Blood of Jesus

The blood of Jesus. When you hear that phrase, what do you think of?

Remember the words of the hymn?

"What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

Those words are very true. But there's more...

The blood of Jesus.

Did you know that the blood of Jesus actually bought you?

"Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood." (Acts 20:28.)

At the time of the crucifixion, we were all "property" of the devil because of our sins. Up to that point in time, there had been no Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world!

The blood of Jesus was shed as YOUR punishment to show God's justice. Being a just God, sin had to be (and still has to be) punished. That punishment was fulfilled through the blood of Jesus.

His blood is also your atonement. To "atone" is to "make amends". You are incapable of making amends to God for your sins. You and everything in you and about you is infected by sin. You have nothing to offer...which is why Jesus made the offer for you. He offered His blood to atone, or make amends, for your sins.

"God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Rom. 3:25,26).

The blood of Jesus justifies us. "Justify" means to absolve or acquit...in other words, by His blood, we have been found "not guilty" in His Father's eyes if we are in Christ.

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Rom. 5:9).

We have been redeemed by His blood. To "redeem" means "to recover ownership by paying a specific sum" or "to pay off" or even "to set free", "to ransom", "to rescue". Take your pick. That's what His blood did for you. It paid the ransom. It rescued you from hell. It bought you back from Satan. It paid off your debt of sin to God. It set you free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).

Not only have we been redeemed through His blood, but our sins forgiven, too!

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace..." (Eph. 1:7)

The blood of Jesus has brought us close to God.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." (Eph. 2:13)

The blood of Jesus brought us peace with God.

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Col. 1:20).

The blood of Jesus cleans us from the inside.

"How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Heb. 9:14).

The blood of Jesus created access for you and I to approach God any time, anywhere.

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith..." (Heb. 10:19-22).

The blood of Jesus makes us holy.

"And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood." (Heb. 13:12).

The blood of Jesus purifies us from sin.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7).

The blood of Jesus sets us free from sin.

"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood..." (Rev. 1:6).

So, among other things, the blood of Jesus: