Great Doctrines of the Bible
Special English Version

Lesson 26
THE POWER OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS

INTRODUCTION
Sometimes a teacher who does not believe the Bible will call it a “bloody book.” And indeed it is! In Genesis 3:21 God killed an animal and shed its blood to provide a covering for sinful Adam and Eve. Revelation 12:11 says that the saints won over Satan “by the blood of the Lamb.” This shows us that from the first book to the last book the Bible is a story about shedding blood.

On a rock on a hillside in South Carolina, U.S.A., someone wrote with white paint, “Who wants a God who would kill his own son?” These statements show very clearly that millions of people do not understand the meaning of the blood of Jesus Christ. They do not know the purpose of Christ’s death on the cross. They have no idea about the power of the blood, which Jesus shed. I wrote this lesson to give you a better understanding of the value and power of the blood of Christ.

IMPORTANCE OF THIS LESSON

• After a serious accident in Israel, God spared my life by blood transfusions. A blood transfusion is putting the blood of one person into the body of another person. The person who gave it was a Jew! When I was a boy, I repented of my sin. I turned to God by faith and received Christ as Savior and Lord. God made me clean. God forgave my sin and bought me by the blood of Christ. A Jew saved me physically through his blood. A Jew also saved me spiritually and eternally by His blood.
• At one time people feared to shed blood. Today blood is often more valuable than gold. Hospitals collect blood from healthy people. Hospitals keep this in blood banks. Hospitals use special automobiles to collect blood from healthy people anywhere in town. These automobiles are called “bloodmobiles.” Today everyone knows that blood is necessary for life.
• The apostle Peter wrote that silver and gold did not buy the believer back, but the valuable blood of Christ bought the believer back (1 Peter 1:18-19). Christ shed His blood to buy us back and to forgive us
  (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 5:9). There is no other sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:26). Therefore complete knowledge of the value and power of that blood is necessary.
• This could be the most important subject you will ever study.

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THE LESSON

I. TWO KEY VERSES ABOUT THE VALUE OF THE BLOOD JESUS SHED

1. In Leviticus 17:11 God told the Israelites that the life of the body is in the blood. He gave them rules for pouring that blood on the altar. They had to do this in order to cover their sins.
   1. Human life is in the blood. When the Bible says Christ gave His life for us, it means He shed His blood for us (Mark 10:45; John 10:17-18).
   2. The value of the blood of a person is the same as the value of that person’s life. Therefore the value of the shed blood of Christ cannot be measured.
   3. God did not cover Israel’s sin because of the death of one animal, but because the blood was poured on the altar. The Bible does not teach that Christ’s perfect life and example save us. His blood, poured on the altar of Calvary when He hung on the cross, saves us (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
   4. In Leviticus 17:11 the priest offered the animal in the place of the Israelite who committed sin. In the same way Christ gave Himself as an offering in our place (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 1:4; Titus 2:14).
   5. The priests poured out the blood of the animal that had done nothing wrong. This showed that the judgment of the law had been obeyed (Ezekiel 18:4). The blood satisfied God’s holiness. The blood defended God’s justice. The same is true today of the blood Christ shed for us.
2. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that the law says that blood cleans almost everything. It also says that God can only forgive sins because of blood.
   1. The blood in the body of Christ did not forgive or buy the sinner back. It was Christ’s blood that He poured out on the cross.
   2. In the offering the priests shed animal blood, but that blood only provided a cover for sin. Only the blood Christ shed was able to put sin away (Hebrews 9:26)!

