Blood of Jesus

Most Valuable Resource

Ken

Jesus is, of course, the center of the universe in God’s Kingdom, and the most valuable resource of Jesus is His Blood, “for the life of every living thing is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11 NET). The Blood of Jesus is not a lucky charm or religious mantra, but it represents the life, power, and vitality of God, “and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses [Greek, katharizō, purges, purifies] us from all sin” (1John 1:7 NKJV). Such annihilation of sin by Christ’s sacrifice is, by faith, the elimination of anything opposed to Almighty God, and is better than all of man’s best sacrifices, even back to the beginning. “To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). Not enough good can be said about the power and efficacy of the Blood of Jesus cleansing sin, overcoming temptation, and defeating the devil. “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He [Jesus] might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). This is victory. 

Christianity, far from being a bloody religion, is based upon the divine understanding, “without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). This expresses a legal sense of pardoning, where Divine Rule requires a covenant faithfulness, that no one is above the law, especially the King, and clemency to lawbreakers must not destroy the foundation for the law. For this reason, “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (10:10). Without sin, there would have been no need for sacrifice, much less the ultimate sacrifice of the suffering, pain, and death of Christ, our Perfect Substitute.

The Blood of Jesus Christ changes from the required vocabulary of creeds and becomes the prayerful argument of the Redeemed in the Courts of Heaven to overturn the enemies’ complaints against us, especially sanctioned by our ancestors from the third and fourth generations before us. “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). Notice, spiritual cursing may be found in a physical depravity of inherited DNA weaknesses, diseases, and shortened lifespans; as well as, a material poverty of income, education, wealth, social and political circumstances. Curses have limits, while blessings do not. 

The Courts of Heaven are not overturned by the New Covenant, as can be seen by the active operation of the Adversary in the NT. “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down” (Revelation 12:10). 

We must prayerfully come before the Courts of Heaven and use Christ’s death and the Blood of Jesus as our strongest argument for the “Judge of All the Earth” (Genesis 18:25) to grant our petition concerning all things pertaining to “life and godliness” (2Peter 1:3 KJV) for ourselves and the Body of Christ. We must not attempt any kind of Plea Bargain with the Devil, who is the “accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10) to gain anything. His case against us is invalidated by the Blood of Jesus. “In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7 NKJV). Understanding the vastness of the ability of the Blood of Jesus to make us clean, empowers us to succeed against the devil’s continual prosecution (persecution) of us in the Courts of Heaven. “6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 9 So Satan answered the LORD and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?” (Job 1:6, 9). 

Comprehending we have forgiveness, because He “washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5), we are “whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). No verdict can be rendered against us in the Courts of Heaven. The Ancient of Days will not hold against us the guilt of our sins because He chooses to remember them no more against us. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). 

We do not see this Unseen Realm of the Courts of Heaven, but the Scriptures assure us they are there. “1 God stands in the congregation [literally, divine council, ESV] of the mighty; He judges among the gods. 2 How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked. 5 They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable. 6 I said, You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations” (Psalm 82:1-8 NKJV). 

It is difficult to comprehend how an Unseen Adversary can delay and prevent victory, but Daniel attests to the delay. “12 Then he said to me, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia” (Daniel 10:12-13). God sovereignly controls the timing of our interaction with the Courts of Heaven. 

The delay in the Courts of Heaven can be broken with understanding guiding our praying. “So He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). In this instance, the disciple’s incapacity to cast out a demon and heal was not so much a Procedural Error of not having fasted and prayed, but a Preparation Error of not comprehending what they were doing and not having the Court of Heaven heart preparedness to accomplish the task. “17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. 18 And He said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:17-20). 

Father, You have warned us, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). Help us to trust not in simply the incantation of the phrase, “The Blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19; 1Peter 1:2; 1John 1:7), but grant us an understanding heart to grasp the power and majesty of Your Victory over the wicked one and the power of the enemy. Help us to trust not in the device of catch phrases concerning our time in the Unseen Realm before the Courts of Heaven, but grant us the victory of “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2Corinthians 10:5) that You might be praised before the enemy. Lord Jesus, return quickly. In Your sin destroying, all powerful name, we pray. Amen and amen. 

Dealing With Demons (Part 1)

Ken

To Begin With

IN THE NAME OF JESUS, BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, we would say to Satan, the Fallen Angels, and the demons, who attack us and seek to control us, I AM DEAD TO YOU, AND YOU ARE DEAD TO ME! I am a new creature in Christ, old things are passed away! I AM DEAD TO YOU, AND YOU ARE DEAD TO ME! “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 KJV). “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Corinthians 5:17). IN THE NAME OF JESUS, BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, we must steadfastly address with confidence the attack of evil thoughts directed against us from the demonic spirits: I AM DEAD TO YOU, AND YOU ARE DEAD TO ME! “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).  No longer will we entertain the evil thoughts directed against us. Amen! Hallelujah! 

Demons are burgeoning and permeating everywhere, especially in the Western World, where the Gospel had previously driven them out; but, especially in the West, Secular Humanism has divorced the Supernatural Word of God from science, government, society, education, entertainment, business, and religion, leaving the door open for the demons and gods of this world to return with a vengeance. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26). 

