Copyright
© 1993 by Benny Hinn
All
rights reserved
Printed
in the United States of America
Library
of Congress Catalog Card Number: 93-71923
International
Standard Book Number: 0-88419-346-2
Creation
House
Strang
Communications Company
600
Rinehart Road
Lake
Mary, FL 32746
This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without
prior written permission of the publisher.
Unless
otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version
of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas
Nelson
Inc., publishers. Used by permission.
Scripture
quotations marked KJV are from
the King
James Version of the Bible.
Scripture
quotations marked NAS are from the
New
American Standard Bible. Copyright © 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the
Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture
quotations marked NIV are from the Holy
Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984,
International Bible Society. Used by permission.
This book
is dedicated to
my wife,
Suzanne,
who has
been a precious,
wonderful
partner to me since 1979.
She has
stood with me,
praying
for me and supporting me,
and the
Lord has used her
to bless
my life in a great way.
This book could not have been written without the
help of some good friends: Stephen Strang, Neil Eskelin,
Deborah
Poulalion, John Mason,
Dr. J.
Rodman Williams, Dudley Hall,
Sheryl Palmquist, the staff at Creation House
and
Strang Communications,
my co-workers at Orlando Christian Center
and so
many others.
Thank
you.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Paul
Crouch............................................................
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8
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1
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Power and
Promise..................................................................
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11
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2
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From The Beginning...............................................................
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18
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3
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The
Covering...........................................................................
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25
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4
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An Eternal
Covenant...............................................................
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32
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5
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The Promise of
Protection.......................................................
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45
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6
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The Blood
Applied..................................................................
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53
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7
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Cleansing the
Leper.................................................................
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64
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8
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Transformed by the
Power......................................................
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69
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9
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Anointed From Head to
Toe....................................................
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76
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10
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Your Buried
Past...................................................................
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83
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11
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Bought With a
Price..............................................................
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90
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12
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Our
Mediator.........................................................................
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96
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13 Amazing
Grace....................................................................
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105
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14
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The Father's
Hand................................................................
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119
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15 Your New
Family................................................................
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128
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16 The Great Seal.................................................................................. 137
17 The
Communion in the Communion..................................... 144
Notes........................................................................................................... 158
–––––––––– FOREWORD BY PAUL
CROUCH
YOU HAVE JUST
opened one of
the most important books you will ever read! A very bold statement, I know. But
as you travel the exciting and, at times, fascinating pages of this account,
you will
see and
understand new insights that the Holy Spirit has imparted to our brother Benny
Hinn.
I will
never forget my own precious Grandmother Crouch, one of the greatest saints who
ever lived. She knew the secret of the blood of Jesus, for she told me as a
young Bible college student, "Son, no matter what you need, always plead
the blood of Jesus."
We will learn, as we travel these pages together,
that the blood of Jesus is the key to our salvation, healing, protection and
deliverance from all evil. No wonder that our adversary seeks to take all
knowledge of and reference to the blood from the body of Christ. How tragic
that some segments of the so-called Christian faith have deleted all
"blood" songs from the hymnals and will have nothing to do with a
"bloody religion." Not so for the true believers in the blood of His
cross!
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
8
Nothing
but the blood of Jesus!
Rejoice,
true child of God—the blood will never lose its power!
Thank you, Benny Hinn, for paying the price in
prayer and waiting upon the precious Holy Spirit to bring this fresh revelation
of the blood of Jesus Christ to all the body of Christ.
Paul F. Crouch Trinity
Broadcasting Network August 1993
9
The reason I am writing this book
is summed up in the words of R. A. Torrey:
"We
must know the power of the blood if we are to know the power of God. Our
knowing experimentally the power of the Word, the power of the Holy Spirit, and
the power of prayer, is dependent upon
our
knowing the power of the blood of Christ."1
ONE––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1
POWER AND PROMISE
BEING RAISED IN Israel has given me a deep appreciation
and respect for the Jewish people. Because of their history, they have an
emotional link to their land that is beyond description. Countless Jews
also continue Old Testament practices even to this
day. My family, however, was not Jewish. My mother,
Clemence, was of Armenian descent. And my father, Constandi, came from a
family that had immigrated from Greece to Egypt and then to Palestine. To add
to my multicultural childhood, I was christened in the Greek Orthodox church,
spoke French at school, Arabic in our home and Hebrew outside the home.
11
Immediately
after Israel's Six Day War of 1967, my father gathered our family of eight
children together and announced that we would be emigrating to another country.
The next year we arrived in Toronto, Canada, with just a few earthly
possessions. I was sixteen years old.
Then in
1972 my life was totally transformed by an encounter with Christ at a morning
prayer meeting conducted by students at the school I attended. At home after
school I opened the pages of a big black Bible that had not been used for
years. After reading from the Gospels nonstop for several hours, I found myself
saying out loud, "Jesus, come into my heart."
I thank
God He did.
Later
that week I went with my newly found Christian friends to their church. The
people who attended were an exuberant throng of Christians who met every
Thursday in St. Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican church in downtown Toronto.
I had never heard people speak so openly about the
blood of Christ. They would sing, "Oh, the blood of Jesus!" They
would pray, "Lord, cover us with Your blood."
If you
have read my book Good Morning, Holy
Spirit, you know what happened when I had a personal encounter with the
Holy Spirit just before Christmas in 1973. It totally transformed my life. And
from that moment the Bible took on a whole new dimension. Day after day I
became absorbed in Scripture, and the Holy Spirit became my friend and guide.
I was like a thirsty sponge as I began to learn
about everything from original sin to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And what
I didn't understand, I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal. That was when I
realized that God's relationship to man was held together by a blood covenant.
12
Days of Discovery
During
those exciting days as a young Christian, I was attending a church on Sundays
pastored by Maxwell Whyte. He was an outstanding teacher of God's Word who
became a spiritual mentor to me. Pastor Whyte was the minister who baptized me
in water.
One of
his constant themes was the blood of Christ. His accounts of the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit at the turn of the century will never be erased from my memory.
He told the story of the mighty move of the Holy Spirit that came to Kilsyth,
Scotland, in 1908. Pastor Whyte said that the visitation came spontaneously as
a result of recognizing the power of the blood of Jesus. He said, "A
brother named John Ried, sitting in the midst of the prayer group, suddenly
raised his hands and said, 'The blood of Jesus.'"
Immediately the Holy Spirit descended on the
gathering, and people began to receive the Pentecostal experience all over the
room. The revival spread throughout England.1
In his book The
Power of the Blood , Pastor Whyte tells of living in England during World
War II.
We went through many dangerous air raids when buzz
bombs were flying everywhere. But we were able to lie down with our children
and sleep through much of it. The protection of the Blood of Jesus was so real
that it seemed like we were sleeping in a strong shelter. In fact, we used to
speak of the Blood as the "best air raid shelter in the world."2
Pastor Whyte said that every
night before they went to sleep they would ask the Lord to cover them, their
home and their children with the blood. One night thirteen bombs
13
landed
within three quarters of a mile from their home. Aside from some minor damage
to the house, they were all kept safe.
I
remember his telling our congregation again and again, "I have never known
the active, audible pleading of the blood to fail."
Because of his ministry, my
interest in the power of the blood of Christ grew and multiplied. And I began
to study it for myself to see what the Word really said.
He Gave His Life
Many
years later, after I became the pastor of Orlando Christian Center in Florida,
God gave me an understanding of the blood covenant that would forever change my
life and ministry.
One
Saturday afternoon I had stayed home to study the Scriptures about the blood
covenant so I could teach it to my congregation. I was sitting outside in the
backyard of my home studying and praying. "Lord, give me an understanding
of the blood," I asked. The second I said that I felt the presence of the
Lord and began to weep.
That day
the blood of Christ took on a whole new meaning. The Holy Spirit began showing
me that the blood of Jesus represents His life. I realized more than ever that
when Christ shed His blood at Calvary, He gave us His very life. And when we ask the Lord to wash us and cover us with His
blood, we will experience His life-giving power.
Throughout
my ministry I have seen that Christians have a limited knowledge of the
atonement. As a result, they have not experienced the freedom God has for their
lives.
For example, many believers tell
me that satan continues to oppress them. It comes as a surprise when I tell
them I have not experienced any demonic oppression on me since
14
I began asking God to cover me
with the blood.
Before
that I was depressed at times and felt that my mind was blocked. Sometimes when
I prayed I felt a horrible oppression come upon me. I had nightmares and
sometimes felt that something was literally choking me.
But when
God gave me that enormous understanding of the blood, and I began to ask for a
blood covering through prayer, that "thing" was completely broken.
Years have passed since I have had that kind of attack.
There is
power in the blood of Jesus. There is no question about it.
But at the same time, the blood does not have
"magical" power by itself. The power comes from the Lord Jesus
Himself, and He is the one who will act on your behalf when you apply His blood
through prayer.
We apply Jesus' blood through prayer and faith. But
it is the Lord who covers us; we do not cover ourselves.
Why have
I written this book?
• To open your eyes to the importance God places on the topic of the blood
covenant.
• To demonstrate the power of the blood of Jesus.
• To show how you and I can come into God's presence through the blood of
His Son.
• To help you understand the "great" grace that God bestows on
us because of the blood of Jesus.
• To lead you to a greater freedom in Christ than you have ever
experienced.
This is a
book I want you to read with your Bible open.
15
If God places such an emphasis on the blood from Genesis
to Revelation, there is a message in His Word for you.
The Completed Picture
When I asked the Holy Spirit to give me an
understanding of the blood covenant, I had dozens of questions. But He gave me
the answers from the Word, and I want to share them with you.
• What does the Scripture mean in Hebrews 12:24 when it says that the
blood "speaks better things than that of Abel"?
• Why was the leper sprinkled with blood seven times (Lev. 14:7)?
• How can the blood of Jesus be applied in our lives today?
• How is God's grace connected to the blood of His Son?
• How can the blood of Christ provide protection for your household?
• What does the Scripture teach about the blood of the cross and the
anointing?
• What does Hebrews 9:12 mean when it says, "With His own blood He
entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption"?
• How can we use the blood of Jesus to defeat the enemy in our lives?
16
I pray that as you continue reading and
understanding the blood covenant, you will experience God's wonderful presence.
17
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
TWO
2
FROM THE BEGINNING
0UR HOME IN Jaffa, Israel, seemed
much larger than it was. To save land the
building was designed for three families, with a separate home on each
level.
On the
top floor lived Mr. Hanna and his family. He was a Lebanese who was married to
a Jewish woman from Hungary. But Mr. Hanna was more than a neighbor. Because of
the bond that was established between my father and him, he became a second
father to the eight children in our family.
Mr. Hanna and my father,
Constandi, entered into a pact that will never be erased from my memory. Using
a razor-
18
sharp
blade, each man made an incision on his wrist until blood seeped to the
surface. Then they placed their wrists tightly together and allowed the blood
to mingle.
On the
table before them were two glasses of wine. My dad held his wrist over one of
the goblets and let several drops of blood fall into it. Mr. Hanna did the
same.
Next,
they mixed the wine together, and each drank from the other man's cup. At that
moment they became blood brothers. In the Eastern culture and among many other
people of the world, it is the strongest bond that can be made between two men.
For this
kind of covenant, some Easterners will also sign a written agreement that says,
"If you are unable to provide for your children, I will become a father to
them and sustain them. If you become ill or die, I will be responsible for the
well-being of your family."
It is
more than a legal pact. It is a vow that is sealed in blood and will never be
broken.
When our family emigrated from Israel to Canada and
I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit began to reveal God's Word to me. I had
seen the influence of the blood pact in the Eastern culture. Then the Holy
Spirit showed me how much more powerful God's blood covenant is. From Genesis
to Revelation there is a crimson stream that is the life-giving source of
power, protection and promise for you and for me today.
The Breath of Life
The story of creation itself marks the beginning of
the role of the blood covenant in God's plan for humanity.
Our
creation was a three-step process.
First, "the Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground" (Gen. 2:7). I can almost see Him scooping some mud into His
hand and literally squeezing it into shape. At
19
that same time, I believe God
created our blood.
Second,
God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7). At
this point, I believe our spirits came into being. The Scriptures often
represent God's Spirit as His breath. So I believe God as a Spirit created our
spirits.
Third,
"man became a living soul," (Gen. 2:7, KJV). After man received his
body and spirit, then he was a distinct individual (or a soul).
The spirit, body and soul that
God created have a distinct function.
• The spirit within us is the
part that knows God intimately. It is God-conscious.
• Our body is the shell we dwell
in. It is world-conscious.
• The soul is our intellect,
will and emotion. It is self-conscious.
Like an
archaeologist unearthing a hidden treasure, I was jubilant as I studied the
Word of God and realized the distinct parts God created. My spirit is the part
of me that communes with God; my physical being is what is in contact with the
earthly things of this world; and my soul is the part that feels, understands,
thinks and decides.
I believe
another amazing thing occurred at creation. Leviticus records, "The life
of the flesh is in the blood" (17: 11). Therefore, when God breathed the
breath of life into Adam, I believe his blood was enlivened.
For centuries, medical science has studied the
powerful functions of blood. They know it carries oxygen and food through our
bodies by circulating through our veins and arteries. It also acts as a defense
against infection. But there is much that they don't know about the importance God
20
places on the blood.
Chaos in the Garden
As we
begin to comprehend the tremendous power of the blood covenant, it is important
to recall what happened in the garden of Eden. When God created Adam, he was a
perfect being. He had a magnificent mind that was able to name every animal and
remember their names.
