Significance of the Blood

This message deals with the blood covenant and the protection provided by the blood of Jesus.

The Egyptian plagues

The Egyptian plagues show how God will protect those who have made a blood covenant with Him. Israel made a blood covenant through Abraham (read Genesis).

When the children of Israel were still slaves in Egypt, they cried to the Lord for deliverance. The Lord raised up Moses, who went before Pharaoh and told him, "The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, 'Let My people go'" (Ex. 7:16, NKJV). The Lord then sent plagues of: Turning the Nile River into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock disease, boils, hail, locusts and darkness over the land. But Pharaoh refused to let the people go.

Finally God told Moses to warn Pharaoh about one more plague:

"About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals" (Ex. 11:4, 5).

Again, Pharaoh refused to let the people go.

God told Israel to prepare because He would pass over the land of Egypt: "For I wll pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike 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" (Ex. 12:12).

Then the Lord gave the promise:

"Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt" (Ex.12:13, emphasis added).

At midnight on the night of the Passover, the firstborn in every Egyptian household died. The wailing was heard across the land even before the sun arose (read Ex. 12:29, 30). But in the houses of the Israelites there was not one dead.

The first Passover was a shadow of what was to happen one day on Calvary. For at Calvary, "Christ, our Passover, was sacrifice for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). There we were redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter. 1:19).

Protection on your entire household

Why did the Lord tell the Israelites to find a lamb for each household (Ex. 12:3)? I believe it is because the blessings of God's can lead to salvation for an entire family.

Do you remember what God told Noah? He said, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation" (Gen. 7:1, KJV). Noah was the only pure and virtuous man the Lord could find. Yet God told him that his entire household would find protection because of his actions.

Also, in Genesis 19:29 we find that God delivered Lot out of Sodom because of his covenant with Abraham. The passage says, "God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, ..." (Gen. 19:29).

Centuries later, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved" (Acts 16:30)?

They told him, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31).

I believe the Lord places special grace and protection on the entire house because of one person who comes into His kingdom (see 1 Cor.7:14).

The Blood applied

When you asked God to cover your family with the blood of His Son, I believe the Lord then builds a hedge of protection around your house. This was what He did for Job.

The Bible states that Job was a righteous man, "blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1). God made him a prosperous man, with thousands of sheep, camel, oxen and other possessions. He was called "the greatest of all the people of the East" (Job 1:3).

But Job was concerned about the lifestyle of his children. His seven sons would take turns holding feast in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Job was so troubled about their spiritual condition that when the days of feasting were over:

"Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offeriings according to the number of them all. For Job said, 'It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' Thus Job did regularly" (Job 1:5).

One day some angels presented themselves to the Lord, and Satan was among them (read Job 1:7 - 10).

"So Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hand, and his possesions have increased in the land'" (Job 1:9, 10).

Job did exactly what God had instructed. He applied the blood, and he did it "regularly" (Job 1:5).

Applying the Blood through prayer

Do you realize that through prayer the blood can be applied for your family? God will honor your faith.

Job covered his family with the blood by sacrificing. In the New Testament the sacrifice has been made once and for all through Jesus Christ. So how do we take advantage of what He has done for us?

We must believe in the sacrifice He already made, the blood already shed. When we believe, then we can speak it to God in prayer. The apostle Paul said, "We also believe and therefore speak" (2 Cor. 4:13). But there is no magic formular or phrase that activates the power of the blood. It is only by faith in Jesus.

Do you want to live in victory and be free from bondage? The key is to obey God's Word.

Prior to the first Passover, the Lord said: "The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are" (Ex. 12:13, KJV, emphasis added).

The word "token" means "evidence," or a "sign' in the Hebrew. God protected the households that had the sign. And when He sees the sign, He will protect you.

People have asked, "Why should we ask God to cover us with the blood every day? Isn't this vain repetition? Aren't we being superstitious? Aren't we acting out of bondage?"

I don't pray every day because I must pray. I commune with the Lord because I love Him and want to talk with Him on a daily basis. I also ask the Holy Spirit to fill me anew every day. Asking the Lord to cover me with the blood continually is not because of bondage - but because of fellowship.

Someone said, "We don't live on yesterday's glories, no on tomorrow's hope, but on today's experiences."

Being covered with the Blood

What do you mean by being covered with the blood? It means we are appropriating all the benefits of the cross of Jesus Christ - protection, access, forgiveness, security in God's grace, redemption, reconciliation, cleansing, sanctification, dwelling in God's presence and victory.