Understanding Demons

Demons are not Fallen Angels, but to the best of our understanding, demons are the disembodied spirits of the deceased Nephilim.  

Nephilim are the product of cohabitating Fallen Angels with human females. “1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God [Hebrew, bene ha Elohim, only used of angels in OT, Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7] saw the daughters of men [Genesis 3:15, a Seed War to produce a physical seed, i.e., the Antichrist, which would be the antithesis of Jesus Christ], that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years [time left before the Flood came]. 4 There were giants [Hebrew, Nephilim, giants] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:1-4 KJV). 

If you were to counter, Nephilim are only giants of large, physical stature — and not a hybrid of Fallen Angel and human female — then, why would the Protoevangelium specify: “And I will put enmity between thee [the Serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed [Christ]; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15)? If this divinely set forth the necessity of a physical offspring resulting in a physical Messiah by means of a supernatural union of God with humanity, then why should we resist the idea of Satan attempting the same thing in producing a hybrid Nephilim? 

To object that angels cannot reproduce physical children because of Christ’s statement, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30), it only tells us of the lack of necessity for sexual procreation in Heaven. Remember, Lucifer rebelled against the Almighty’s directive to keep angels and humanity distinct and separate “after their kind” (Genesis 1:21, 25; 6:20; 7:14). But, it was prophesied in Daniel, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay” (Daniel 2:43), pointing to an attempt to mix the seed of Fallen Angels with humans. 

Further, the Book of Jude described the evil of the Fallen Angels in their diabolical pursuit of procreation with human flesh, when forbidden by the Almighty. “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:6-7). Bible scholars agree this reference is taken from the non-canonical Book of Enoch, where the context is clearly Fallen Angels cohabitating with human females. Josephus (first century AD), Jewish rabbinic tradition, and Early Church Fathers all agreed on the concept that Genesis 6 was describing Fallen Angels breeding with human females. This only changed with Augustine (354-439 AD), who advanced the Sethite View, where it was only ungodly sons of Seth, who are the “sons of God” (Genesis 6:2) who married the “daughters of men” (6:2). But, this again, neglects that the “sons of God” in the OT refers only to angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). This became the more respectable, non-supernatural explanation taught and advanced in seminaries, of which I can firsthand testify. 

You’re conclusion on this discussion affects your world view, e.g., your viewpoint on the Flood of Noah (simply annihilation of evil humankind or elimination of Nephilim, as well), the Tower of Babel (disobedience to Yahweh only or attempt to create Nephilim, as well), and the overspreading of humanity over the Post-Flood Earth (ancient myths of gods and giants or actual Nephilim building civilizations inexplicable by science). The confrontation of modern science attempting an anthropological explanation of Earth’s past without the benefit of the supernatural is untenable. Science must honestly admit its complete lack of understanding of our Beginning. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).

Explanation: Blood of Jesus

Ken

The blood of Jesus is powerful because it represents the forgiveness of sins. “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission [literally, forgiveness]” (Hebrews 9:22 KJV). What is the significance of blood? Life given by God must be taken for blood to be offered in sacrifice for sin against life taken from God. “Now where remission [literally, forgiveness] of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (10:18-19). What is the significance of a sacrifice by Jesus? The perfect sacrifice of Jesus takes away the need of any further sacrifice. “10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 14 For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:10, 14, 16-18). Why does the devil hate the blood of Jesus, which represents the forgiveness of our sins? Not only does it rob him of sinners subject to him, but it represents the forgiveness or freedom from judgment for rebellion, which Yahweh could never wisely give the first heavenly rebels without preparing Heaven’s inhabitants for another uprising. The Ancient of Days would never allow this, for He has sworn by Himself no one will ever again enter into His realm, “whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation 22:15). Stand firm in this understanding and the devil “will flee from you” (James 4:7).  LORD, may we better appreciate the forgiveness of our sins that we may better share Your gift with others. And, as we cast out demons may we understand the power of Your blood in taking away the enemy’s rights to claim and hold his prey. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen and amen. 

They Overcame Him by the Blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11)

Ken

Tribulation Saints will overcome the enemy by the blood of Jesus during the Tribulation Week. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11 KJV). Just as demons should be presently cast out in the name of Jesus because of the blood of His sacrifice for us, during the Tribulation, the adversary will be overcome by the “blood of the Lamb” (12:11) coupled with the “word of their testimony” (12:11), which may cost them their lives, for “they loved not their lives unto the death” (12:11). Resisting the devil is necessary for him to “flee from you” (James 4:7). Resisting him “steadfast in the faith” (1Peter 5:9) using God’s Word is key. But, the specific testimony that drives demons out of humans is the value of Christ’s shed blood in cleansing our sin (1John 1:7), thus defeating the devil’s power over us. For the Tribulation Saints, this most likely ends with their martyrdom. Not all, however, will be martyred, since some will enter into the Millennium in the flesh, along with newly converted Israel at Christ’s Second Coming, to be ruled by Christ. LORD, a lot needs to happen before we ever get to the New Heavens and New Earth at the end of the Millennium. In particular, fortify our brothers and sisters at this time in the Tribulation Week. Grant those appointed unto death the Martyr’s Crown. Even now, teach us patience that we would faithfully fight Your battles. Grant us the Victor’s Crown for overcoming. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, amen.