At that
time, the first man and woman lived in perfect harmony with God. He walked with
them in the cool of the day. They had fellowship, and they knew God intimately.
But an
enemy was lurking in the garden.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God
indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" (Gen. 3:1).
Satan was
cunning and sly. He came to the woman with a question about God's instructions regarding
eating from the tree. He asked her, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not
eat of every tree of the garden'?" (Gen. 3:1).
The devil
wields this weapon of words because he wants us to question God—His
faithfulness, His love, His promises and His power. He was questioning the
woman: "Did God really say that?" Her answer shows she believed the
tempter rather than what God said. And she disobeyed.
The woman replied to the serpent, "We may eat
the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you
touch it, lest you die' " (Gen.
3:2-3, italics added).
21
Eve only
said, "...lest you die," but the Lord said, "You shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17, italics
added).
Then
Satan lied to the woman and said, "You will not surely die. For God knows
that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:4-5).
It has always been satan's desire to be like God.
Scripture records that he said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Is. 14:13).
Satan had been banished from heaven for trying to
be like God. Now he was attempting to offer the same promise of god-like status
to the first woman. And he has not stopped. Thousands of years later, he is
still planting the same thoughts into unsuspecting hearts.
The Flesh and the Devil
The first woman not only fell for the lie, but she
also enticed Adam to join her, and original sin entered the heart of man.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat (Gen. 3:6, KJV).
In that one Scripture verse we find three great temptations satan uses:
1.
The lust of the flesh. (The tree
was good for food.)
22
2.
The lust of the eyes. (It was
pleasant to look at.)
3. The pride
of life. (The tree offered wisdom.)
Why does the enemy bring these forms of temptation
against us? His deadly design is to pull us into a sinful world. But we are
warned:
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life—is not of the Father but is of the world (1 John 2:15-16).
Satan
tried the same three temptations during his encounter with Jesus in the desert.
He said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become
bread" (Matt. 4:3). What was he offering? The lust of the flesh.
When
"the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all
the kingdoms of the world and their glory" (Matt. 4:8), he tempted Christ
with the lust of the eyes.
And he
appealed to the pride of life by saying to the
Lord:
If You
are the Son of God,
throw
Yourself down. For it is written:
"He
shall give His angels charge over you," and, "In their hands they
shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone" (Matt.
4:6).
23
Even
satan knew the Word. He told Jesus, "It is written," and quoted Psalm
91:11-12.
But Jesus knew the Word even better. With the
authority of heaven He said, "It is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord
your God'" (Matt. 4:7). Three separate times He said, "It is
written" (Matt. 4:4,7,10). Jesus finally said:
Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You
shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve" (Matt.
4:10).
The enemy
is still using the same tactics today. But the Lord Jesus defeated satan with
the power of the Word, and the same power is available to us today.
God's Word is a powerful weapon against the enemy's
attacks because it reveals to us the conditions and promises of God's blood
covenant. From the moment of the original sin, God introduced the blood
covenant as a means of covering, or atonement. Here is how it happened.
24
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
THREE
3
THE COVERING
WHEN ADAM AND his wife yielded to
the of satan, "the eyes of both of
them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they
sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves coverings" (Gen. 3:7). The fact that
they even tried to make clothes for themselves showed that they realized their
need for a covering.
The
instant they yielded to temptation they lost God's consciousness and gained
self-consciousness. They lost sight of God and His glory.
I am fully convinced that before the fall the first
man and woman did not see their physical nakedness as
25
shameful.
They may have been without the clothing that you and I wear, but I believe they
were covered with the glory of God.
Because
they were accustomed to being blanketed by God, after they sinned they made
themselves a covering (Gen. 3:7). When they first gained sight of self, they
realized how empty and exposed they truly were and even "hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden" (Gen.
3:8).
The
Scriptures declare later that they heard the voice of God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day saying, "Where are you?" (Gen. 3:8-9).
And Adam
answered, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I
was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen. 3:9-10).
God
wanted to know, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the
tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (Gen. 3:11).
Adam blamed his wife. When God asked the woman, she
blamed the devil. "The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (Gen. 3:13).
Curses and judgments
Because of their sin, God pronounced five separate
curses and judgments.
1.
God cursed the serpent. "So
the Lord God said to the serpent: 'Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you
shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life'" (Gen. 3:14).
2. God
pronounced judgment on Eve. "I will
26
greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
in pain you shall bring forth children" (Gen. 3:16).
3.
The Lord judged Adam to a life of
toil. "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from
the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': Cursed is
the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your
life" (Gen. 3:17).
4.
God cursed the ground (Gen.
3:17). "Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you" (Gen.
3:18).
5.
Then the Lord sentenced Adam to
eventual death. "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you
return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to
dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19).
In the midst of God's judgment,
however, is a wonderful promise of redemption. The Lord said to the serpent:
I will
put enmity
Between
you and the woman,
And
between your seed and her Seed;
He shall
bruise your head,
And you
shall bruise His heel (Gen. 3:15).
The Lord declared that He was going to send the
seed of the woman to bring deliverance. It was a promise fulfilled in the
conquest of Christ on the cross over satan. And that is a victory in which
every believer shares.
27
The First Sacrifice
Now when all of these events took place, God did something marvelous. He
initiated the first blood sacrifice.
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God
make coats of skins, and clothed them (Gen. 3:21, KJV).
We need
to remember that Adam and Eve had run from the presence of God and had lost His
glory. They were naked and ashamed, attempting to cover themselves with leaves.
That is
when God selected some animals, perhaps lambs, and killed them.1 He
covered the man and woman with the skins (Gen. 3:21). I believe that the
animals had just been slain and that the skins were still moist with blood when
God used them to cover Adam and Eve.
Please
note: God's first sacrifice covered Adam and Eve's sin with animals' blood. As
we will see, His final sacrifice covered you and me with the blood of His only
begotten Son. When the Bible says, "it is the blood that makes atonement
for the soul" (Lev. 17:11), the word atonement
means "to cover." That is why I believe the shedding of blood had to be a part of the covering. When Adam and
Eve sinned, they lost their close communion with God. But through the blood
covenant, God was declaring that their sins were atoned for. The blood one day
would bring back the fellowship and joy.
From the time of Adam to the time of Christ,
Scripture is filled with accounts of how God entered into blood covenants with
His people.
• Noah's first act after coming out
of the ark
28
was to make a blood covenant with the Lord. He
"built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every
clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Gen. 8:20).
• Abraham was told by the Lord: "This is My covenant which you shall
keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among
you shall be circumcised" (Gen. 17:10).
• Moses, after God delivered the commandments, gathered the people
together and offered young bulls as a sacrifice. "And Moses took the
blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant
which the Lord has made with you according to all these words'" (Ex.
24:8).
• Abraham and Abimelech sealed their relationship by covenant and the
setting apart of seven ewe lambs (Gen. 21:22-32).
• The covenant between Jacob and Laban was sealed when "Jacob offered
a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate
bread and stayed all night on the mountain" (Gen. 31:54).
Thousands
of people have entered into a blood covenant like the one my father and Mr.
Hanna made. In the Old Testament it was common for men to "cut a
covenant" and make a pact through the shedding of blood.
Accounts of blood covenants are
not only found in Scripture, but in history. It is still practiced by many
tribes
29
in Africa
and societies in Asia, South America and the Middle East.
The pact-until-death is entered into for a variety
of reasons, from joining into a business partnership to protecting a weaker
tribe from a stronger one. In many instances it has turned bitter enemies into
life-long friends.
Stanley and the Chieftain
Henry
Stanley was a journalist in the 1870s who traveled through the jungles of
Africa in search of the famed missionary David Livingstone.
On
numerous occasions Stanley observed the rite of blood-brotherhood, or
"strong friendship," to protect himself in his travels. Once he made
a compact with Mirambo, the warrior chief of Western Unyamwezi.
Stanley
first encountered the warrior chief when his expedition was defeated by
Mirambo's forces during his initial search for Livingstone in 1871. He compared
the chief's leadership in warfare to Napoleon and Frederick the Great.
During
his second exploring expedition Stanley hoped for a while to avoid Mirambo. But
he became impressed by his powers and decided to meet him. He wanted to make
strong friendship with him.
They met,
and Stanley was quite taken with the warrior chief. The African hero and the
heroic American agreed to make strong friendship with each other.
Stanley's "chief captain," Manwa Sera,
was asked to seal the friendship of the two men by performing the ceremony of
blood-brotherhood between them.
Mirambo and Stanley sat facing each other on a
straw carpet. Sera made an incision in each of their right legs, from which he
extracted blood, and interchanged it. He then exclaimed aloud:
30
If either of you break this brotherhood now
established between you, may the lion devour him, the serpent poison him,
bitterness be in his food, his friends desert him, his gun burst in his hands
and wound him, and everything that is bad do wrong to him until death.
At the
end of the covenant, they gave a gift to each other in the usual ratification
of the compact.
The same
blood flowed in both Stanley's and Mirambo's veins. They were brothers and
friends in a sacred covenant —life for life.2
Now this was a pagan ritual and
is in no way endorsed by Scripture. But let's look at the Bible and see the way
God used blood in covenants with His people.
31
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FOUR
4
AN ETERNAL COVENANT
I
HAVE ALWAYS
been fascinated with the story of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and
Eve. They may have been twins. The Bible says that Eve
conceived once and delivered
twice.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and
bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the Lord." Then she
bore again, this time his brother Abel (Gen. 4:1-2).
They may
have looked alike,
but they chose
two
32
different occupations.
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground
(Gen. 4:2).
After what their parents had experienced, it was
only natural that the children were taught the principle of presenting gifts to
the Lord.
And in the process of time it came to pass that
Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also
brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat (Gen. 4:3-4).
Scripture
records that "the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not
respect Cain and his offering" (Gen. 4:4-5). What was the difference? Why
did God accept one offering and reject the other?
The
answer is found in Hebrews 11:4.
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
It was
"by faith" that Abel offered a blood sacrifice to the Lord. We know
that "faith comes by hearing" (Rom. 10:17), so it's reasonable to
assume the two sons knew the power of the blood because their parents shared
their experience in the garden.
How did
Abel know to offer a blood sacrifice? I believe
33
Adam and
Eve told their sons what God expected. I believe God gave a revelation of the
blood covenant to the first man and woman when He sacrificed animals to atone
for their sin and clothed them with skins that may have been wet with blood
(Gen. 3:21). It was a sign of the redemption and deliverance that was to come.
No doubt Eve wondered, "Which one of my sons will bruise the serpent's
head?" (Gen. 3:15).
Both sons
knew that God demanded a blood covenant. That is why God asked Cain, "Why
are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not
be accepted?" (Gen. 4:6-7, NIV). Cain knew what was right, but he didn't
do it. Instead he offered a gift of vegetation, and God refused it.
Abel,
however, was obedient to the Lord. By faith he offered an animal sacrifice—the
"firstfruits" of his flock. The substitute blood was given by Abel
from a heart of love and trust. He was reaching out to be in covenant with the
Lord.
Cain offered a gift, but it was
not what God required. There is a great difference between presenting what the
Lord demands and merely giving a present.
Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22).
An Unthinkable Act
What was
Cain's reaction to God's disapproval?
34
So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain,
"Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right,
will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching
at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:5-7,
NIV).
Here's
what God was telling the disobedient son: "The choice is yours. You can
make the decision to choose between right or wrong." It is a message that
permeates Scripture. We have power over sin if we walk in faith and obedience
to God.
But Cain ignored God's warning,
and his next step was to commit an act that was unthinkable.
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go
out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his
brother Abel and killed him (Gen. 4:8, NIV).
The first
murder in the Bible was committed with deliberate deceit. Cain called his
unsuspecting brother out to a field and took his life. The killing was also the
result of spiritual disobedience. He rebelled against presenting a blood
covenant to the Lord.
What a contrast! The Word tells us that we
"should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and
murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil
and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:11-12).
35
Immediately
after the tragic event, the Lord asked Cain, "Where is Abel your
brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's
keeper?" (Gen. 4:9).
As my
good friend Carlton Pearson of Tulsa, Oklahoma, says: "If you aren't your
brother's keeper, you are your brother's killer."
Cain's
answer was more than an outright lie. It was a statement of indifference, even
contempt.
Once
again God spoke to Cain and asked, "What have you done? The voice of your
brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground" (Gen. 4:10).
Abel's
blood cried out for justice to be done. The blood of Jesus, speaking better
things, cries out that justice has been done and our sins have been forgiven.
Abel's blood cried out for vengeance; the blood of Jesus pleads for forgiveness
and restoration.
As Christians we have come "to Jesus the
Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better
things than that of Abel" (Heb. 12:24).
Because of his sin, Cain would never know God's
blessing. The Lord proclaimed this judgment:
So now you are cursed from the earth, which has
opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till
the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a
vagabond you shall be on the earth (Gen. 4:11-12).
My friend, don't reject the message of the blood.
It isn't worth the risk. Cain's punishment was for more than the murder of his
brother. It was also because he disobeyed a revelation of God's blood covenant.
Those who refuse God's covenant are in jeopardy of becoming hopeless
36
wanderers, eternally lost.
The Bible makes it clear that if we reject Christ's
blood, we have offended God's Holy Spirit.
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without
mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 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? (Heb. 10:28-29).
