him.  Therefore, our
case the Blood of His Cross, is sure.

PLEADING OUR CASE - REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD

A great courtroom procedure has ensued since the fall of man.

  • God, the Father is God, the Judge of all (Hebrews 12:23).

  • Jesus Christ, the Righteous, is our advocate  (1 John 2:1,2) One that argues for a cause.  One that pleads in
    another's behalf, an intercessor.

  • The Bible is the Book of the Law.

  • Satan is the Prosecuting Attorney - the accuser.

"...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 12:10,11

  • The title "the accuser of our brethren" reveals Satan's character and his ongoing activity.

  • Redemption is the crux of the matter.  Adam exercised his free will and fell into the hand of the enemy.  The
    Blood of the Lamb redeemed (to recover ownership of by paying a specified sum) man from Satan's hold and
    unto God and His plan:  God redeemed us with "precious" Blood.

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, CURSED IS EVERY
ONE THAT HANGETH ON A TREE:  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."  Galatians 3:13,14

Not only have we been delivered out of the hand of Satan, but our redemption is threefold:

1)   From the curse of the law

2)  To the blessing...

3)  That we might receive the promise of the Spirit...

  • The attacks of "the accuser of the brethren" are always in one of the three areas.  He strives to rob us of our
    redemptive rights by attempting to: 1)  Bring the curse of the broken law upon us - poverty, sickness, and death,
    2)  Keep our inheritance from us, 3)  Prevent us from living in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit.

  • At the new birth, believers are translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light - we have
    been redeemed through His Blood (Colossians 1:13-14); we are citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20); we may
    live by the laws of the Spirit life in Christ Jesus which have set us free from the laws of sin and death (Romans 8:
    2).  However, Satan will not leave us alone.  We are commanded to give him no place  (Ephesians 4:27).  He
    and his accusations are to be overcome with the Blood of the Lamb to which he has no defense.  According to
    Grace Roos, who lived a supernatural, overcoming life, "Satan has no answer to the Blood of Jesus, no weapon
    to withstand its devastating effect upon him..He is absolutely vulnerable to its overcoming power...Legally Satan
    was defeated at Calvary, so legally we are his victors through Christ who gave us power of attorney in Luke 10:
    19."

  • We need to "SAY" who we are in Christ.  Pleading the Blood with our mouths lines up with this scripture.  The
    Bible instructs us to say that we are redeemed, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath
    redeemed from the hand of the enemy."  Psalm 107:2

  • In the courtroom, we have a witness.  First John 5:8 declares that the Blood is a witness. "If Satan tries to put
    some of the curse upon us or keep us from getting rid of some of the curse we had upon us, we are to call for
    the witness.  The Blood of Jesus will gain testify that Christ set us free from all the curse when we was made a
    curse for us.  By faith, steadfastly hold again the witnessing Blood just where you want God to work and let the
    precious Blood of his Son speak, testify, cry unto God for us."  Resisting the Devil, Mrs. Nuzum p. 51 Note: Very
    often Satan will attack us in areas we have been delivered from.  For example, Satan would not try to make you
    an alcoholic, but if you are a recovering alcoholic he will try to lead you back to being an alcoholic.

  • Magnify the Blood and the Lamb and give bold testimony of the power of the Blood.

  • The Blood of Jesus speaks to you today and cries out...You are justified, You are redeemed, You have peace,
    You are God's property, You have eternal salvation, You are clean, You are washed, You have victory.

  • The old-timers, "sprinklers of the Blood,"in Pentecost understood about the Blood of Jesus: 1)  They had strong
    faith in the Blood, 2) They believed they had the right to use the power in the Blood by faith; 3)  They
    recognized they needed to operate from a cleansed position.

HOLDING THE BLOOD    

  • The old-timers persevered - they would "hold" the Blood against the devil until victory came.  You must be
    diligent to "resist the devil."

  • Faith in the Blood of Jesus and in what God has said in His Word, when exercised in testimony against the devil
    will always cause him to flee.  First Peter 5:9 says, we are to be steadfast in resisting the devil...Your mouth can
    hasten victory greatly.  God says in Mark 11:23, you shall have what you say if you do not doubt.  Say, "I refuse
    to have sickness..." no matter how much Satan tries to make you feel...The Word tells us that the Blood
    overcomes Satan and that he does flee. Plant your feet upon these truths, use the remedy and never relax until
    victory comes.  It must come because God said it will.  ...I have found that as I continually meet Satan with the
    Blood, and never release until he flees, the Blood works quickly and more powerfully...God the almighty One
    says you shall reap if you do not faint, which means ceasing to believe and to resist or becoming less earnest
    and persistent."  C. Nuzum

We must stand and withstand (Ephesians 6:10-14).  God has made it clear in His Word just how to go about it.  If we
do not heed his instructions, He will permit us to reap the defeat that awaits us.  We must understand that there is no
substitute for God's battle strategy - our complete victory is in the powerful virtues of the Blood of Jesus.