II. LESSONS FROM THE BIBLE ABOUT SHEDDING BLOOD FROM AN ANIMAL THAT IS NOT GUILTY

1. Genesis 3:21 is the first verse that talks about shedding the blood of an animal that is not guilty. The verse says that the Lord God used animal skins and made some clothes for the man and his wife. Then He put the clothes on them.
2. Lessons to learn:
   1. Adam tried to hide his shame and guilt. Wearing leaves was not good enough. It was an empty action without value (Genesis 3:7-8). It is the same way for all human effort to deny guilt and to cover sins. The works of a person are only like fig leaf aprons. We cannot hide from God.
   2. God could not have mercy on Adam until a sacrifice of blood satisfied the justice of God. God must judge your sins too before He can save you. Christ took the judgment for our sins (Galatians 1:4; 2:20). Christ satisfied the justice of God concerning your sins.
   3. God had to kill an animal and shed its blood to provide a covering for Adam. Sin demanded the death penalty (Romans 6:23 and Ezekiel 18:4,20)! Religion, a person’s work, being upright or doing good works can never pay for sin. Christ had to die and He had to shed His blood in order to save you and me (Hebrews 9:26).
   4. In Genesis 3:21 we find the first example of a sacrifice God made in the place of a person. Either Adam had to die for sins or something else had to take his place. In mercy, God Himself chose something else and killed it in Adam’s place. In this way we can say that God chose Christ and killed Him from the time God laid the foundation of the earth (Revelation 13:8). It was God’s plan for Jesus to die. God decided this according to His knowledge of the future (Acts 2:23). Paul wrote, “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

