Imagine having access to one of the most powerful forces in the universe, yet you don’t realise it. You hold the key to freedom, healing, forgiveness, peace, and redemption, but it remains untouched, unused. Many believers are in this very position when it comes to the blood of Jesus.
We may sing about it in some hymns and choruses, it may punctuate our prayers, but do we truly understand its power?
I have read that very rich people like Peter Thiel and Bryan Johnson have been using blood and plasma transfusions from younger people to attempt slow aging and aid cognition as they seek to tap into the natural power of blood. What some people will do because of the fear of death is quite scary!
Blood is a very unique material of distinct quality and incomparable value (it actually contains gold). From the beginning of time, people have understood that there is something very special about this liquid that makes up about 8% of our bodyweight. For all our scientific and technological advances, there is still a lot we do not know about blood; we cannot manufacture it and day after day we continue to be fascinated by what blood can do.
Leviticus 17:11 (NLT) says: “For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”
Blood is unlike anything else. Science can replicate many things, but blood remains a mystery. Since the beginning of time, civilizations everywhere have revered blood, recognizing its sacred significance in their rituals. They may not have fully understood why, but God’s Word had already declared it: life is in the blood.
A Love Beyond Logic
To grasp the power of the blood, we must first grasp the heart of the One who first shed it to cover the sins of Adam and Eve, then on the cross shed it for us.
Two undeniable truths about God set the stage for this understanding: God is love, and God is holy.
God’s love for you is relentless. He is the personification of perfect, infinite, unconditional love – And you are the object of His love. God loves you not because of you but despite you.It is unshaken by your failures, unearned by your successes. Psalm 8:4-5 reminds us that God is mindful of us—that means His mind is full of you, His thoughts are full of you and me! Jeremiah 31:3 says His love is everlasting. He has always loved you – even if and when you were not aware of His love for you, there was never a time He did not love you, and there will never be a time He stops loving the whole world.
AND He is also holy. Perfect. Pure. The Bible refers to the holiness of God more than any other attribute and holiness is the only attribute that carries the third degree of repetition: Isaiah 6:3 declares, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” God is so holy, He cannot even bear to look at it. (See Habakkuk 1: 13; Job: 15:15). God hates sin with a passion; every time he beholds sin, He must judge it. We may pride ourselves on our ‘tolerance’ but He cannot tolerate sin any more than fire can tolerate paper. He hates sin because it separates us from Him and this creates a divine dilemma:
God loves us, but He hates sin. Our adversary the devil hates everything that God loves and loves anything that God hates, which is why not only does he promote sin as being good, recognising how much God rightly hates sin, he put what God hates inside what God loves. The enemy of our souls wove sin into the fabric of humanity, placing what God detests inside those He cherishes most!
The Weight of Sin
People don’t tend to speak about sin these days or dismiss the concept, but we have to address the problem first and to understand the gravity of sin, consider this:
- One sin is enough. You don’t have to commit many sins for it to be deadly. Adam and Eve’s single act of disobedience not only drove them away from God but fractured the whole of creation (Genesis 3).
- Sin and God’s presence cannot coexist. If we truly long to experience His glory, we cannot make peace with sin.
- Sin always leads to death. Whether physical, spiritual, or relational, sin always brings decay.
In Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, something had to die. It was either them or something else to be a substitute so God, in His mercy, sacrificed animals to cover them (Genesis 3:21). But notice—when those animals were killed their blood was shed, symbolically applied as a covering – foreshadowing what was to come.
God’s Answer: The Blood of Jesus
What is God’s loving solution for sin, suffering, and separation? The blood of Jesus. That’s why Jesus wasn’t poisoned, hung or stoned —His blood had to be shed, as a sacrifice.
Throughout Scripture, we see a pattern:
- Blood is shed.
- Blood is applied.
In Eden, blood was shed and the coats ‘applied.’ At the first Passover, the unblemished lamb’s blood was shed and painted all around the doorposts. In temple sacrifices, everything was covered in blood – on people, on objects, and it was also sprinkled on the altar. The power was not so much in the sacrifice itself – until the blood was applied, it was of little consequence and held no power. Blood left unapplied by faith and action would be powerless.
The same holds true today. The blood of Jesus has been shed 2000 years ago, people know about it, they wear symbols of it on jewellery, crosses around their necks.
But we must apply the blood.
Jesus said in John 6:53-57 that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we have no life in us. How do we do this? By coming to Him. By trusting and believing in Him. By partaking in communion and living in the reality of His sacrifice.
Applying the Blood to Your Life Today
There is power in the blood of Jesus Christ. It is the most precious substance in the universe and if you take away only one thing from reading this blog, let it be this: Whatever sin has done, the blood of Jesus can undo.
Sin brings sickness, oppression, despair and death – but the blood of Jesus brings healing, freedom, hope and life. This Lent, don’t just acknowledge the blood—apply it.
Speak the blood of Jesus over your struggles. Cover your family, your fears, your future in it. Pray with faith to release the power of that sacrificial death because when you do, you are introducing the very resurrection life of Jesus into every broken place. Where his blood flows, His life reigns, and where His life reigns, death has lost its grip!
The life is in the blood—let it be fully at work in you and me today.