THERE ARE REWARDS FOR OVERCOMING

  • God's Word commands us to overcome evil (Romans 12:21)

  • Gods Word commends those who overcome the wicked one, evil spirits, and the world system (I John 2:13, 14;
    4:4; 5:4,5).

  • God's Word gives us authority, weapons, and tells us exactly how to overcome.

God's Word promises eternal rewards for being overcomers.  The Lord's promises to the overcomer can be found in
chapters two and three of Revelation:  Revelation 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21.  There are specific rewards offered to each
of the churches for those who overcome:

1)  Church of Ephesus - "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise
of God."  2:7

2)  Church of Smyrna - "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." 2:11

3)  Church of Pergamos - "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." 2:17

4)  Church in Thyatira - "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the
nations: And HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON; AS THE VESSELS OF A POTTER SHALL THEY BE
BROKEN TO SHIVERS: even as I received of my Father."  2:26,27

5)  Church of Sardis - "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name
out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before his angels." 3:5

6)  Church of Philadelphia - "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more
out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God... " 3:12

7)  Church of the Laodiceans - "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." 3:21

The Word of God indicates there is rank in resurrection.  The Bible speaks of "better resurrections" (Hebrews 11:35).  
Some will have more glory (1 Corinthians 15), and some  will rule over more than others.  This is determined, it seems,
by faithful service during our earth lives.

RAINS OF THE SPIRIT

The Blood of Jesus redeems us from the hand of the enemy and the curse of the law.

The 'last day' application of the Blood of Jesus is of far greater glory - it involves what we are redeemed to, "Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us...That the blessing of Abraham might come on
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."   The Blood has a
significant role in the manifestation of the Glory of God in the last days - which is NOW. The manifestation of God's
glory in the "glorious church" will be a revelation of the Spirit of God in a degree the church has never known:  it will be
the third and last great outpouring of the Spirit which the Bible prophesies.

First Rains.  The first mention of rains occurred when God brought the chosen nation out of Egypt and into the
promised land.  Agriculture in Egypt depended on the rise and fall of the Nile.  Harvest in the promised land depends
on seasonal rains and those rains would depend upon their loving and obeying God (Deuteronomy 11:13,14).  Israel
has two seasonal rains:  the former rains begin in late October and November and prepare the ground for planting
seed.  The latter rains are in late winter and early spring: they water the fields just before the early barley harvests.

In the progressive revelation of the Bible, rains are heavy with meaning:  God's people were to wait only upon God for
the rains (Jeremiah 14:22); God's people were to ask the Lord for the rains (Zechariah 10:1).  The Holy Spirit through
the prophet Joel reveals that these rains are types and shadows of the outpouring of God's Spirit (Joel 2:23-25,28,29).

Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost revealed that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was in fulfillment of Joel's
prophecy (Acts 2:14-18).  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts is the former rain outpouring of the
Holy Spirit to prepare the ground for the sowing of the seed.

The Bible prophesies an outpouring when the early rains and the latter rains will come together.  The Holy Spirit
through James revealed that the third and final outpouring of the age will come just before the coming of the Lord, "Be
patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.  Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts:
for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."  James 5:7,8

The Husbandman is God the Father (John 15:1) Who is a farmer.  God the Father is the best Farmer ever there was
or ever will be.  He has a field.  Earth.  God's field will receive an outpouring of the Spirit likened unto the former and
latter rains coming together.  The glories of this outpouring will produce the grandest crop ever there was or ever will
be.  A great harvest of the "precious fruit of the earth" will come in to the glory of God the Father.  

THE BLOOD AND THE OUTPOURINGS  

  • The Old Testament prophesied that three outpourings of the Spirit would come in the last days.  Two have
    been fulfilled.

  • At the beginning of the last days, the Spirit of the Lord was poured out as the book of Acts records:  The
    Former Rain Outpouring.

  • At the beginning of the Twentieth Century - the last century before the millennial age - the second outpouring
    blessed the earth:  The Latter Rain.

  • At the end of this prophetic century we are now experiencing showers from the clouds gathered and almost
    ready to  burst forth in the final outpouring of the last days just before the coming of the Lord:  The Former and
    Latter Rains Together Outpouring.   

FIRST - THE BLOOD  

There were no outpourings of the Spirit in Old Testament times.

  • The Spirit was not poured out then because the Blood had not yet been poured out in the earth.

  • The Spirit goes where the Blood has cleansed.

  • The Old Testament typifies this when the priest applied the Blood first and then the oil.  Oil is a type of the Holy
    Spirit.

  • Every outpouring of the Holy Spirit was and will be in answer to the Blood of Jesus the Messiah.

  • His Blood was poured out at Calvary so that the Spirit could be poured out at Pentecost.