III. THE BLOOD CHRIST SHED HAS POWER

1. The blood of Christ has power to satisfy the justice and holiness of God.
   1. As we have seen from Genesis 3:21, God could not have mercy on Adam until God punished sin. Someone had to pay the penalty.
   2. God is merciful (Psalm 103:11). God has a strong desire to show mercy (Titus 3:5-6). God is also holy without end. Habakkuk 1:13 tells us that God’s eyes are too good to look at evil. He cannot watch people doing wrong.
   3. Therefore, God cannot allow sin. He cannot look on sin and forget about it. God must defend His holiness. God must know that justice is done first. Then God can have mercy on us.
   4. The blood that Christ shed:
      1. judged our sins.
      2. put away our sins (Hebrews 9:26, 28; 10:12). God put our sins on Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), through grace that nobody can measure (Ephesians 2:8-9).
   5. The sacrifice of Christ:
      1. satisfied the justice of God.
      2. defended the holiness of God.
   6. Now we can say that God is the righteous One, and He is the one who justifies the person on the basis of faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).
2. The blood of Christ has power to provide a gown of righteousness that comes from God.
   1. In Genesis 3:21, we read that God put clothes on Adam and Eve. Here we see the first example how God gave a covering for man’s sin. This covering is a picture of the righteousness of God put on the believer.
   2. The Bible often compares the righteousness of God to clothing.
      1. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me (Job 29:14).
      2. The Lord put the clothes of salvation on me. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).
      3. The Lord dresses His priests with righteousness (Psalm 132:9).
   3. God provides righteousness for all believers. He puts His righteousness on the believer. The believer does not have to keep the law in order to receive this righteousness (Romans 3:21-22). Martin Luther wrote about imputation (imputation is the doctrine that our sins are put upon Christ). Luther was thinking about 2 Corinthians 5:21 and said those whatsoever sins we all have done in the past or will do hereafter are put upon Christ. In that way they are made Christ’s own sin, just as if He had done them. In return the righteousness of Christ belongs to the believer, just as if he had never sinned but had always been just as righteous as Christ was.
   4. That righteousness which God puts upon us is the righteousness of Christ Himself (2 Corinthians5:21; Romans 10:4; Philippians 3:9).
   5. All of this shows us that self-righteousness is completely useless. It is impossible for a human being to save himself from sin by working for it. In Genesis 3:21 we see that Adam was completely helpless. His salvation, like ours, had to be all of grace. God shed the blood of an animal in Adam’s place. Through that sacrifice God put His righteousness on Adam. Adam received the righteousness of God without keeping the law (Romans 3:21-22; 4:5; Galatians 2:16; Isaiah 64:6).
3. The blood of Christ has power to make you righteous in the sight of a Holy God (Romans 5:9; 3:24,26).
   1. The word “justify” and the word “to make righteous” come from the same Greek word, “dikaioo.”
   2. In the English of today “justify” means “to make right.” In the Bible and in God’s eyes it means, “to declare that a person is without guilt”!
   3. Justification is a word that is used in the courtroom. A judge has the power to “to justify” or to “declare a person not guilty.” When you believe on Christ, He dresses you with His righteousness (Philippians 3:9; Romans 3:22). As a sinner, at the time you believed on Jesus Christ, He dressed you with His own righteousness. When you walk into God’s courtroom you will hear the judge of the universe say, “Not guilty”!
   4. Justification is not a pardon. It is God declaring us “not guilty.” God cannot blame us any more for the sins we have done. Nobody can condemn us (Romans 8:1).
   5. Our justification comes from GOD HIMSELF. God has the power to declare us as not guilty because Christ took our sin on Himself (Romans 3:26, 30; Romans 8:39).
   6. We received justification by FAITH (Romans 5:1).
   7. The reason for justification is GRACE (Romans 3:24).
   8. The guarantee for our justification is THAT CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD (Romans 4:25).
   9. The price of our justification is that CHRIST SHED HIS BLOOD.
   10. The power that makes justification possible is The BLOOD THAT CHRIST SHED. It is THE BLOOD THAT CHRIST SHED that makes justification available for everyone (Romans 5:9; 3:24).
4. The blood of Christ has the power to buy you out of the slave market of sin (1 Peter 1:18-19; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24).
   • To understand the doctrine of Redemption, review Lesson 13.
   1. The Bible looks at you and me as slaves of sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:16; 7:14). God sentenced us to death because we broke God’s law (Romans 6:16-23; 5:12).
   2. Christ agreed to pay the price to set us free and remove the guilt (Acts 20:28; Titus 2:14). That price was the blood that He shed on the cross (1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23; Romans 8:1).
   3. There are two ideas in the word “redemption.”
      1. The word means, “to buy something.”
      2. The word also means to buy “out of the slave market of sin” (Galatians 3:13; 4:5).
