The Blood of the Lamb

June 22, 2012

Revelation 12:11 

“And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.…And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die“

This is the last reference in the Bible to the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; here it is the overcoming blood, enabling believers to withstand the deceptions and accusations of Satan.

 There are at least 43 references to the blood of Christ in the New Testament, all testifying to its great importance in the salvation and daily life of the believer. Judas the betrayer spoke of it as “innocent blood”

Matthew 27:4saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”

and Peter called it

1 Peter 1:19 “It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God“.

It is the cleansing blood in 1 John 1:7But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin

and the washing blood in Revelation 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

stressing that it removes the guilt of our sins.

Paul calls it the purchasing blood in Acts 20:28“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders.

Ephesians 1:7He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

Colossians 1:14who purchased our freedomand forgave our sins.

and the redeeming blood twice

see also1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song with these words:“You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it.For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

thus declaring the shedding of His blood to be the very price of our salvation. Therefore, it is also the justifying blood

Romans 5:9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

and the peacemaking blood

Colossians 1:20.and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Its efficacy does not end with our salvation, however, for it is also the sanctifying blood

Hebrews 13:12Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

There is infinite and eternal power in the blood of Christ, for it is “the blood of the everlasting covenant”

Hebrews 13:20Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

The first reference in the New Testament to His blood stresses this aspect. Jesus said at the last supper,

Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the new testament |same as ‘covenant’, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”.

Let no one, therefore, ever count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing

Hebrews 10:29“Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

for the blood of Christ is forever innocent, infinitely precious, perfectly justifying, always cleansing, and fully sanctifying.