The blood is not a topic to be shunned, ignored or rebuffed. It is still
our vital link to God.
The Promise
The greatest blood covenant established in the Old
Testament is called the Abrahamic covenant.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I
am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant
between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly" (Gen. 17:1-2).
Abraham
"fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying 'As for Me, behold, My
covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations'" (Gen.
17:3-4).
God knew that His servant was about to become a
transformed man, and He even changed his name.
37
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your
name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations (Gen.
17:5).
Abraham
was given a new name by God, and he became a different man. Abraham's
relationship to the Lord also changed so much that the Lord would now be called
the "God of Abraham." A blood covenant with God transforms lives.
Then God told
Abraham:
I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will
make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My
covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their
generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants
after you (Gen. 17:6-7).
The Lord
also promised to give Abraham and his descendants "the land of Canaan, as
an everlasting possession" if they would keep the covenant (Gen. 17:8-9).
Most important, this covenant
would be marked by the shedding of blood.
This is My covenant which you shall keep, between
Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be
circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and
it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you (Gen. 17:10-11).
38
What was
the sign of the Abrahamic covenant? Circumcision. Every male child was to have
this rite performed when he was eight days old. As a result he would not only
enter into the covenant, but take part in God's promises to Abraham.
God honored the covenant so that, even at his
advanced age, Abraham was able to father a child. His wife, Sarah, who was
ninety, conceived and bore a son. They named him Isaac.
The Ultimate Test
After Isaac was born, God chose to test Abraham's
faith in the covenant promise to make him the father of a great nation.
Now it came to pass after these things that God
tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!"
And he
said, "Here I am."
Then He said, "Take now your
son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall
tell you" (Gen. 22:1-2).
The Lord
was giving Abraham the ultimate test. When satan tempts us, he wants to provoke
us to evil. But when God tests us, He seeks to reinforce, strengthen and
fortify our commitment. Remember the difference: God tests us. Satan tempts us.
There was no question that Abraham's true
affections were about to be exposed. Whom did he love more? Isaac or God? After
all, the child had been given as a miracle.
39
Would he
love the gift more than the Giver? The Bible says:
Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his
donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split
the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God
had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place
afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey;
the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you"
(Gen. 22:3-5).
How could
Abraham declare, "We will come back"? He had total faith in God, for
God had promised: "In Isaac your seed shall be called" (Gen. 21:12).
He believed that "God was able to raise him up, even from the dead"
(Heb. 11:19).
That was great faith in God from a man who had no
idea what was going to happen on that mountain.
As a father of four children, my
heart is touched when I read the account of their conversation.
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and
laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and
the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said,
"My father!"
And he
said, "Here I am, my son."
Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
And
Abraham said, "My son, God will provide
40
for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So
the two of them went together (Gen. 22:6-8).
When they
reached the appointed place, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood in
order. Isaac must have been filled with faith, too. The Scriptures do not
mention any resistance when Abraham "bound Isaac his son and laid him on
the altar, upon the wood" (Gen. 22:9).
I can only imagine the emotions each of them felt
when Abraham "stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his
son" (Gen. 22:10).
But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven
and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"
So he said,
"Here I am."
And He said, "Do not lay
your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (Gen.
22:11-12).
Abraham had passed God's test. He chose the Giver over the gift. But the
offering of blood still had to be presented.
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there
behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took
the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son (Gen.
22:13).
When we demonstrate our faith in God by our obedience, He not only promises to provide for us—He
41
will provide!
Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time and said:
Because you have done this thing, and have not
withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I
will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which
is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their
enemies (Gen. 22:16-17).
Because of Abraham's faith and obedience, God
fulfilled His promise to make him the father of a great nation.
The Exodus
While I was studying the blood
covenant many years ago the Lord showed me something very exciting. It was
because of the Abrahamic covenant that God brought Israel out of Egypt.
Now it happened in the process of time that the
king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage,
and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God
heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac,
and with Jacob (Ex. 2:23-24).
Moses, before leading the great exodus, learned
that God would punish those who did not keep the covenant. Evidently Moses
failed to have one of his two sons circumcised. During a journey from his
father-in-law's
42
house
back to Egypt, "it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the
Lord met him and sought to kill him" (Ex. 4:24). The text is not clear whether
God sought to destroy Moses or the son. But it is clear that Moses' wife,
Zipporah, knew what caused God's wrath. She "took a sharp stone and cut
off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet ... So He let him
go" (Ex. 4:25-26).
It was a lesson the great leader would never
forget. God will not honor a man who has broken His covenant.
As Moses
led the children of Israel into the desert, the covenant was the binding force
that held the great throng of people together. The Ten Commandments were much
more than rules to live by. They became known as the law of the covenant.
Try to
imagine what it must have been like when Moses came down from Mount Sinai to
the nearly two million waiting Israelites.
Moses
told the people what God had declared, and they "answered with one voice
and said, 'All the words which the Lord has said we will do'" (Ex. 24:3).
It was an important step toward a new blood covenant between God and His
people.
Early the next morning Moses built an altar at the
foot of the mountain.
Then he sent young men of the children of Israel,
who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.
And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he
sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the
hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the Lord has said we will
do, and be obedient" (Ex. 24:5-7).
43
Then,
standing before that great multitude, "Moses took the blood, sprinkled it
on the people, and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has
made with you according to all these words' " (Ex. 24:8).
Even the
written covenant itself was consecrated. The writer of Hebrews says that
"he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and
hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people" (Heb.
9:19).
When we honor our covenant with God, God will honor
us. The remarkable story of Israel's wandering in the desert gives testimony to
that fact.
[He] fed you with manna ... Your garments did not
wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years (Deut. 8:3-4).
Why did
God protect and provide for the children of Israel? Because they were a
covenant people.
In the next chapter I want to show you how the blood of Jesus protects
us from satan today.
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FIVE
5
THE PROMISE OF PROTECTION
IN 1975, ABOUT a year after I began preaching, I was invited to travel to the east coast of Florida to minister. One of the
services was held at Indian Harbor Beach, Florida, in the home of my friend
John Arnott, who is now
the pastor of Vineyard Christian
Fellowship in Toronto.
At the
conclusion of my remarks I invited those who needed prayer to come forward. One
woman brought her teenage daughter and asked me to pray for the girl. Just as I
started to pray, I heard the clear voice of the Lord instruct me to do
something I did not understand. He said, "Get the ring off her
finger."
I was
perplexed and thought, What does the ring have to
45
do with my praying for her?
The Lord
spoke again, even stronger. It was a command. "Get the ring off her
finger."
I began
questioning the voice. I wondered, Is this really God?
When I
looked into the face of the young woman, I could see a soul that was in deep
bondage. When God spoke those words again, I reached out and took her by the
hand and asked, "What is this ring you are wearing?"
Then I
lifted her hand to get a closer look at the silver band around her finger. It
had a little snake engraved on it —with the head showing and the body coiled
around the band. When I glanced back at her, she had a puzzled expression on
her face, as if to say, What difference does it make? Go ahead and pray for me.
I was more bewildered than she was. All I knew was
that the Lord had said, "Get the ring off."
I can
still vividly recall this unusual encounter. I took my thumb and two fingers
and tried to slide the ring from her finger. It was a loose-fitting ring, but somehow
it would not budge. As I continued to pull, she began to scream. It was a loud,
terrifying shriek. All the muscles in her body tightened.
Then an
ugly, guttural voice spoke through her, chilling me to the marrow. "Leave
her alone!" the voice shouted. "She's mine!"
The
moment I heard those words I knew God had given me the right instructions.
Holy anger surged within me because I knew I was in
a battle against the power of satan. I continued to pull on the ring. Two of
the men in the room could see what was happening and held my shoulders as I
waged this frightening, but necessary, battle for fifteen to twenty minutes.
46
Over her screams I finally cried, "I apply the
blood of Jesus Christ!"
And the
moment I said those words the ring came off her finger. Her rigid body relaxed,
and her screeching turned into a sigh of relief. She was completely delivered
and asked Christ to come into her heart. I believe the power of the blood of
Jesus Christ cancels out any covenant made with the power of hell.
You may say, Benny, do you believe the ring had
anything to do with her condition? Yes. Because that ring symbolized her
rebellion against God, I believe it was a symbol of a commitment to the forces
of evil. The story of one of Israel's worst defeats helped me to understand the
danger of objects that we keep in disobedience to God's commands.
Get Rid of It!
In the
famous victory of the Israelites over Jericho, God instructed Joshua to tell
his army not to take any of the plunder. He told them to avoid taking Jericho's
riches, "lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things,
and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it" (Josh. 6:18).
During
their next battle at the city of Ai, Joshua's men were about to be routed.
Joshua tore his clothes and asked the Lord why.
The Lord
told him:
Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed
My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the
accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it
among their own stuff (Josh. 7:10-11).
47
The
offending soldier was Achan, of the tribe of Judah.
And Achan answered Joshua and said, "indeed I
have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When
I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of
silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took
them" (Josh. 7:20-21).
It was
only when Achan, his family and the stolen items were destroyed that the curse
on Israel was lifted and the covenant restored. Joshua and his men were able to
capture the city of Ai (Josh. 7:25; 8:1-28).
God's
message is clear. Be careful of what you allow into your home, for some things
bring bondage. To Achan it was a Babylonian garment. To the girl in Florida it
was a satanic ring.
I believe God's protection is lifted when you
possess something that goes against His commands. The passage in Joshua 7:10-12
is very clear that you should not have an accursed thing in your home. God said
to the children of Israel:
Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you
destroy the accursed from among you (Josh. 7:12).
If you
travel to places such as the Philippines or Africa as I have, you see firsthand
the power that satanic objects have.
Of course, in America I believe people also open
themselves to demonic power every time they read their
48
horoscopes,
call a psychic hot line, have their palms read, watch demonic programs and
movies or play certain board games.
These
things open the door to demonic activity. My strong advice to you is to read
your Bible and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit to avoid these things.
If you possess something God does not condone, get
rid of it.
Protection From Plagues
The
Egyptian plagues show how God will protect those who have made a blood covenant
with Him. 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).
But
Pharaoh refused.
That same
day God turned the Nile River into blood, but Pharaoh would not listen (Ex.
7:20).
Then the
Lord sent plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, livestock disease, boils, hail,
locusts and darkness over the land.
Finally God told Moses to warn Pharaoh about one
more plague.
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 his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind
the handmill (Ex. 11:4-5).
Again,
Pharaoh refused to let the people go.
49
God told
Moses that the time had come for the deliverance of the children of Israel. It
was such a momentous event that even their calendar should be changed. The Lord
said, "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first
month of the year to you" (Ex. 12:2).
God said, "This is your beginning," even
though they were leaving a land that had been almost destroyed.
The Lord told Moses how the
children of Israel would be spared from the death of the firstborn. Each family
was to follow these seven instructions:
1.
Choose a one-year-old male lamb
or goat without blemish (Ex. 12:3-5).
2.
Join together with small families
that cannot use a whole lamb (Ex. 12:4).
3.
Keep the lamb for four days
before slaughter (Ex. 12:6).
4.
Have the head of the household
slay the lamb on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month (Ex. 12:6).
5.
Sprinkle the blood of the lamb on
the sides and the tops of the door frames of the house (Ex. 12:7).
6.
Roast the lamb that evening, and
eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (Ex. 12:8).
7.
Eat the meal in haste, with your
cloaks tucked into your belts, sandals on your feet and staves in your hands
(Ex. 12:11).
God told
them to prepare because He would pass over
50
the land.
For I will 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 this promise:
Now the blood
shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And 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, italics 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 rose
(Ex. 12:29-30). But in the houses of the Israelites there was not one dead.
That first Passover was a shadow of what was to
happen one day on a hill called Calvary. For at Calvary "Christ, our
Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Con 5:7). There we were redeemed
"with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot" (1 Pet. 1:19).
Help for Your 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 covenant 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
51
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 an entire house because of one
person who comes into His kingdom (see 1 Con 7:14).
Let me
tell you how it happened in my own life.
52
SIX–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
6
THE BLOOD APPLIED
I
DID NOT
realize it at the time, but from the days of my childhood in Israel our family
was involved in activities that were more pleasing to satan than to God.
I can still
remember what we called "walking through fire." A small flame was lit
in a container, and incense was placed on it. All the children in our home
would then step across it. We were taught that such practices would keep evil
away.
Even
after I became a Christian, my parents continued the practice in our home. I
was the only one to oppose it.
Regularly, a fortune-teller visited our house to
read my mother's palm. In Toronto a woman named Victoria would
53
often read her coffee cup.
Most
Israelis drink strong coffee in little cups. After the coffee is gone, little
grounds remain. By tipping the cup over, the grounds form a pattern. The woman,
supposedly an expert in such matters, came by to read the pattern and predict
what was going to happen.
When I tried to warn my family that these
activities were dangerous, they only laughed at me.
I
remember one night in particular, more than two years after I gave my life to
Christ, when I came home from church. An unusual, oppressive feeling was in the
house. When I got into bed I heard noises downstairs—the refrigerator door
being slammed shut, dishes breaking and the sound of horrible laughter.
Immediately
I said, "Lord, cover me with Your blood. Please protect me."
Then I
heard footsteps running through the back door and out of the house.
I went downstairs. No one was there. Some may not
understand this, but demon power is very real. The Scriptures have a lot to say
about how demons operate. Matthew 12:43-45 indicates that demons:
• get
tired,
• have
memories,
• have
intelligence and
• work
together.