   4. The word “redeem” in these verses means, “bought out from” or “to buy out from.” The idea is that these people can never be sold again. This “buying out from” is a final action.
   5. Nobody can ever put the believer in the slave market again. The law can never condemn him again. Nobody can put the believer up for sale!
   6. Redemption in the New Testament goes a step further. Christ “bought” us and Christ “bought us out from.” He also set us free. Another word translated “redemption” is “lutroo.” “Lutroo” means “to set free by the paying of a price.”
      1. He redeemed (set free) us from all sin (Titus 2:14). He set us free from our sinful self-wills.
      2. God redeemed you (set you free) from your worthless way of life (1 Peter 1:18-19). God set us free from the empty way of life which our ancestors passed along to us.
   7. A related word is “lutron” which means “a ransom” (payment).
      1. He gave Himself as a ransom (payment) for the sins of all people (1 Timothy 2:6).
      2. The Son of man came to give His life a ransom (payment) for many (Mark 10:45).
   8. Christ came to buy us, to buy us out of the slave market of sin. Christ came to set us free.
      1. To set us free from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:12).
      2. To set us free from the control and power of sin (Romans 8:2).
      3. To set us free from the power and control of Satan (Hebrews 2:14).
      4. To set us free from the evil of this world that tries to make us slaves again (Galatians 1:4). We are set free through the power of the blood that Christ shed (Hebrews 9:12).
5. The blood that Christ shed has power to provide propitiation. This is a Mercy Seat – a place where God shows mercy (Romans 3:25; 1 John 4:10; and 1 John 2:2).
   1. We have a place of mercy through Christ by faith in His blood (Romans 3:25).
   2. In 1 John 2:2 John says that Christ IS the place of mercy for our sins. In 1 John 4:10 he says that God sent Christ into this world as a “mercy place” for our sins.
   3. Christ is the believer’s place of mercy. Christ was a “mercy place” for every believer. To provide a place of mercy is something of such great importance that God sent Christ into this world. Surely it is something we should understand and something in which we should rejoice greatly.
   4. I will give you the meaning as simply as I can possibly put it.
      1. Propitiation is translated “Mercy Seat” in Hebrews 9:5. This means a place where God shows mercy. In the Septuagint, which is the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is also translated “Mercy Seat.”
      2. The Mercy Seat, the place of mercy, was the lid or covering of the Ark of the Covenant. God told the Israelites to put the Ark in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle.
      3. The High Priest of Israel sprinkled blood on the four corners of the Mercy Seat once a year. He did this on the great Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:14; Hebrews 9:7).
      4. The Mercy Seat and the Holy of Holies thus became the place where God met the Israelites (Exodus 25:21-22). When God saw the blood that the animal shed, He knew that Israel confessed its sin. God knew that the Israelites had carried out the right punishment of a law they had broken. This offering satisfied the holiness of God. The offering also defended the justice of God. What would have been a place of judgment became a place of mercy.
      5. God can now meet with Israel. God can have sweet fellowship with them through their high priest (Hebrews 9:10-15).
      6. You and I must remember that we are unworthy sinners. There is only one place in the whole world where an absolutely holy God can meet with us. The only place we can have sweet fellowship with God is at the cross.
      7. Christ, who is our high priest (Hebrews 9:11), also became our Mercy Seat when He shed His valuable blood for our sins on the cross (1 John 4:10).
      8. Propitiation therefore is the work of Christ toward God on our behalf. God sees that the blood that Jesus Christ shed completely pays the punishment for all our sins. The Israelites completed the right judgment for breaking the law of God. They satisfied His holiness. They completely defended His justice concerning our sins.
      9. A sinner who believes and repents can have perfect fellowship with a holy God through the blood that Christ shed.
6. The blood of Christ has the power to reconcile us (to bring us back) to God. (Read carefully
   Colossians 1:20-21; Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Ephesians 2:16; Hebrews 2:17.)
   1. Note that the Bible never says that God brought Himself back to us! He never made Himself our enemy. He never sinned. You and I needed to bring ourselves back to Him (2 Corinthians 5:18; Colossians 1:21).
   2. Note that there is nothing we ourselves are able to do to come back to God. Christ, our high priest, did it for us (Hebrews 2:17).
   3. Reconciliation (to bring yourself back) is the opposite of propitiation. Propitiation is Christ’s work toward God for the benefit of man. Reconciliation is Christ’s work toward man for the benefit of God. Reconciliation meets God’s demands. Propitiation provides man with what he needs.
   4. Reconciliation removes the hatred (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 2:16); reconciliation makes a person clean. Through reconciliation God paid for our sins and put them away (2 Corinthians 5:19; Hebrews 9:26; 1:3). Reconciliation breaks down the walls between God and man (Ephesians 2:14). At one time you and I were the enemies of God. By faith in Christ we brought ourselves back to God (Colossians 1:21). The war is over! God signed a peace treaty in the blood of Christ (Colossians 1:20)!
