I ended the previous blog encouraging us to ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins; especially, our the words of our mouth that involve the sin of political gossip.
The hymn entitled, ‘What Can Wash Away My Sin’, begins with the question, ‘What can wash away my sin? and the answer is sung in the very next line, ‘Nothing but the blood of Jesus’. The hymn continues extolling the power and work of the blood of Christ.
What enables us to continue?
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST !
Andre Couch composed a song at the age of 14 entitled, ‘The Blood Will Never Lose its Power. The text of the song you probably know:
verse 1:
The Blood that Jesus shed for me, way back on calvary;
it’s that blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose its power.
chorus:
it reaches to the highest mountain.
it flows to the lowest valley,
the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose its power.
verse 2:,
it soothes my doubts and calms my fears, and it dries all, all my tears.
the blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose its power.
Chorus:
it reaches to the highest mountain.
it flows to the lowest valley.
the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose its power
Tag:
well it will never lose its power.
it will never lose its power.
Let’s stop and reflect about what is being said.. The Blood of Christ will NEVER lose its power, What does that mean? It’s power will never diminish, reduce in its ability to cleanse us from our sin; there will never be anything to take its place, overcome it, or be found to be more important or powerful to accomplish what Christ’s Blood has already accomplished.
Why? What does the scripture say?
Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (NKJV)
Hebrew 9:20-22, says, “…This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you. Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” (NKJV)
Quoting from my New Spirit Filled Life Bible, it says, regarding verses 21-22, “The ancient tabernacle needed to be sanctified by the sprinkling of the blood. Nothing was considered as purified without the mark of the blood of the shed blood. The writer sees here a type of spiritual life. Apart from the shedding of Jesus Christ’s blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Page 1739)
In Hebrews 9:23-26, the (same) commentary continues, ” The OT sacrifices were only earthly copies of heavenly realities, which necessitated better sacrifices than the blood of animals. The complete adequacy of the sacrifice of Jesus offered is seen by the fact that it needed to be offered only ONCE.“
Hebrews 9: 11-15, says, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own precious blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (NKJV) [boldness my emphasis]
The Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:17-19, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (NKJV) [boldness my emphasis]
I do not know if you saw it; but I saw something that I had never seen before, and I do not believe I have ever heard a preacher or teacher mention/preach it about the blood of Christ. The writer to the Hebrews and the Apostle Peter both said the blood of Christ was ‘precious’. [boldness my emphasis]
Guess what? I would need to do a Greek word study; and that is not something that I am used to doing. But I can look up the word and copy some things down for our understanding.
I found a website, greekwordstudies.blogspot.com.
This is what I gleaned.
1. the key verse using the word is 1 Peter 1:18-19 (which I quoted earlier).
2. the word precious in the Greek is, timios, it comes from a verb that means “to set an estimate on”.
3. the noun and adjective derivations mean honor, respect, and reverence for a worthy object or people and of being precious, dear or costly.
4. in the New Testament, the adjective timios has a two-fold meaning “costly” in sense of value, and “highly esteemed”.
5. it is translated as honored, dear, or precious, and is frequently used of things such as stone, wood, or fruit.
6. In Acts 5:34, Gamaliel was honored by all.
7. In Acts 20:24, Paul said of himself, “I do not consider my life dear to myself.
8. In Hebrews 13:4, it says that marriage is to be held in honor.
It is interesting that in Peter’s writings four things are described “of great value deserving highest honor and respect”
1. The promises are precious (2 Peter 1:4).
2. Our faith is precious (1 Peter 1:7).
3. The Son is precious (1 Peter 2:4,6).
4. The blood is precious (1 Peter 1:19).
“The blood of Christ is costly and precious because it is God’s blood (Acts 20:28), for Deity became incarnate in humanity; therefore, it is highly honored by God the Father. It was not silver that and gold coins (1 Peter 1:7) that set the Christians free from sin, but the blood of Christ.”
As the words of an old hymn says, “O precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus”
I commend to you the following scriptures:
Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:13, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 9:14, I John 1:7, Revelation 1:5,;6, and
Revelation 5:9-10.
The Blood of Christ is without sin. It is pure, it has no defect, it is Holy. That is why the Christ Blood will never lose its power. It is the Blood of the Son of God, who is God, Himself. It is the Blood of the Perfect Lamb of God. This is the one, John the Baptist, declared, (John 1:29 NKJV) “…”Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
As I was working through his blog, it occurred to me that Christianity as a whole might have forgotten about the preciousness and the power of the Blood of Christ. As we follow the Lord, we cannot forget the power of Christ, the Lamb of God, Blood; and that it will never lose it’s power.
In a recent devotion by Jack Hayford, he reminded me of the power of the blood. His devotional was centered in the text found in Revelation 12:11. I would like to close this blog with that verse.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (NKJV)
The Blood of the Lamb will give you ‘A Renewed Confidence’ because the Blood will NEVER lose its power.
blessings, a brother in Christ, deo
TBC
Living Words of Encouragement 