Many other stories in the Gospels and Acts show us
they are real (Luke 4:36; 8:26-37; Acts 19:13-16). But remember, through the
Lord Jesus Christ and His mighty name we have power over them. Luke 10:19 says:
54
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.
Furthermore,
John wrote:
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the
world (1 John 4:4).
After
that incident, I began to pray with great fervor that every member of my family
would find Christ. Then one day the Lord said to me, "Use your authority
as a believer." He was telling me that as a Christian I had authority over
satan.
As it
says in Revelation 12:10-11:
The accuser of our brethren, who accused them
before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
I began
to command satan to take his hands off my family.
I learned later that on that same night the Lord
appeared to my mother in such a powerful dream that she stopped inviting
fortune-tellers to our home.
It was
not long until both of my parents came to a little church to hear me preach the
gospel. When I returned home after the service, they were waiting for me. My
father asked, "Benny, how can we know this same Jesus you know?"
I was
able to lead my parents to Christ. And, one by one,
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all of my
brothers and sisters were born into the family of God.
As believers we need to command satan to take his
hands off our family and off those we love.
You may have members of your family who are
unsaved. Don't be discouraged. Because of you a special grace rests on your
household that is more powerful than anything we can perceive.
A Hedge of Protection
When you
ask God to cover your family with the blood of His Son, I believe the Lord then
builds a hedge of protection around your home. That is 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, camels, 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 lifestyles of his children. His seven sons would take
turns holding feasts 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 offerings 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).
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One day some angels presented themselves to the
Lord, and satan was among them.
And the Lord said to Satan, "From where do you
come?"
So Satan answered the Lord and said, "From
going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."
Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you
considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a
blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"
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?" (Job
1:7-10).
Job did
exactly what God had instructed. He applied the blood, and he did it
"regularly" (Job 1:5). 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?
First, we must believe in the sacrifice He already
made, the blood He 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 formula or phrase that
activates the power of the blood. It is only by faith in Jesus.
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Applying the Blood Through Prayer
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). The word token means an "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.
As
Kathryn Kuhlman once said, "We don't live on yesterday's glories, nor on
tomorrow's hopes, but on today's experiences."
You may
ask, What do you mean by being covered with the blood? It means we are
appropriating all of 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 automatically. God
does not reach down from the sky and place the mark on your dwelling place. You
have to ask for His protection.
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Remember that God supplies ,
but we apply through our believing
prayer. The children of Israel took the blood "and put it on the two
doorposts and on the lintel of the houses" (Ex. 12:7).
Forever!
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.
As a minister, I have preached on
countless topics, but each time I preach on the blood, three things happen.
• Satan makes every attempt to distract me from my preparation on the
topic.
• The devil tries his best to disturb the meeting itself.
• There is an unusual presence of the Lord that accompanies the message,
and a large number of people find Christ as Savior.
Just as
some ministers have never preached a sermon on the blood, some Christians have
rarely uttered the word blood since their conversions. 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 His people. It was not limited to the forty
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years that the children of Israel journeyed to the promised land. The command
was in effect even 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.
You may
ask, Benny, how often should we ask God to cover us with the blood?
I
personally do it every time I pray.
There is
not a day that I do not in prayer say, "Lord, cover suzanne, Jessica,
Natasha, Joshua and Eleasha with your blood." I do the same thing with
each one of them separately. If I'm traveling, I call them on the phone and
pray with them and continually pray that nothing will come into their hearts
and minds but what is of the Lord.
One night
I overheard little Tasha praying. She didn't know I was listening. I put my
head to the door that was opened slightly. I was moved as I heard her saying,
"Now, Lord, You shed Your blood for us, and I ask You to cover all of
us." And she prayed for us one by one. There was another time when she
said, "Now, satan, you hear me real good: You can't touch me. The blood is
covering me."
That's why it's so wonderful when parents ask the
Lord to protect their children with the blood. Their children not only copy
them but actually will ask questions about it. Then the parents have the
opportunity to tell their children what the Lord has done.
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Jessica
is now at the age to ask, "Daddy, why do you do that?"
I am able to tell her about the Passover story and
how the blood of Jesus has been shed for us. If the blood of an animal could
protect a family then, how much more can the blood of Christ protect us now?
"Don't Say That!"
In 1992 I
preached a crusade in the city of Manila in the Philippines. One night they
brought up to the platform a young man who was deeply troubled. In most
crusades in the United States, he would have been taken aside for private
ministry because my staff would have sensed his spiritual condition.
Suddenly,
as this young man came close to me, I could see that he was demon possessed.
His eyes were glazed over, and his whole figure began changing right in front
of me. The closer he came, the worse he got.
I started
praying, and he fell forward. This is something I don't understand yet; but I
have noticed that when I pray for someone overseas who falls forward instead of
backward, there is usually a demonic element involved.
This young man got up and started coming at me.
Some of my assistants were trying to hold him back, but he began throwing them
out of the way. I rebuked him, but he kept coming. Finally two very strong men
were able to keep him in one place, but he was still fighting hard.
I said,
"Lord, cover me and everyone around me with the blood of Jesus." Then
I said to him, "The blood of Jesus is against you."
The
second I said that, he screamed, "Don't say that!"
So I said
it again, "The blood of Jesus is against you."
In a
horrible voice he screamed out, "Don't say that!"
Every
time I spoke of the blood of Jesus he would have
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a violent reaction. Thank God, he was finally set
tree. Demons recognize the power of the blood of Jesus. If
demons know it, then how much more should we know
it? I believe that when we ask God to cover us with the
blood of Jesus, He honors that because it represents the name of Jesus
and what that name is all about. The power is in Jesus Christ. And we have
access through prayer.
Prayer Power
A young
man in my church asked recently, "What's the secret? What can I do to pray
with more power?" I told him, "Jesus gave us the answer when He said,
'If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire,
and it shall be done for you' " (John 15:7).
I said to
him, "Notice what the Lord said—'If ye abide in Me.' It's our choice then
to abide. The verse goes on to say, 'And My words abide in you, you will
ask....' You will
ask
because you have decided to abide in Him, and you have chosen His Word to abide
in you. That's the secret of power in prayer."
All
things are possible through prayer.
One of the greatest teachers on prayer was R. A.
Torrey. Torrey, who lived from 1856 to 1928, was the pastor of the famous Moody
Church in Chicago for twelve years. In my early years as a Christian, I was
deeply influenced by the writings of him and two other great preachers—D. L.
Moody and Charles Finney.
Torrey, in his book How to Obtain Fullness of Power, says:
Prayer can do anything God can do; for the arm of
God responds to the touch of prayer. All the infinite resources of God are at
the command of prayer.1
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He also
says:
There is only one limit to what prayer can do; that
is what God can do. But all things are possible to God; therefore prayer is
omnipotent.2
E. M. Bounds, a turn-of-the-century preacher who is
well known for his books on prayer, said:
Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move God.3
I believe
prayer is faith passing into action. When we pray, all that God is and has
becomes ours. All you need to do is ask. As the Bible says, "Ye have not,
because ye ask not," (James 4:2, KJV). I've heard it said, "The
strongest one in Christ's kingdom is he who is the best knocker." So start
knocking and you will find (Luke 11:9-10).
God hears and answers prayers because the blood of
Jesus has cleansed us of our sins and provided access to the throne of God. The
Levitical instructions for cleansing leprosy, which we will look at in the next
chapter, provide a wealth of insight into the power of Christ's blood.
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SEVEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
7
CLEANSING THE LEPER
When GOD GAVE the ordinances in
the Old Testament, He spoke to Moses
regarding "the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing"
(Lev.
14:2).
David
Alsobrook, in his book The Precious Blood,1 has some
wonderful teaching about this process. His understanding of its symbolic
meaning, which I'll present in the next few pages, has really inspired me to
think about how these Scripture passages have special meaning for us today.
In Scripture, leprosy refers to a variety of skin
diseases. It is also a symbol of sin. So the cleansing of the leper
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foreshadowed
God's future plan to cleanse all of 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 who 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
priests going outside the camp point to Jesus being crucified outside the walls
of Jerusalem. The two birds remind me of the Lord's death and resurrection.
Cedar wood points to the cross and 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 a
fragrant plant from the marjoram family.2 It
symbolizes faith to me because it was used in the application of the blood (Ex.
12:22).
What happened next was amazing in
light of what Christ would do at Calvary.
Then the priest shall order that one of the birds
be killed over fresh 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).
65
When the
first bird was killed, the blood was caught in an earthen vessel with water in
it (see Lev. 14:5-6, NIV). This speaks of Christ's shedding His blood in an
earthen vessel—His human body.
Then the
priest took the living bird along with the cedar wood (Christ's cross), the
scarlet (His suffering) and the hyssop (faith), 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
cleansing 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.
This
cleansing ceremony is just one example of the way the old covenant foreshadows
the new covenant. Paul told the Colossians that no one should judge them
according to the old covenant traditions about eating, drinking and festivals
(Col. 2:16), because the law was a "shadow of things to come, but the
substance is of Christ" (Col. 2:17). Hebrews also says that the law had a "shadow
of good things to come" but not "the very image" (Heb. 10:1).
The leper was then allowed to come 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
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of Christ
was shed seven different times during the hours surrounding His crucifixion.
1.
His sweat. "And being in
agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of
blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44).
2.
His face. "I gave ... My
cheeks to those who plucked out the beard" (Is. 52:6).
3.
His head. "When they had
twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right
hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of
the Jews!' Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the
head" (Matt. 27:29-30).
4.
His back. "Then he [Pilate]
released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to
be crucified" (Matt. 27:26).
5.
His hands. "For dogs have
surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. 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, and immediately blood and water came
out" (John 19:34).
The Cleansing Continues
67
What
happened after the leper was sprinkled seven times with blood? He now can enter
the camp, even as once we are cleansed by His blood we become sons and
daughters of the living God and members of His family.
Because of the blood of Jesus, the floodgates of
God's anointing can be released through His Holy Spirit in our lives. That's
what I learned when the Holy Spirit visited my life.
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––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
EIGHT
8
TRANSFORMED BY THE POWER
AS I WROTE in my book Good Morning, Holy Spirit, it was three days before Christmas 1973 when the Holy Spirit entered my bedroom in
Toronto,
Canada. I was only twenty-one years old and had just returned from a Kathryn
Kuhlman meeting in Pittsburgh.
That
night I prayed, "Holy Spirit, Kathryn Kuhlman says You are her
friend." I continued slowly, "I don't think I know You." Then,
with my hands raised, I asked, “Can I meet You? Can I really meet you?”
Then it happened. The Holy Spirit came into my room
with such an undeniable presence that I knew God's
69
promise
of Pentecost was true. From that moment the Holy Spirit was no longer a
detached, distant "third person" of the Trinity. He was real. He had
a personality. He became my closest friend, comforter and guide.
Later God
began to reveal to me through His Word that it was the shed blood of Christ
that made it possible for the Holy Spirit to descend.
On the Day of Pentecost Peter
spoke of the Lord's death and resurrection. He continued:
Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God,
and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured
out this which you now see and hear (Acts 2:33).
Remember that the Lord purchased man's redemption
by His atoning death and resurrection, then ascended to His Father and there
presented the blood which was the evidence of redemption.
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 blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption (Heb. 9:11-12).
When the Father accepted the blood, I believe
Christ Jesus received from the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit to pour out
upon those who believed in Him.1 And now
the Holy Spirit is on earth to enable us to live the Christian life, for God
speaking through Ezekiel said:
70
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (Ezek. 36:26-27).
The Holy Spirit not only enables us to live the Christian life but will
also make God's presence very real to us.
"And I will not hide My face from them
anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,"
says the Lord God (Ezek. 39:29).
I should not have been surprised when my life was
completely transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is exactly what
happens when you meet the Spirit of God. The prophet Samuel described it to
Saul this way:
Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and
you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man (1 Sam. 10:6).
A Mighty Wind
Is it really possible that the Holy Spirit can
change us totally? Absolutely. If the Lord could turn mud into man by His
breath, think what He can do by breathing on us again! That is what happened at
Pentecost.
And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
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as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they
were sitting (Acts 2:2).
Those who gathered in the upper room felt the
breath of almighty God. And they were transformed. When the Holy Spirit
empowers your life, you can expect three things to happen:
• The Lord
will become very close to you.
• Because of that relationship, your ultimate desire will be to walk in
the ways of God.
• You will be miraculously transformed into a new person.
I am convinced that the Holy Spirit, alive and
present on the earth today, is the sign of the covenant God has made with us
through the blood of His Son Jesus.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13).
I have
met many people who pray, "Lord, send the Holy Spirit into my life! Fill
me with Your Power!" The Holy Spirit will come when we honor the death of
Jesus Christ and His blood.
For example, in the old covenant when blood was
offered, God sent fire, and His glory descended. Do you remember what occurred
at the dedication of Solomon's great temple?
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When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down
from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory
of the Lord filled the temple (2 Chron. 7:1).
What was
the sign of the Holy Spirit? In the Old Testament it was often fire (Lev.
9:23-24; 1 Kin. 18:38; 2 Chron. 7:1) representing God's all-consuming holiness.
John the
Baptist also prophesied:
I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier
than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16).
After Jesus shed His blood at Calvary, the Holy
Spirit came as fire again. The disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem,
as Jesus had commanded:
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of
fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:3-4).