7. The powerful blood of Christ cleansed us completely from sin and it forgave our sins. (Read
   Ephesians 1:7; Matthew 26:28; 1 John 1:7-9.)
   1. Hebrews 9:22 plainly states that without blood God cannot forgive our sins. The English Bible uses the word “remission.” This word means the same as “forgiveness.” The Bible uses this word all the time and it means “to send away.” When you believe on Christ, God “sends away” your sins. God separates you from your sins.
   2. The joy of forgiveness is the joy of knowing that your sins are gone! God “put away” your sins (Hebrews 9:26). God forgave you for Christ’s sake (Ephesians 4:32).
   3. There is a great difference between man’s forgiveness and God’s forgiveness. When man forgives he avoids the penalty. He “sends it away.” Man never completes the penalty for the sin that is done to him. The guilt stays. Man does not judge sin. Man does not forget the sin that is done to him. When God forgives you and me, it is completely different. Both the Old and New Testaments show us clearly that God never forgives until someone pays the penalty for our sin; someone removes the guilt. God never remembers our sin (Hebrews 10:17-18)! Read Leviticus 4:35; Ephesians 1:7; Matthew 26:28 and note that God’s basis for forgiveness is that some animal or person sheds blood.
   4. You and I were guilty, dirty, helpless and unworthy sinners. We can do nothing to cause God to forgive us (Titus 3:5-6; Ephesians 2:8-9). God in mercy sent Christ, who paid the price for our sins. By shedding His blood He “sent away” our sins. He will never remember them against us (Isaiah 38:17; 44:22; Hebrews 8:12; 10:17).
   5. God forgave us completely. Through Christ’s precious blood God made us clean from our sins. A holy God washed us clean. In His eyes we are completely clean.
      1. He Himself made a way to make us clean from our sins (Hebrews 1:3).
      2. Christ is the one who loves us and washed our sins from us by His blood (Revelation 1:5).
      3. But you are washed (1 Corinthians 6:11).
      4. They washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14).
   6. God wipes out the list of our sins. Someday, in heaven, God will present us to Christ. At that time we will not have any stain or wrinkle. We will be holy and without any reason for blame (Ephesians 5:27).
8. The blood of Christ has power to defeat Satan with all his tricks and power (Revelation 12:10-11).
   1. God threw Satan out of heaven because of his rebellion (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:15-17), but he is still alive and well and working in the world (Job 1:6-7).
   2. Satan is:
      1. The god of this age. He is blinding the minds of people to the Gospel of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4).
      2. The prince of this world. He controls the world order (John 14:30; 12:31).
      3. Sifting the believers like a person sifts wheat (Luke 22:31).
      4. Our powerful enemy. He is looking to eat up someone (1 Peter 5:8).
         • For a thorough study of Satan, review Lesson #5.
   3. Through his helpers, the demons, Satan is everywhere with his power and deceitfulness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Revelation 12:9). Yet he is not stronger than the blood of Christ! Christ destroyed the power of Satan by His sacrifice. Christ did this for everyone who believes (Hebrews 2:14-15). Christ did this for everyone who will trust the victory won by the blood that He shed on the cross. Through this victory the believer can live successfully (Revelation 12:10-11; Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 4:4; 3:8; James 4:7).
9. The blood of Christ has the power to give us an open entranceway into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:19).
   1. We can now freely come to the throne of grace (Hebrews 10:19).
   2. We come through a new and living way. This way leads through the curtain, that is to say, Christ’s body (Hebrews 10:20).
   3. The blood of Christ removed all the hindrances to God’s presence. We can now receive mercy at any time and immediately. We will find grace to help in the time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
10. The blood of Christ has power to keep us living in fellowship with God every day (1 John 1:7).
    1. The blood of Christ brings us into fellowship with God (Ephesians 2:13). The blood of Christ also keeps us and helps us in that fellowship with God (1 John 1:7).
    2. If a believer slips and fails the Lord, his fellowship with God is broken. He is still a part of the family of God. When the believer confesses his sin (1 John 1:6-2:1) Christ restores the fellowship by speaking for him (Christ reminds the Father of the blood that He shed).

CONCLUSION
In this lesson we showed the value of the blood that Christ shed, and that it is important to know its power and value. We studied the two key verses concerning the blood that Christ shed and the story of the first time someone shed blood in the Bible. We presented the wonderful things the blood of Christ has power to do for you. Study them! Know them well, and the blood will become as valuable to you as it was to Peter (1 Peter 1:18-19). Our prayer is that you will experience the power of the blood of Jesus every day as you live the Christian life.

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