The Blood of Jesus - Your Protection from the Evil One, Part 2

The blood of Jesus is a tangible power in both the spiritual and physical realms, and we need to apply it to our lives every day as protection from the enemy.

In 1 Peter 5:9, we are told to resist the devil by standing firm in our faith. How? By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). The power to overcome satan lies in the blood of Jesus, but you must understand what the blood stands for and how to apply it.

Using the Blood to Fight Spiritual Battles

Hebrews 9:13-14 shows us how the blood works its power. Although animal sacrifices foreshadowed what God was going to do through Jesus, the blood of goats and bulls could not operate in the spiritual realm (Hebrews 10:4).

But the blood of Christ is different. Because Jesus is an eternal spiritual being with a physical body, His blood can penetrate both the earthly and spiritual realms. And because of that, it is able to cleanse the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. What’s more, because the spiritual realm dictates what takes place in the earthly realm, the blood of Christ is a powerful weapon against satanic operations that affect events on earth.

How to Apply the Blood in Your Life

Pleading the blood of Jesus over earthly circumstances is not something mystical. It’s not an incantation, but a spiritual exercise of faith.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Hey, Pastor Bob, where in the Bible are we commanded to ‘plead the blood’” Let me show you.

David used the term “plead” when addressing Saul, who had wrongly accused David of planning to harm him. “The Lord therefore be judge and decide between you and me;” David said, “and may He see and plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand” (I Samuel 24:15).

David knew that if he pleaded his case before God’s eyes of justice, God would protect him from Saul’s lies and assaults. And God heard David and delivered him from the hand of Saul.

Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God even invites us to plead our causes before Him. “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgression for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; let us argue our case together. State your cause, that you may be proved right” (Isaiah 43:25-26). (Note that the King James Version translates the word “state” as “plead”)

Jeremiah understood the necessity of doing that: “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, that I would plead my case with Thee; indeed I would discuss matters of justice with Thee” (Jeremiah 12:1a).

These men of great faith understood that the word “plead” was a legal term, not an act of begging to persuade God to do something. It meant “to assert a defense by an advocate”.

According to John, the blood of Jesus is your advocate. “…We have an Advocate with the father,” he writes, “Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins…” (I John 2:1-2).

That word “propitiation” derives its meaning from Greek culture. In ancient times, it described how a man might try to appease the gods—and protect himself from their wrath. In the Bible, however, propitiation refers to the work of Christ’s blood, which is to protect and help us avoid destruction.

You have a legal right to plead the authority of the blood of Jesus just as you have a legal right to use the name of Jesus. You are stating your case that satan has no authority to rule you, accuse you, condemn you, intimidate you, or harm you or your family. Satan is stripped of all authority and disarmed by faith in that precious blood. He is no longer free to act against you or your family to bring harm or mischief. And satan must therefore flee.

When you plead the blood of Jesus, you are calling on God—as David did—to fulfill God’s promise of protection in Psalm 35:1-2, “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help” (KJV).

Althea didn’t make such an eloquent appeal to God that night in Brooklyn. But something happened when she claimed the blood of Jesus against the horror she faced. In response to a simple cry for help, God took action.

I encourage you to make that cry—apply the blood of Jesus to the doorposts of your life. Dare to stand on the written promises in God’s Word and testify boldly of your faith in the blood of Jesus. When you do, satan will flee from you, proving once again that Jesus is Lord over all the earth.

Originally published in the November 1997 issue of Reaching Higher

The Blood of Jesus - Your Protection from the Evil One, Part 1

Althea emerged from an underground subway onto a dimly lit, isolated street in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn. It’s a neighborhood where violence and crime happen every day. As she made her way home, a sense of danger gripped her. Was someone following her?

At the door of her apartment building, Althea cautiously placed her key in the lock. Suddenly, an ominous figure lunged at her and she felt the cold steel of a knife at her throat. The man smelled of alcohol and spoke quickly. She was terrified. She knew he was probably drug-crazed as well.

“Get inside,” he ordered. Without even thinking, Althea cried out to God: “The blood of Jesus! The blood of Jesus!”