God will fill your life with the fire and glory of
His Holy Spirit when you come to Him through the blood. Andrew Murray, a
prolific Christian author who lived from 1828 to 1917, wrote about the
relationship between Jesus' blood and the Holy Spirit in his book The Power of the Blood.
Where the blood is honored in faith or preaching,
there the Spirit works; and where He works He always leads souls to the blood.
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Touched by the Anointing
The Word
of God declares that it is the anointing of the
Holy Spirit that enables us to
serve God. God told Moses:
You shall anoint them ... that they may minister to Me as priests (Ex.
40:15).
In my own
ministry I am always aware of the fact that what God is doing He is doing
because of His anointing. Without it I would be spiritually bankrupt.
My daily prayer is, "Lord, don't ever lift
Your anointing from me." I know the danger that exists if that anointing
should ever lift. I recently read a similar statement made by Dr. Billy Graham
in 1950.
I have asked God that if there were ever a day when
I should stand in the pulpit without knowing the fullness and anointing of the
Spirit of God and should not preach with compassion and fire, I want God to
take me home to heaven. I don't want to live. I don't ever want to stand in the
pulpit and preach without the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a dangerous thing.
The life of Saul contains a great lesson. Saul had
been selected by God, and his life had been transformed. But the day came when
he chose to break the sacrificial laws God had given the Israelites. Samuel
told Saul:
You have done foolishly. You have not kept the
commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord
would have
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established your kingdom over Israel forever (1
Sam. 13:13).
Not only did the anointing leave King Saul, but something happened that
was far worse.
But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and
an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him (1 Sam. 16:14, KJV).
The story
of Samson is another example. When the Holy Spirit left his life, he became a
prisoner and a slave to the Philistines and lost his sight. The Bible states
that while he slept he lost the anointing (Judg. 16:18-20).
Sleeping
is symbolic of prayerlessness. Saints, let's not neglect prayer nor reject His
precious Word, lest we should lose His wonderful anointing on our lives. There
is nothing more I desire in this life than to have His anointing, and I know
that is your greatest desire also.
Remember that as you walk in obedience to God, you
don't have to fear losing the anointing. You can look forward to God's
blessings instead. That's what we'll see in the next step of the cleansing of
the leper.
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–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
NINE
9
ANOINTED FROM HEAD TO TOE
EVERY DAY I thank God for the
blood of Christ. Because the blood was shed for
our sins the Holy Spirit came, and today we can know God's
anointing on our lives and work.
When we are empowered by the oil of the Holy
Spirit, we are freed from the chains of bondage. The prophet Isaiah wrote:
It shall
come to pass in that day That his burden
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will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke
from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil
(Is. 10:27).
Every
time I am touched by the power of God I feel like the psalmist who declared,
"Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered" (Ps. 68:1).
Earlier
in the book we discovered how the blood brought cleansing to the leper who
symbolized sinful man. But that was only the beginning. Look what happened to
the leper next. The blood made it possible for him to be anointed.
When a
man was allowed back in the camp (Lev. 14:8), he was directed to "take two
male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish,
three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and
one log [about two-thirds of a pint] of oil" (Lev. 14:10).
The
priest was to "take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass
offering" (Lev. 14:12)—as a restitution for a specific sin. "Then he
shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt
offering, in a holy place" (Lev. 14:13).
Did you
notice that the man offered more sacrifices even after he was considered
cleansed and allowed back into the camp?
In the same way, the Lord Jesus shed His blood once
for the remission of our sins, but we continue to ask for the cleansing and
protection that His blood provides. The Lord Jesus even taught His disciples to
say in prayer:
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us
into temptation, But
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deliver
us from the evil one (Matt. 6:12-13).
The
priest applied blood to the cleansed leper three times. Again, David
Alsobrook's book The Precious Blood
gave me insight into the meaning this process has for us today.' I believe God
had a specific purpose for each application of blood.
First,
"the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the
priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear" of the leper (Lev.
14:14).
When the blood is applied to our hearing we are
shielded from the voice of our enemies. The psalmist cried out to the Lord:
Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my
complaint, and moan noisily, Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the
oppression of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me, And in wrath
they hate me (Ps. 55:2-3).
As believers we have power over verbal attacks of
he enemy. The Bible says:
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And
every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord (Is. 54:17).
Whose
tongues arise against us? The lying tongues of the Lord's enemies. But we can
condemn those voices through the blood of Christ and the authority of His Word.
When
someone tells me that the devil has been speaking
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to them,
I remind them of the wonderful words of Jesus: "My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27).
It's not
the voice of satan that we should be listening for, but the voice of the
Savior. That is why we need the blood applied to our hearing.
Second,
the priest then reached out to the leper and placed the blood "on the
thumb of his right hand" (Lev. 14:14).
Our hands represent the work that we do. It is
wonderful to know that the Lord gives guidance and protection to our work.
David said:
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our
hands (Ps. 90:17).
And God
told Isaiah,
I will direct their work in truth, And will make
with them an everlasting covenant (Is. 61:8).
Finally, the priest applied blood to the leper
"on the big toe of his right foot" (Lev. 14:14).
Our feet are symbolic of our walk with the Lord.
"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin" (1 John 1:7).
Sprinkled and Poured
After the priest applied blood to the leper's ear,
hand and foot, God said, "Now it is time for the anointing."
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Here is
what happened. The priest was instructed to take "some of the log of oil,
and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. Then the priest shall dip his
right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of
the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord" (Lev. 14:15-16).
The
anointing oil throughout Scripture represents the work of the Holy Spirit in
consecrating and empowering for service.
It is
essential to understand that God anoints what the blood has covered. The
anointing of the Holy Spirit follows the blood. The anointing oil was sprinkled
seven times— God's number of completion—to represent the reception of a total
anointing.
What took
place next may sound repetitious, but God was doing something totally new. The
priest took the oil and anointed the leper's right ear, right thumb and right
big toe once again.
The blood
was already there, but the anointing oil was placed on top of it. For where you
find the blood of the cross, you will find the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
I believe
the anointing expands the benefits of the blood.
• When the blood is applied to our hearing, we will not hear the enemy's
voice; then God brings the anointing so we can hear His voice.
• When the blood is applied to our hands, the devil cannot touch our work
for God; then the anointing multiplies our efforts.
• When the blood is applied to our walk, then God anoints our steps so
that we can walk with Him.
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Our walk also needs to be washed
with His Word. Jesus said:
He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet (John 13:10).
We have been redeemed and washed by the blood, but
our walk needs to be cleansed by His Word every day (Eph. 5:26). Why? Because
our lives constantly touch the dirt of the world.
In the
old covenant, when God told Moses to build the tabernacle, He gave him precise
details regarding every aspect, including the clothing required for the
priests. But they were given no instructions regarding shoes (see Ex. 39). To
remind them that they were still touching the dust of the earth, they were to
walk with bare feet.2
As Christians we are touching the world every day.
That's why we need to come back to the Lord daily and say, "Cleanse me
anew and wash me again."
Head to Toe
What did God command the priest to do with the
remaining oil?
The rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he
shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. So the priest shall make
atonement for him before the Lord (Lev. 14:18).
God wants to cover us totally
from head to toe with the oil of His Spirit—our thoughts, our sight, our words
and our entire lives. Not only do we have the atonement of the blood, but we
have the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
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Many people, however, don't think they are good
enough for God's anointing because of their past. Friend, let me tell you what
the shed blood of Jesus does to your past.
TEN––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
10
YOUR BURIED PAST
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE live in a
never-ending cycle of hopelessness and despair
because they cannot forget about yesterday. They are
tormented
by memories that can lead to depression, mental anguish and even suicide.
Satan
understands our weaknesses. That is why he uses our past mistakes to torture
and trap us. The devil's greatest weapon against us is our past.
But thank the Lord that the blood of the cross will
remove those dead works from your conscience.
For if
the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
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ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb. 9:13-14,
KJV).
Do you
realize how liberating it is to be freed from your past? Can you comprehend
fully what it means to live without guilt or condemnation?
Some of you may think your past is especially black
compared to those around you. But R. A. Torrey says:
If we could see our past as God sees it before it is
washed, the record of the best of us would be black, black, black. But if we
are walking in the light, submitting to the truth of God, believing in the
light, in Christ, our record today is [as] white as Christ's garments were when
the disciples saw Him on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:2, Mark 9:3,
Luke 9:29).1
Let these words sink into your
heart: The moment the shed blood of Christ has been applied to
your heart, your past is buried. It is gone forever and no longer remembered in
glory. To dwell on it is an insult to God.
Appearing in Court
Imagine yourself in a courtroom. God is the judge,
and you are standing before Him. In the presence of His holiness, you are
overwhelmed by a relentless
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consciousness of your sin.
God's
voice thunders out, "I know you are guilty." You tremble, awaiting
the sentence of death.
Then God
continues, "You are guilty, but I declare you righteous. Your punishment
is waived."
That is
called justification. God gives you a new legal standing. Your slate is clean.
God declares you righteous because of what Jesus has done.
God had passed over the sins that were previously
committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might
be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:25-26).
The shed blood of Jesus saves us from the wrath of a Holy God poured out
against sin.
Much more then, having now been justified by His
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him (Rom. 5:9).
R. A. Torrey makes a wonderful comparison between
forgiveness and justification.
In forgiveness we are stripped of the vile and
stinking rags of our sins; in justification we are clothed upon with the glory
and beauty of Christ.2
I wish
that every Christian understood this truth.
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Twenty-Eight Years
I will
never forget a letter I received from a woman who was extremely distraught. She
did not give many details but wrote, "I feel so horrible about the things
I have done that I want to take my life."
I noticed
that there was a telephone number on the letter and said to my secretary,
"I'd like to talk with this person. See if you can reach her by
phone."
The
secretary reached her by phone, and the woman and I talked for a few minutes.
"Why are you so troubled that you would want to end your life?" I
asked.
"I am ashamed to say it," she admitted,
"but I have slept with five men."
"Are
you born again?"
"Yes,"
she said.
My
immediate response was, "Have you repented? Have you asked the Lord to
forgive you?"
"Yes,
I have," she said.
"Do
you believe God has forgiven you?"
Hesitating,
she replied quietly, "I'm not sure."
"You need to know what the Bible says," I
told her. "If we truly repent of our sins, the blood of Christ totally
cleanses us. Our past is erased. He not only forgives, but He has chosen to
forget our sins." I told her what God said in the Scriptures:
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions
for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; Let
us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted (Is. 43:25-26).
The woman
said, "Oh." Then she added, "But I am so
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guilt-ridden
that I can't pray. I have committed too many sins."
I could hear her crying as she continued, "I
am so condemned that I can't even go to church. I can't worship God. I would
just rather die."
"Please
tell me how long ago this happened," I interrupted her.
"It
was twenty-eight years ago," she sobbed.
"Do
you mean to tell me that you have been living with this thing for that
long?"
"Yes.
And it is dreadful!"
I decided
to get her attention. "Do you realize that you have been grieving the Holy
Spirit?"
"What
did you say?" she asked.
"Every time you said, 'I don't believe Jesus
will forgive me,' that's what you were doing."
"No!
No!" she cried.
"That's
exactly what you've done, and if you don't quit you will never live in victory.
You are living a life of unbelief. God has given you His promise to bury all of
your sins, and yet you don't believe it."
"What
should I do?"
"Repent
before the Lord and ask Him to forgive you for not believing His promise."
I will
never forget praying with her on the phone. I could sense the bondage lifting
and the sunshine dawning on her life. The woman was totally set free when she
accepted what Jesus had done for her on the cross and the cleansing of His
blood.
When we torment ourselves for past sin, it is like
telling the devil, "Don't leave. I enjoy having you around." It is
your guilt that keeps him there. But if you believe the Word and ask the Lord
to cleanse you, forgive you and deliver you from all sin, you will be set free
from all that the
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enemy can bring against you.
People
need to stop listening to their emotions, their "ups and downs,"
their evil thoughts and their so-called friends who tell them how rotten they
are. They need to believe the Word when it says, "In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).
The
prophet Micah says God "will subdue our iniquities" and "cast
all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic. 7:19).
One day I
was in a church in Zeist, Holland, and heard Corrie ten Boom speak. "God
takes all our sins," she said, "throws them in the deepest ocean and
puts up a big sign that says 'No fishing.'"
Don't you
go fishing for those sins. You're forgiven.
A Clear Conscience
The memory of your past cannot be erased simply
because you want it to be. You cannot be freed from a sinful life by merely
saying, "I'm going to forget about it."
God said He would "purge" us. The blood will purge your conscience completely—not only
your transgressions, but every thought connected with them.
Nothing
but the blood of Christ can cleanse your mind from thoughts of past and present
sins. Since we have "a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience" (Heb. 10:21-22).
What is
an evil conscience? One that remembers yesterday and whispers, "You're a
sinner."
But in heaven the Lord says, "Welcome! I have
delivered you from your iniquities. You are forgiven. Only saints can enter
here, and the blood has made you righteous."
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To many
it sounds impossible that we can stand before God with the righteousness of
Christ, but it is true. Because the blood of Jesus is pure, we become pure in
God's sight. The Lord cleanses our minds from the past and the present. That is
why I love to sing, "There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious
blood of the Lamb."3
By His
promise you can now say, "The blood has washed my past, and I am
free!"
Satan
will always attempt to torment you by asking, "But what about your
past?"