  • His Blood was magnified in the Holiness movement which went before and prepared the Church for the latter
    rain outpouring at the beginning of this century.  The newly filled saints of the outpouring were taught by the
    Holy Spirit to honor and give place to the Blood for manifestation of the power of the Spirit.  

  • A great emphasis upon the Blood of Jesus must precede and accompany the fullness of the
    outpouring of the Spirit which is almost upon us.

THE LATTER RAIN OUTPOURING

  • Believers in the early days of the Church walked in the power of the outpouring of the Spirit.  Then things
    happened and they began to succumb to the efforts of the enemy to weaken the body of Christ.  This resulted in
    the Church losing truth and power.  And then came the Dark ages when the light of the gospel was sequestered
    from common man.

  • Satan must have thought he had won.  Thinking the Church could never be glorious as God had said.  But God
    restored what the cankerworm and the locust had eaten.  Vital tenets of the Church returned in divine
    revelations: the way of salvation; the just living by faith; divine healing; and at the beginning of this century, the
    baptism with the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.

  • On one side of the globe, Russia, God revealed the baptism with th Holy Spirit.  On this side of the world, just
    before the century dawned, the strong desire to understand the baptism in the Holy Spirit was experienced by a
    Reverend Charles Parham.  Reverend Parham was encouraged to student the Word on the subject.  Demos
    Shakorian and Charles Parham eventually met, and together the concensus was that in the Bible, the baptism in
    the Holy Spirit was evidenced by speaking in tongues.

In a watch night service on December 31, 1900, the students waited on the Lord in prayer.  A little past midnight,
Agnes Ozman was the first to be baptized in the spirit and speak with other tongues.  The participants at Topeka spill
out of Kansas with news of their blessing and the word spread.  Parham took his Bible school to Houston and met a
spiritual black man, William Seymour who accepted what Parham taught.  Seymour believed but had not received the
experience himself when he was invited to preach at a Holiness church in Los Angeles. The tiny congregation had
accepted the message, even after Seymour shut down the meeting and padlocked the door.  Richard and Ruth
Asberry invited Seymour and others to hold pray meetings at their home.  On April 6, 1906 William Seymour and seven
others were seated in the living room of the Asberrys, in a spirit of prayer and waiting upon the Lord.  Suddenly, as a
bold of lightening from Heaven, they were all knocked from their chairs to the floor and began speaking in other
tongues.  They eventually moved to an empty building on Azusa Street and this was the beginning of the Azusa Street
outpouring.

  • There was a place of the Blood in the outpouring and in the lives of these believers. A well-respected early
    Pentecostal pastor, teacher, and author Alexander Boddy chronciled the outpouring in his monthly publication,
    Confidence (1908-1926).  He wrote in the lead article in the first issue titled His Own Blood, "...we praise our
    God that He is teaching us in these days the wonderful depth, efficacy, and the power of the Blood."

THE BLOOD - THE ANOINTING FOR POWER

-  Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, and Maria Woodworth-Etter and many others of the old-timers, received their
baptisms in the Holy Spirit in the latter-rain outpouring.  Miracles, healings, and people raised from the dead were
witnessed and noted in their ministries.  For one thing, when they received the Holy Spirit it was just that - Holy.  Their
awe of the God of the anointing never left them and they respected the gifts.  It was accepted that to walk in such
wondrous and holy things, one would need to walk cleansed.  The Blood was for that.  Later, two or three generations
or so, outward things (religious rituals) were taught for holiness.  But at the first, when they spoke of holiness, they
spoke of the Blood.

-  The old-timers respected the power - they knew they must be cleansed: the Blood was the only agent by which to be
cleansed and they had great faith in the Blood.  Maria Woodworth-Etter, especially, "sprinkled"  the Blood of Jesus in
her prayers for healing and in her meetings:  she was considered to have "resurrection" power.  She even wrote a
song about the Blood, "Where to the Blood can Heal, " in her book published in 1916.

THE BLOOD AND THE LAST OUTPOURING

  • The "former and latter rains together" outpouring has begun in the earth. The outpouring will culminate in the
    coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Some of the same signs of the outpouring at the beginning of this
    century are in our midst now.

  • These are the last of the last days.  We must make much of the Blood for two purposes:  1)  To overcome
    Satan in his endtime wrath, 2)  To prepare us for God's Glory in His endtime revelation through His Glorious
    Church.

  • We need to return to singing about the blood, to honor the Blood.  The old-timers said that when they sang
    about the Blood for a while in their meetings, "a cleansing wave" seemed to sweep over them preceding a wave
    of the Spirit in power.

Remember, the Spirit answers to the Blood...the Spirit of Glory must complete
our preparation now for the Lord of Glory!




Sources:


The Blood and The Glory, by Billye Brim, Copyright 1995 by Harrison House, Inc.

The Word, The Name, The Blood, by Joyce Meyer, Copyright 1995 by Warner Books, Inc.
2010 - HIS GLORY REIGNS
LIFE IN JESUS-MINISTRIES