Almost immediately, the knife lifted from her throat. She turned to see her attacker for the first time. “In the light I could see his eyes clearly,” she recalls. “They seemed filled with fear. Then his head moved from side to side, and his lips began to quiver. He muttered, ‘Get away from me.’ He turned around and disappeared into the darkness.”

What saved Althea? I have no doubt that it really was the blood of Jesus that protected this defenseless woman. Surely her attacker didn’t understand why he panicked and fled, but Althea did. Knowing she had a legal right to His protection, my friend had called on the name of Jesus and He’d heard her cry.

Pleading the blood of Jesus made all the difference. It’s more than a theoretical concept, my friend. It’s more than textbook theology or symbolic rhetoric. The blood of Jesus is a tangible power in both the spiritual and physical realms, and we need to apply it to our lives every day as protection from the enemy.

In 1 Peter 5:9, we are told to resist the devil by standing firm in our faith. How? By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). The power to overcome satan lies in the blood of Jesus, but you must understand what the blood stands for and how to apply it.

Why the Blood is So Powerful

In Exodus 12:13, God tells the Israelites that He is going to deliver them from the bondage of Pharaoh by a mighty sign—the blood of a lamb sprinkled upon their doorposts. “And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you…”

The blood represented the shed blood of another Lamb of God who would come later—Jesus Himself who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). It pointed to Calvary, where blood flowed from the wounds of God’s only son.

There Jesus secured salvation from sin on our behalf, “Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us…having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

But that’s not all that happened at Calvary. Jesus also disarmed all the power and deception of the devil (Colossians 2:15). And we can participate in that victory by faith (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8). So the blood of Jesus not only saves and cleanses us from sin, it also preserves us.

When the Israelites sprinkled blood on their doorposts, they were marking their homes—setting them apart—and when God saw that mark the destroying angel stayed away, sparing their first-born children.

When, in faith, you sprinkle the blood of Jesus on your circumstances, you are marking your life as well.  And when God sees that spiritual mark, He will not allow the destroyer to come near to harm you.

The mark of the blood is not for our sight, but for the holy eye of God. Remember that. It doesn’t matter if your eyes are clouded with tears or you can’t see hope ahead because fear stands in the way. “…When I see the blood,” God says, “…no plague will befall you to destroy you…” (Exodus 12:13).

He will come to you in the power of all that the blood signifies. Even if you’re shrouded in the darkness of failure—and you can’t see a way out of your troubles—the Lord God will always see in Jesus that which pleases Him. When you’re marked with the blood, you’re safe from the devil.

How the Blood Gives Victory

To understand how that’s possible, let’s trace the bloodline of Christ, noting its circular pattern.

The bloodline began in heaven. The fall of man did not catch God by surprise! God never plays catch-up to satan. Before the foundation of the earth, God had a solution to man’s sin and the devil’s overthrow. 1 Peter 1:18-20 says we were redeemed with the precious blood of a spotless lamb—the blood of Christ, who was known before the foundation of the world.

When Adam sinned, God Himself shed the first blood when He made coats of animal skins to cover man. His action was a foreshadowing of Christ. And every time an animal was slain on every legitimate altar in the Old Testament, the Israelites saw a muddied snapshot of the Lamb, which the book of Hebrews says was slain from the foundation of the earth. “His works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3b).

The precious blood came to earth in the body of Jesus (John 1:29) and was poured out on Calvary’s altar. But the path didn’t stop there. It turned upward again on the third day after the crucifixion, when Jesus arose triumphant over death, hell and sin. He then carried His own precious blood into the Heavenly Holy of Holies where it was accepted by God the Father on behalf of each of us (John 20:17; Hebrews 9:11-12).

The powerful redemptive blood has returned to the Heavenly Tabernacle, before the throne of the Living God, where it will forever “speak” mercy, power and protection for every believer (Hebrews 12:24).

We honor that blood when we acknowledge its circular pattern and its ongoing power over satan. It is said of Moses. “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the first-born might not touch them” (Hebrews 11:28).

When we believe in the power of Christ’s blood in our hearts, our faith applies it to the doorposts of our lives.

(This series will conclude next week. Subscribe to get future posts in your inbox.)

Originally published in the November 1997 issue of "Reaching Higher"