You can
tell him, "My past? I have no past. It is gone for good. Christ wiped the
slate clean, and I'm free." I remember a time when I took one of my
favorite shirts to the laundry. "I need some help," I told the
manager. "I've sent this to you twice, and this stain is still here.
What's the problem?"
"Leave
it here," he said. "We'll try one more time." When I returned,
he said, "Mr. Hinn, we've tried the best solvents and cleaners available,
but that stain won't budge. It's permanent. I don't think it will ever come
out."
But
that's not the answer I received when I gave my sin-spotted life to the Lord.
We don't
think of the shed blood of God's Son as a stain remover, but it is. Christ's
blood is so powerful that it removes every mark and blemish of sin.
When you lived a life of sin, you
were a slave. Let me show you in the next chapter what Jesus does for slaves.
89.
ELEVEN––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
11
BOUGHT WITH A PRICE
DURING THE YEARS when slavery was
legal in the United States, a gentleman
happened upon a slave-bidding in a crowded street.
The man
paused to observe the activities. As he watched from the edge of the crowd, he
saw one slave after another led onto a platform, their arms and legs shackled
with ropes as if they were animals.
Displayed
before the jeering crowd, they were auctioned off, one by one. Some onlookers
would inspect the "merchandise," grabbing disrespectfully at the
women, examining the muscular arms of the men.
The
gentleman studied the group of slaves waiting
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nearby.
He paused when he saw a young girl standing at the back. Her eyes were filled
with fear; she looked so frightened. He hesitated for a moment and then
disappeared briefly. When he returned, the auctioneer was about to start the
bidding for the young girl he had noticed beforehand.
As the
auctioneer opened the bidding, the gentleman shouted out a bid that was twice
the amount of any other selling price offered that day. There was silence for
an instance, and then the gavel fell as "Sold to the gentleman" was
heard.
The
gentleman stepped forward, making his way through the crowd. He waited at the
bottom of the steps as the young girl was led down to her new owner. The rope
which bound her was handed to the man, who accepted it without saying anything.
The young
girl stared at the ground. Suddenly she looked up and spit in his face.
Silently, he reached for a handkerchief and wiped the spittle from his face. He
smiled gently at the young girl and said, "Follow me."
She
followed him reluctantly. As they reached the edge of the crowd, he continued
to a nearby area where each deal was closed legally. When a slave was set free,
legal documents, called manumission papers, were necessary.
The
gentleman paid the purchase price and signed the necessary documents. When the
transaction was complete, he turned to the young girl and presented the
documents to her. Startled, she looked at him with uncertainty. Her narrowed
eyes asked, What are you doing?
The gentleman responded to her questioning look. He
said, "Here, take these papers. I bought you to set you free. As long as
you have these papers in your possession, no man can ever make you a slave
again."
The girl looked into his face. What was happening?
There was silence.
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Slowly,
she said, "You bought me to set me free? You bought me to set me
free?" As she repeated this phrase over and over, the significance of what
had just happened became more and more real to her.
"You
bought me to set me free?" Was it possible that a stranger had just
granted her freedom and never again could she be held in bondage and servitude
to any man? As she began to grasp the significance of the documents which she
now held in her hand, she fell to her knees and wept at the gentleman's feet.
Through her tears of joy and gratitude, she said,
"You bought me to set me free? . . . I'll serve you forever!"
You and I were once bound in slavery to sin. But
the Lord Jesus paid the price to set us free when He shed His blood at Calvary.
That's what the Bible calls redemption.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:7).
That's
what Paul was referring to when he wrote:
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's (1 Cor. 6:20).
The blood of Jesus was not spilled; it was shed. It
was no accident. The Lord chose to die in our place, shedding His precious
blood on our behalf. Jesus said of Himself:
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).
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Why did
Christ redeem us? So "that the body of sin might be done away with, that
we should no longer be slaves of sin" (Rom. 6:6). That is the only way we
could "be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our
Lord" (Rom. 6:11).
Every day
we can rejoice—not only in what we have been redeemed from, but to what we have
been redeemed. We have been set free from slavery to sin and satan. And we have
been redeemed to a new liberty from sin and to a new life in Christ (2 Cor.
3:17-18).
When you have been redeemed by His blood, you can
say:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal.
2:20).
Reconciled by the Blood
Who was in most need—the slave girl or the man who
bought her? The slave girl, of course. In the same way, God did not need to be
reconciled to man; man needed to be reconciled to God.
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the
fullness should dwell, 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.
And you, who once were alienated and enemies
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in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has
reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and
blameless, and above reproach in His sight (Col. 1:19-22).
While it
was God's desire to continue in love and fellowship with man, sin has compelled
Him to become an opponent. Although the love of God toward man remains
unchanged, sin made it impossible for Him to admit man into fellowship with
Himself.
Andrew Murray brings incredible insight to this
subject in his book The Power of the
Blood.
Sin has had a twofold effect. It has had an effect
on God as well as on man. But the effect it has exercised on God is more
terrible and serious! It is because of its effect on God that sin has its power
over us. God, as Lord of all, could not overlook sin. It is His unalterable law
that sin must bring forth sorrow and death [Rom. 6:23].1
In the
old covenant, God instructed His people to offer sacrifices. These slain
animals symbolically bore the punishment for sin that the people deserved. But
the sacrifices had to be made over and over again.
The old
covenant was the shadow (Heb. 10:1). The new covenant brought the reality.
Christ died "once for all," atoning for our sins and bringing us back
into fellowship with God (Heb. 10:10). Righteousness demanded it; love offered
it.
Now the Lord gives us a new responsibility: to
share the message of reconciliation with the world.
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Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to
Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2
Cor. 5:18-19).
In the
time of Christ, gentiles were excluded from the family of God because they were
not part of the old covenant. They were known as "aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12).
But
through "the blood of His cross" these two groups— the Jews and the
gentiles—were made one, and He "has broken down the middle wall of
separation" so "that He might reconcile them both to God in one body
through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity" (Eph. 2:13-14,16).
He made the gentiles "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God" (Eph. 2:19).
Removing the walls of hostility between people and
between God and people is a part of Christ's great work as mediator of the new
covenant. That's a topic we will discuss in depth in the next chapter.
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––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––TWELVE
12
OUR MEDIATOR
I
WATCHED
IN amazement in the fall of 1993 as the state of Israel and the Palestinian
Liberation Organization (PLO) signed an agreement that laid a
framework
for peace between people whose hostilities ran decades and centuries deep.
Did those
two powerful leaders just happen to meet one weekend? No. That historic moment
came after years of negotiating through a third party—a mediator.
Because of His shed blood, the
Lord Jesus has become our mediator with the Father.
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the
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new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may
receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Heb. 9:15).
Mankind
has always needed a mediator. Job declared, "Oh, that one might plead for
a man with God" (Job 16:21).
Under the old covenant, the high priest became the
legal representative of the people regarding spiritual matters. But there were
some issues that he could not arbitrate. Eli, when he was the high priest of
Israel, said:
If one man sins against another, God will judge
him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? (1 Sam.
2:25).
Today,
Christ has become our high priest through shedding His blood. That is what
gives Him the authority to be our legal mediator in heaven, representing us
before the Father. Because of the cross "He is the Mediator of the new
covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the
first covenant" (Heb. 9:15).
As our
mediator, Christ intercedes on our behalf. The apostle Paul wrote, "It is
Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also makes intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34). The Greek word
for intercession is entuncbano, which
means "to meet with" and "to make petition."
And because He is our high priest, sin will not
defeat us —no, not on a single score. He is our high priest, ever living to
make intercession for us.
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Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession
for them (Heb. 7:25).
There is only one reason why Christ can be our go-between in heaven:
because He is both God and man.
And being found in appearance as
a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the
death of the cross (Phil. 2:8).
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of
flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same (Heb. 2:14).
Only
Christ can say, "I know what man is like, and I can tell you what God is
like. I understand them both from the inside out." When we are being
tempted, Jesus can speak to the Father and say, "I went through the same
thing."
He was sinless, and yet He became our sin bearer.
Instead of symbolically cleansing us from defilement, the Lord cleansed us from
actual sin. It was through the blood
of the cross that the Lord Jesus removed the obstacle which had caused an
estrangement between God and man and restored our fellowship with the Father.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin
(Heb. 4:15).
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Though
Christ is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become
higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26), He is nevertheless "touched with the
feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. 4:15, KJV).
Therefore, as the writer of Hebrews says, "let
us come boldly" today to His "throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy" (Heb. 4:16). This wonderful Savior does not condemn you. He loves you
for He has died for you.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God
and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Tim.
2:5-6).
And because of this ransom, God declares that we are free from the pit
of sin and death.
If there is a messenger for him, A mediator, one
among a thousand, To show man his uprightness, Then He is gracious to him, and
says, "Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom"
(Job 33:23-24).
So come to Jesus Christ our mediator today. Jesus
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me" (John 14:6).
Pleading Our Cases
We know that Christ is our mediator, but He does
even more for us. In that role He is also our advocate, pleading and upholding
our cases before the Father.
My little
children, these things I write to you, so
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that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have
an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).
Because
of the unrelenting temptation of satan, many Christians find themselves out of
fellowship with the Father. That is when they need someone who will speak on
their behalf.
Jesus does not plead the case of
sinners. It is only when the blood has been applied to our hearts that the Lord
becomes our advocate. It is then we can say, "The Lord is my helper; I
will not fear" (Heb. 13:6).
Boldness by the Shed Blood
Because the Lord Jesus sits at
the right hand of the Father, we can enter boldly into the throne room.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the
Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for
us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with
pure water (Heb. 10:19-22).
Our
boldness to enter comes only because of Christ's sacrifice, nothing else. If we
are still in our sin, no amount of brazen courage can open heaven's gates. The
password is: "I come by the blood." The moment you speak those words,
entrance is yours.
If you
long to experience the power of redemption
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which
Jesus accomplished, notice what the passage from Hebrews 10:19-20 says about
the holy of holies, which is now open to us, and the freedom with which we can
enter through the shed blood of Christ.
These
verses say that God has prepared four things for
us.
• "The Holiest" or most holy place—the place where God dwells or
resides
• The blood
of Jesus
• A new and
living way
• A high
priest
In
response, we are to "draw near" with:
• A true
heart
• Full
assurance of faith
• Hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience
• Bodies
washed with pure water
The shed blood of Christ has removed any need to be timid about
approaching the Lord. The Word says:
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb.
4:16).
The shed
blood of Christ gives us the confidence not only to approach His throne, but
also to reach the lost.
After Christ
returned to glory,
the disciples went
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everywhere preaching the message of the cross. They proclaimed it
without fear and were undaunted when they were cross-examined by priests at the
temple in Jerusalem.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And
they realized that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
At the newly formed church in Jerusalem, the
Christians prayed for the disciples with these words:
Lord...grant to Your servants that with all
boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and
that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus
(Acts 4:29-30).
Their
prayer was answered. "The place where they were assembled together was
shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word
of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).
So go
ahead and become fearless in your faith.
The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a
lion (Prov. 28:1).
Eternal Inheritance
Christ shed His blood and became the mediator of the new covenant so
"those who are called may receive the
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promise of the eternal
inheritance" (Heb. 9:15).
What God
promised isn't just for today; it is for eternity.
That's why it is an eternal
inheritance.
The writer of Hebrews compares the new covenant to a last will and
testament.
For where there is a testament, there must also of
necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men
are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives (Heb. 9:16-17).
In other
words, the death of Jesus Christ activated the power of the blood that guaranteed
our inheritance.
Some
people have the idea that when we enter the kingdom of God, the Lord is going
to judge us according to how we have lived, give us a mansion of gold, and
that's it. No. The Bible says our inheritance is eternal, meaning it's an
ongoing possession. When one reward is presented, I believe there will be
another. It will be like a Christmas that never ends.
Scripture
tells us that "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the
heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1
Cor. 2:9). Peter says it is "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled
and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:4). I
am anxious to get to glory and find out what is in store for me.
The promises of God's Word—both the Old and New
Testaments—are ours when we are redeemed by the blood.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise (Gal.
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3:29).
We don't
deserve an inheritance because of our works of righteousness, "but
according to His mercy He saved us ...
that
having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope
of eternal life" (Titus 3:4,7).
Too many people fear that they'll never see their
inheritance. That must be because they don't understand God's amazing grace.
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THIRTEEN––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
13
AMAZING GRACE
0NE DAY A man was driving his new pickup truck on a dusty New Mexico highway when he spotted a hitchhiker standing on
the side of the road. The hitchhiker was carrying a large heavy bag over his
shoulder
and looked exhausted in the heat
of the day.
The
driver stopped and asked, "Where are you headed?"
"Albuquerque."
"Hop
in the back, and I'll take you there," he said.
A few miles down the road the
driver glanced in his rear-view mirror and was surprised to see the man sitting
in the bed of the truck with his bag over his shoulder. Why doesn't he just put
it down? he wondered.
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Finally, he stopped his little pickup, walked back
to the man and inquired, "Why don't you rest and put that bag down?"
"Oh,"
said the hitchhiker, "I don't want to hurt your new truck."
I have
met many Christians who are a carbon copy of that man. They have the wheels of
salvation beneath them, but they are still carrying their own heavy load.
Again and again Jesus says, "Put it down. I'll
carry it for you."
Instead they are proud of their self-effort and
say, "No, Lord. I'd rather do it my own way."