I don't become born again daily. But every morning I surrender again my body and mind to Him. Asking Him to cover me with His blood is not a ritual but the result of a relationship He has with me through the Blood Covenant.

The blood does not cover you automaically. God does not reach down from the sky and place the mark on your dwelling place. You have to ask for His protection. Remember that God supplies, but we apply through our believing prayer. The children of Israel too the blood "and put it on the two doorpost and on the lintel of the houses" (Ex. 12:7).

The Word and the Blood

The Word of God is indispensable to our knowledge and to our faith in God. And we need to gain the greatest knowledge of the Word that is possible. The Word and the blood work together. The Word says and the blood does.

The evil one may fight you at every turn, but when you apply the blood, God's power comes alive.

It is strange that I have never heard a sermon preached on the Blood. And I have rarely heard Christians uttered the word "blood" since their convertions. The subject seems to be totally erased from their minds. But God specifically instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover "as an ordinance for you and your sons forever" (Ex. 12:24).

Forever means forever!

The Lord has never changed His mind about His blood covenant with the people. It was not limitted in the forty years that the children of Israel journeyed to the Promised Land. The command was in effect ever after they reached their destination.

"It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service" (Ex. 12:25).

We have even more to celebrate. God replaced the blood of sheep and goats with the perfect sacrifice - the Blood of His Son. By the same token we are to celebrate His Covenant forever.

How often should we ask God to cover us with the Blood? I personally do it every time I pray. Why? If the blood of an animal could protect a family in the Passover, how much more can the Blood of Christ protect us now?

The cleansing of the leper

In Scripture, leprosy refers to a variety of skin diseases. it is also a symbol of sin. So the cleansing of the leper foreshadowed God's future plan to cleanse mankind from sin.

First, the leper to be cleansed was "brought to the priest" (Lev. 14:2).

The priest was instructed to go outside the city and "take for him sho is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop" (Lev. 14:4).

Each of these elements reminds me of the work of Christ for the remission of sin. The priest going outside the camp points Jesus being crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem. The two birds speak of the Lord's death and resurrection. Cedar wood points to the cross and the scarlet to His suffering.

Finally, hyssop symbolizes faith. David said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps. 51:7).

The hyssop that was used in purification ceremonies is generally considered to be fragrant plant from the marjoram family. It symbolizes faith to me because it was used in the application of the blood (Ex. 12:22).

What happened next was amazing in the light of what Christ would do at Calvary.

"Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over flesh water in a clay pot. He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water" (Lev. 14:5, 6, NIV).

When the first bird was killed, the blood was caught in an earthen vessel with water in it (read Lev. 14:5, 6). This speaks of Christ's shedding His blood in an earthen vessel - His human body.

Then the priest took the living along with the cedar wood (Christ's cross), the scarlet (His suffering) and the hyssop (fiath), and dipped them in the shed blood of the bird that was slain.

The slain bird's blood was mixed with the water in the earthen vessel, symbolizing cleasing by the Word (Eph. 5:26).

Here was the final instruction:

"Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields" (Lev. 14:7, NIV).

This speaks of our sins being cleansed by the blood. Then we see the resurrection in the living bird that was released.

The cleansing ceremony is just one example of the way the Old Covenant foreshadows the New Covenant (Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1).

The leper was then allowed into the camp (Lev. 14:8). In the same way when you have been purified by Christ's blood you are ready to enter God's Kingdom.

I believe the priests sprinkled the leper with blood seven times for a prophetic reason, for we are told that the blood of Christ was shed seven different times during the hours surrounding His crucifixion:

1. His sweat became like great drops of blood (Luke 22:4).

2. His face - "I gave ... My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard" (Is. 52:6).

3. His head - "... they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck on the head" (Matt. 27:29, 30).

4. His back - "... and when he had scourged Jesus, he deliver Him to be crucified" (Matt. 27:26).

5. His hands - "They pierced My hands" (Ps. 22:16).

6. His feet - "They pierced ... My feet" (Ps. 22:16).

7. His side - "But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, ..." (Ps. 22:16).

What happened after the leper was sprinkled seven times with blood? He now can enter the camp, even as once we are clensed by His blood we became sons and daughters of the living God and members of His family. Also, because of the Blood of Jesus, the floodgates of God's anointing can be released through His Holy Spirit in our lives. Read my next message.