How can they believe that they have been redeemed
by the blood if they are trying to win heaven by their deeds?
Rules and Regulations
For some reason, people are drawn to works. I don't
understand why, but it is true.
Some
false religions call for a ritual of prayer five times a day. Others tell
followers to purify themselves in the waters of sacred rivers or present gifts
to gold-encrusted shrines. The world says, "Work! Work! Work!"
Some
denominations began with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the love of God.
Before long, however, the leaders added works. Legalism replaced the presence
of the Holy Spirit.
The people in these churches were told, "Here
is what it takes to get to heaven. If you follow these rules, you will keep
your salvation, but if not, you will suffer the consequences." And they
were given a one-two-three list of outward acts to perform. They followed the
rules and regulations they were given because, by our very nature, human beings
love works. We mistakenly believe that it is by actions that God is pleased.
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When I
became a Christian I was surprised to find how many in the church were bound to
rituals and spiritual protocol. A dear sister once sat me down and said,
"Young man, do you know it's a sin to have long hair?" And she told
me exactly how God wanted me to cut my shoulder-length hair.
Many
people equate holiness with a pious outward appearance, but it is primarily a
work of the heart. When we have been transformed from within, then we can
demonstrate a consistently changed and transformed life.
It takes some people a lifetime to realize that
holiness is not produced by legalism. Legalism is of the flesh, and God has no
desire for it. Instead, "right living" is the result of our response
to the grace of almighty God.
It's Not Your Ability
After I
met the Holy Spirit in Toronto, I spent many hours (sometimes up to eight hours
a day) praying and fellowshipping with the Lord and studying His Word. One day
I read a book about Martin Luther and how the Lord used him to bring the
message of justification by faith to the church of his day. One portion of the
book focused on Galatians, where Paul talks about how to be free from the curse
of the law.
After
reading that portion, I heard the Lord's voice say in my spirit, "Did you
save yourself? Or was it My blood that saved you?"
"You
saved me," I answered. "Did you choose Me?" He asked. "No,
Lord, You chose me."
"Did
you convict yourself of sin?"
"No,
You convicted me of sin."
"Did
you draw yourself to the cross?"
"No,
Lord, You drew me to the cross."
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Then the
Lord said, "Because you had nothing to do with your salvation, you also
have nothing to do with keeping yourself saved."
At that
moment I realized there is nothing I can do to merit God's favor. It is not by
the flesh, but by Christ's blood and grace that the work is accomplished.
It seems
we all have something in us that says, "I've got to do it myself."
Perhaps it is to prove something. But again and again we realize that in our
own strength we are miserable failures. It is when we finally surrender and
say, "I can't do it!" that we have taken the first step to real
living.
In 1975 I
was ministering at a conference in Brockville, Ontario, where David du Plessis
was also speaking. I met him for the first time while riding back to our hotel
after a meeting. David was a very quiet man and always carried his briefcase
with him wherever he went. When we got on the elevator to go to our rooms, I
must have looked like a Mexican jumping bean next to him. I could hardly
contain my excitement because I was all alone with this great giant of the
faith, and I had a whole list of questions that I wanted to ask.
Very
respectfully I said, "Mr. Pentecost (which is how he was known by many
people), I want to ask you a question. I want to please God so badly. Please
tell me— how I can please God?"
David
didn't respond. He was very quiet. The elevator stopped, and we stepped out and
started walking down the hall. Suddenly he stopped and stuck his finger in my
chest, pushing me up against a wall. He looked at me with piercing eyes and
said, "Don't even try. It's not your ability. It's His in you."
I will
never forget it as long as I live.
Then he
said, "Good night," and picked up his briefcase
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and
walked away while I stood there watching him. Later, he would become a very
dear friend to me and a great influence on my life.
You may
be struggling and agonizing over living the Christian life and trying to please
God. You may feel as if you're getting nowhere. As Kathryn Kuhlman used to say,
"Quit trying and surrender." That's all God asks you to do.
In his
letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul explains how we receive the amazing grace
of God. He starts by describing where we were before we came under grace and
still followed the ways of the world. We "were dead in trespasses and
sins" (Eph. 2:1) and gratified the cravings of our sinful nature,
"fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).
Because
of God's great mercy and love for us, "even when we were dead in
trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ ... and raised us up
together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus"
(Eph. 2:5-6).
Heaven will
be ours, not because of what we have done, but because of "the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast"
(Eph. 2:8-9).
The blood
of Christ covers our sin, and we receive forgiveness through faith because of
the grace of God. It is a message that every believer needs to understand.
We had
nothing to do with earning our salvation. We have nothing to do with keeping
it. Every time we say, "There is something I must do," God says,
"I've done it. All you need to do is accept it."
Religion
says, "Do." Jesus says, "Done."
When
Jesus shed His blood on the cross, He said, "It is
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finished"
(John 19:30). He didn't say, "To be continued." He is "the First
and the Last" (Rev. 1:17) and "the author and finisher of our
faith" (Heb. 12:2).
Because
of the blood of the cross, you are no longer under law but under grace (Rom.
6:14). Your past was erased. You are free from guilt and have victory over
Satan.
The Lord
has provided you with "a better covenant, which was established on better
promises" (Heb. 8:6).
You are
delivered from guilt and condemnation because the blood of Jesus Christ has
been shed for your freedom and liberty (Rom. 6:18; Gal. 5:1). It's yours
through God's grace.
When this truth gets into your
soul, you'll never ask again, "Have my sins really been blotted out?"
Fear and Faith
Many
Christians today have the wrong picture of God. From their childhood they have
built an image of an
almighty
God who is harsh and austere—with glaring eyes of steel. They see Him with a
whip in His hand, ready to beat them every time they make the slightest
mistake.
But God
is nothing like that. Though He occasionally chastises us for our good, He is
always gentle, kind and loving to His children.
I love what it says in the great
hymn "Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven."
Father-like, He tends and spares us; Well our
feeble frame He knows, In His hands He gently bears us, Rescues us from all our
foes.1
In that
same hymn he says, "He's slow to chide and swift
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to
bless." That's just what Psalm 103:8 says: The Lord is merciful and
gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
Those who
continually approach the Lord and say, "I'm filthy. I'm a failure,"
do not know what the grace of God is all about. When you are bound by law, the
entire focus of your life is sin. Yes, we need to confess our sins to Christ and
ask for forgiveness, but there is a great difference between coming before Him
with fear and entering His presence with confidence.
Beneath
our confession there needs to be a tremendous faith that what He did at Calvary
was not for our judgment, but for our freedom. Stop looking at your failures
and see God's mercy. He doesn't want to cast you aside but desires to hold you
in His arms and say, "I love you."
For
almost four thousand years the children of Israel followed rituals and
sacrifices to atone for their sin. But their focus turned from the Law-Giver to
the law, and they fell into bondage.
God repeatedly tried to call them back. He was
saying, "What matters is your hearts—not your works. I want you to love Me—then
you will obey Me."
You may say, I thought the Old Testament dealt only
with law, not love.
It
doesn't. Moses told the Israelites:
Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and
keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always
(Deut. 11:1).
God gave Israel a condition to His promise that the
land would be fruitful for them. This condition was based on love—not works.
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And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My
commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him
with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for
your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may
gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in
your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled (Deut.
11:13-15).
God focused on love, not law, because it wasn't
just difficult for the children of Israel to obey the law; it was impossible.
For the Scriptures state:
A man is not justified by the works of the law but
by faith in Jesus Christ ... for by the works of the law no flesh shall be
justified (Gal. 2:16).
It is
impossible to obey the will of God with our own strength. As my father-in-law,
Roy Harthern, used to say, "Living the Christian life isn't difficult;
it's impossible." But God sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and
enable us to obey His commands. God told His people through Ezekiel, "I
will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezek. 36:27).
Even the early believers had to learn the fact that
we are not justified by works but by faith in God. In Acts 15:1 the story is
told of certain men which "came down from Judea and taught the brethren,
'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be
saved.'"
Do or Die!
112
Some of the disciples were sent to Jerusalem to address the issue. After
much discussion, Peter stood and said:
Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago
God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the
gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them [the
Gentiles], by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no
distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith (Acts 15:7-9).
The law
required circumcision, but all the new covenant demanded was faith.
Remember, law and works have always been the opposite of grace and
mercy.
• The law says, "Follow the rules." Grace says, "It is a
free gift."
• The law says, "See your sin and shame." Grace says, "God
accepts you as you are."
• The law brings the consciousness of sin. Grace brings the awareness of
righteousness.
• The law says, "Do or die." Grace says, "Accept Jesus as
Savior and live."
The Vine and the Branches
It is not our strength that produces life, but His.
Just before the crucifixion, Jesus had a meal with His disciples and gave them
one of the greatest lessons found in the Gospels. He told them that they were
not the vine, and they
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were not the fruit—they were the
branches.
We are an
outlet for God's power, not the power itself.
Jesus said:
I am the true vine, and My Father is the
vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and
every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are
already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and
I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the
vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me
you can do nothing (John 15:1-5).
God's
purpose as the "vinedresser" is to keep the vine clean. The pruning
of sin is not the result of our effort, but of His. All we are required to do
is surrender.
Some
Christians are struggling to bear fruit, but no branch has the power to make
that happen. Jesus was saying, "You don't bear the fruit. I do. But I give
you the privilege of holding it. The fruit is Mine. The vine is Mine. The
branch is simply hooked onto Me. That's all."
Someone
once asked, "If God is doing all the work, then what is my job?"
"Hang
on!" I replied.
The vine
supplies life to the branches, and the branch has the privilege of holding the
fruit. In effect, our job is to become "fruit hangers."
Take a
close look at what is attached to the branch. It is
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the fruit
of the Holy Spirit—not of the flesh. We become the channel through which love,
joy, peace and other spiritual fruit are given to the world (Gal. 5:22-23).
What is the result of our branch-vine relationship?
When we understand it and make the Lord the source of our lives, He answers our
prayers. Jesus said:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you
will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you (John 15:7).
Never
forget that Jesus said, "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
That is true before, during and after salvation.
The vine is strong and the branch
is weak, but branches are what God uses to deliver His fruit to the world. In
the words of the apostle Paul:
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to
put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put
to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the
things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to
bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His
presence (1 Cor. 1:27-29).
"Free Indeed"
Without the blood of Christ and God's grace it
would be impossible for us to have victory over sin. Paul told what it's like
to fight sin in the flesh. "For we know that the law
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is
spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14). He added,
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to
will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find"
(Rom. 7:18).
Our flesh
contains nothing that is good, and our righteousness is as filthy rags (Is.
64:6). We can't make ourselves good enough to please God.
I remember praying, "Lord, there must be
something I can do to please you."
"My
greatest pleasure is when you allow Me to do the work," He said.
I once
heard a story about a Russian pastor who was thrown in prison by communist
officials for preaching the gospel in the former Soviet Union. They did not
allow this great saint of God to see another human being, and they fed him by
pushing the food under the door. Years and years passed, and one day the Lord
appeared to this man in prison.
The man
was so grateful to the Lord for coming to see him. He asked Him, "Is there
anything I can give You to say thank You?"
"No,
everything is Mine," the Lord responded. "There is nothing you can
give Me."
"But,
Lord, there must be something I can give You to say thank You."
"There
is nothing you can give Me," the Lord repeated. "Your very body
belongs to Me. Your very life is Mine."
But the
man asked again, "Oh, please, there must be one thing I can give
You."
Then the
Lord said, "There is. Give Me your sins. That's all I want."
That's all He wants—our surrender. We turn our sins
over to Him because He is the only one who can subdue them. The Bible says:
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Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And
passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not
retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have
compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities (Mic. 7:18-19).
Paul's
solution to his struggle with sin was to turn it over to Christ. He said:
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from
the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to
the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:2-4).
Some
people say, "I've tried to pray, and I have failed. I've tried to read the
Word, and my mind wanders. I've tried to get rid of my habits, and I
can't."
Again and
again they say, "Lord, I'll try one more time." And they continue to
fail.
After many years they finally pray the only prayer
God wants to hear: "Lord, I can't do it. You will have to do the
work." And they finally learn what Philippians 2:13 really means:
It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Suddenly they are transformed and find how easy it
is to live for Jesus. Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and My burden is
light" (Matt. 11:30).
To the
drug addict the Lord says, "Stop trying to set
117
yourself
free!" To the alcoholic He says, "You'll never quit on your
own." To the smoker He says, "Let Me touch you and set you
free."
Jesus
said:
Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave
does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the
Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:34-36).
Saint,
remember that you will never be able to solve your own problems. The Scriptures
say it is "not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit" (Zech. 4:6).
Remember what Kathryn Kuhlman said: "Quit
trying and surrender."
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FOURTEEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
14
THE FATHER'S HAND
WHEN MY
OLDEST daughter Jessica was just a toddler, I remember taking her for a walk in the
woods.
As we
were about to walk up a little hill, I reached down and took hold of her hand.
I didn't want her to slip and fall.
Jessica's little hand was too weak to hold on to
mine. She was depending on my strength to help her reach the top of the hill.
Then the Holy Spirit said to me, "Who is
holding your hand?"
As I
thought about it, I said, "You are, Lord."
How true it
is. All of us are like my little girl Jessica.
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We're too
weak to hold on to His hand. He holds on to our hands.
The Bible
says, "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you,
'Fear not, I will help you'" (Is. 41:13).
The old
covenant promised it, and so did the new. Jesus said, "And I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out
of My hand" (John 10:28).
The first time I read that Scripture passage I
said, "Thank You, Lord, for reaching down and holding me." Several
years later, I was studying the passage again, and I began to praise the Lord
as I noticed what the next verse said.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand (John
10:29).
Not only
is Jesus holding my hand. But the Father is holding it, too. When He reaches
out to you, you can be sure that He will never let go. The only time Jesus will
let you go is when you push Him away.
Not only does the Lord hold us,
but He will lead us in the right path. You are God's possession, and He will
protect you and sustain you. The psalmist tells us:
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand (Ps. 37:23-24).
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For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You
not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the
living? (Ps. 56:13).
God's
grace is not something that happens in a moment of time and then disappears. It
is part of our process of growing. Peter said that we are to "grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18).
How is it
possible to grow in grace? By learning His love, His patience, His mercy and
His acceptance of us. In hundreds of ways the Lord says, "I won't give up
on you. I love you and I forgive you."
When we fail, He reaches down
again and takes us in His arms. That is how we continue to grow in grace.
Grace and Truth
The Word says that Christ was filled with grace and
truth.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth (John 1:14).
Christ
revealed that grace and truth to us.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
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When the
Lord was teaching a group of people in the temple courts of Jerusalem, the Pharisees
brought to Him a woman who had been caught in adultery. "Now Moses, in the
law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" (John
8:5).
Jesus
ignored their question and bent over to write something on the ground with His
finger. When they continued questioning Him, He stood up and said, "He who
is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (John 8:7).
As He
continued to write on the ground, the critics began to walk away until only
Jesus and the woman were left. He turned to her and asked, "'Woman, where
are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one,
Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no
more'" (John 8:10-11).
He said,
"Neither do I condemn you"—that's grace. "Go and sin no
more"—that's truth.
She saw
His grace and decided to sin no more. When we truly see His love and grace, we
will also want to follow Him and leave our sin.
The Lord never tells us to "sin no more"—or
do any other thing—unless He knows we can do it. And because He gives us the
power to obey His commands, He knows we can do it. This way, every command is
really a promise.
Fear and Trembling
Every
time I discuss the grace of God someone will ask, "Doesn't the Bible tell
us that we have to work out our own salvation?"
Here is what Paul said: "Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). But we need to look at
the context of that statement.
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Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12).
But that
is not the end of the story. It is not our work but the Lord's that makes it
possible. The next verse says, "For it is God who works in you both to
will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).
So the Christian life is really working out or
exercising the salvation that God has provided—and He gives us both desire and
strength to do what pleases Him.
Here is the amazing thing: When we let God do the
work in us, then He enables us to work out His salvation.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph.
2:10).
The Lord is not against our efforts, but they must
be a product of His workmanship—His grace. In fact, one of the Lord's purposes
for your salvation is to have you live a "blameless" life.
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him (Eph. 1:4).
Good works will be a by-product of those who know
God's unmerited favor. And the Lord gives us the will to love Him, obey Him and
serve Him. We can't follow the Lord without His first touching us. Jesus said,
"No one can
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come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him" (John 6:44).
We can't love Him without the Holy Spirit's giving
us the love with which to love Him.
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of
God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us
(Rom. 5:5).
When you experience God's love, you will love. When
you find His acceptance, you will accept others. When you experience giving,
you will give.
It all comes down to one simple
thing: God works it in, and we work it out.
We let Him pour in that we may
pour out. First, we cooperate; then we respond. But the Bible makes it clear
that we can't work to earn our salvation.
Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as
grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but
believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for
righteousness (Rom. 4:4-5).
The Lord
does not owe us something because we do good works. He will never put Himself
in debt to anyone. We don't say, "I did it, Lord. Here's my bill." If
we work for something, it is not grace.
There is nothing in us that even desires God
without His first putting the desire within us (John 6:44). God won't honor a
person who says, "I'm going to pray, and I'm going to make it." God
says, "That is the flesh, and I don't want it." God won't accept
works or prayers that come from the
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flesh.
Total Dependence
One day as I was reading Psalm 119, I noticed the
way David was saying, "I cannot do it, Lord. Only You can." I began
to see in this psalm his total dependence on God.
Deal
bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word (v. 17).
Open my
eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law (v. 18).
I am a
stranger in the earth; do not hide Your
commandments from me (v. 19).
Remove
from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies (v. 22).
My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word (v. 25).
Make me
understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on Your wonderful works (v. 27).
Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law graciously (v. 29).
I will run the course of Your
commandments, for You shall enlarge my
heart (v. 32).
Teach me, O Lord,
the way of Your statutes, and I shall
keep it to the end (v. 33).
Give me
understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart (v. 34).
Make me walk in the
path of Your commandments, for I
delight in it (v. 35).
Incline
my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness (v. 36).
Turn away my eyes from
looking at worthless
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things,
and revive me in Your way (v. 37). Establish
Your word to Your servant, who is
devoted to fearing You (v. 38).
Turn away my reproach which I
dread, for Your judgments are good
(v. 39).
Behold, I
long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness (v. 40).
Let my
heart be blameless
regarding
Your statutes, that I may not
be ashamed (v. 80).
Hold me up, and I
shall be safe, and I shall observe
Your statutes continually (v. 117).
Be surety for Your
servant for good; do not let the
proud oppress me (v. 122).
Direct my
steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me (v.
133).
Who is
doing the work? David or the Lord?
We see
clearly here that David is saying, "Only the Lord can." All we have
to do is surrender and let Him do it. So like David, ask Him today to come and
work His grace in you and say, "Lord, 'direct my steps' so that I can walk
with You" (see Ps. 119:133).
True prayer is impossible without the Holy Spirit's
help. Like so many Christians, I thought I could seek the Lord on my own until
one day I read Psalm 119:176, which states:
I have
gone astray like a lost sheep;
Seek Your
servant,
For I do
not forget Your commandments.
When it comes to seeking Him, remember that He
seeks us first. As A. W. Tozer said, "Before a man can seek God, God must
first have sought the man."1
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From that
day until now I pray daily, "Lord Jesus, touch me so that I can call on
You. Give me the strength to seek You today."
David
himself said in the Psalms, "Quicken us, and we will call upon thy
name" (Ps. 80:18, KJV).
It is not
your doing. It is His grace.
I heard an amazing definition of grace one night on
a Christian television program. What I learned is the subject of my next
chapter.
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––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
FIFTEEN
15
YOUR NEW FAMILY
0NE EVENING I was watching a
Christian television program. A preacher
was teaching about grace. He caught my attention when he said, "Let
me tell you what grace really is.
"Let's
suppose that a man has an only child who is murdered. The man has three
choices. He can kill the man for murdering his son, which would be revenge. He
can let the law deal with him, which would be justice. Or he can forgive him,
adopt him and give him his son's place. Now that's grace."
That is exactly what God did when He saved you and
me.
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We were the ones who put His Son on the cross. It
was for our sins and iniquities that Jesus shed His precious blood. And because
of His sacrificial death, when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as Savior
and Lord, God forgives us. Not only that, but we have been adopted into God's
wonderful family.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1).
How true
are the words of the song:
Amazing
grace! how sweet the sound,
That
saved a wretch like me!
I once
was lost, but now am found,
Was
blind, but now I see.1
So great
is the Father's grace that Jesus said, "You ...
have loved them as You have loved
Me" (John 17:23). And so great is His love that Psalm 139:17-18 says:
How
precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great
is the sum of them!
If I
should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.
When I
awake, I am still with You.
Not only does He love us, but He thinks about us
all the time. The Bible says that God will never forget us.
Graven on His Palms
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In Isaiah
49:15-16 the Lord says:
Can a
woman forget her nursing child,
And not
have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely
they may forget,
Yet I
will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.
This
Scripture passage speaks of one of the customs of the East. When a mother had
to be separated from one of her children, she would have the name tattooed on
her palm. All her days were spent working with her hands, and the marks on her
palm constantly reminded her of the child she loved and longed to see.2
The Lord
thinks of you just as often and more. Unfortunately, some do not know His love.
They accept
Him to
escape hell. They accept Him on the basis of fear. They are looking for a fire
escape. Those who receive Him on the basis of fear are always attempting to do
something to prove they are really saved. But their fear results in futile
legalism and useless works.
On the
other hand, the person who accepts Christ on the basis of love discovers,
"It is not what I have done, but what He has done for me." They see
how loving He is.
When you
see His love, you will not see defeat. When you see heaven, you won't see hell.
When you see mercy, you won't see judgment.
Most people have been in the courtroom too long.
Every time they come before the Lord, they see themselves appearing before a
judge. But the Word says:
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Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word
and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into
judgment, but has passed from death into life (John 5:24).
When
Jesus hung on the cross, your sentence of death was waived. The Father took His
judicial robe off, put down the gavel and said, "Come into the family
room. Come home!" Instead of presiding over a court of justice, I see Him
standing in the family room, waiting for His children to return.
When you repent and accept God's grace, He adopts
you into His family. God did not receive you so that He could
"unadopt" you later. He does not threaten to throw you out of the family.
The Lord brings us in and keeps us
in.
We Don't Deserve It
Long ago the Lord spoke through the prophet
Jeremiah and said:
They shall be My people, and I will be their God;
then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for
the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will
put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me (Jer.
32:38-40).
By any account, the children of Israel should have
perished. God even said, "The children of Israel and the children of Judah
have done only evil before Me from their
131
youth" (Jer. 32:30). But He didn't give them what they deserved. He
covered them with His everlasting grace and drew them by His love. Speaking to
Israel, God said:
Yes, I
have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have
drawn
you (Jer.
31:3).
It is mercy that keeps us out of hell by not giving
us the punishment we deserve. But grace gets us into heaven by giving us the reward we don't deserve.
Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,
Because
His compassions fail not.
They are
new every morning;
Great is
Your faithfulness (Lam. 3:22-23).
Paul wrote that "the law entered that the
offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more"
(Rom. 5:20). I thank God that the blood of Christ and the grace of God are more
powerful than our iniquity. There may be a flood of sin, but there is a
"superflood" of grace. And if you have repented and received this
wonderful grace of God, you are forgiven and have discovered the truth of 1
Corinthians 1:27-29:
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world
to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to
put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and
the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things
132
which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh
should glory in His presence.
Yet some
say, "God helps those who help themselves." But those words cannot be
found in the Word. When you think you're a little god who can solve every
problem, God will leave you to your own devices. Only Christ can transform the
heart of man.
Humanism says, "You are the master of your
fate. You have the power to help yourself."
But Jesus
said:
The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel
to the poor;
He has
sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To
proclaim liberty to the captives
And
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke
4:18).
We are the poor, the brokenhearted, the captive,
the blind, the oppressed. God is not asking us to help ourselves. He just asks
us for complete reliance on Him. The Bible does not teach independence. It
proclaims dependence on the Lord.
A Matter of Choice
A man
once asked me, "If God does everything, how is choice involved?" It
was a valid question. "Before you were saved, did you seek the Lord or did
He seek you?" I asked him.
"He
sought me," he replied.
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"Did you produce the faith to believe? Or did
He give it to you?"
"He
gave it to me."
"Well,
if God did all of those things then, who is keeping you now? Are you keeping
yourself? And who will take you into heaven? Can you do it yourself?" I
asked. Finally I said, "You have nothing to do with it." "All
that is good, but where is choice?"
"All
you need to say is yes to Jesus, and these things will be yours. Your choice is
just to accept what He has done for you."
A big
smile broke across his face. "I see it!"
Jesus
told His disciples, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed
you" (John 15:16).
But Scripture warns us that God's grace must never
be misused.
We then, as workers together with Him also plead
with you not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6:1).
Salvation is ours because of what the Lord has
done, not because of our perfection. What produces failure? It is when we stop
trusting God and rely on ourselves. The prophet Ezekiel said:
When I say to the righteous that he shall surely
live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his
righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has
committed, he shall die (Ezek. 33:13).
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I believe that we are secure in our salvation, but
we can risk losing what He has given us. For Peter said:
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of
the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are
again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the
beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered to them (2 Pet. 2:20-21).
Where is
the balance? God chooses us but always gives us the choice to respond.
If
someone came to me with a gun pointed at my head and said, "Deny Christ or
die," I would say, "Shoot." Why? Because my commitment to Christ
is not temporary; it's eternal.
When I
met the Lord it was not a "goose-bump," momentary experience. At that
moment I became a totally new person. It was an instantaneous, new birth. It is
a continuous salvation.
What should be our response to the Lord in return
for His eternal benefits? The psalmist said: "I will take up the cup of
salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Ps. 116:13).
Gracious
is the Lord, and righteous;
Yes, our
God is merciful.
The Lord
preserves the simple;
I was
brought low, and He saved me.
Return to
your rest, O my soul,
135
For the
Lord has dealt bountifully with you (Ps.
116:5-7).
This salvation is even better than we can think. We
can have complete confidence that He will finish what He has started ... that
He has committed to keep us (Phil. 1:6). But how can we know that in our
hearts? The answer lies in understanding the seal of the Holy Spirit.
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SIXTEEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
16
THE GREAT SEAL
WHEN WE ARE washed by His blood
and
cleansed by the Word, then the Lord puts the seal
of the Holy Spirit on us. Paul wrote:
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory
(Eph. 1:13-14).
137
A seal is a symbol of protection. It says,
"This is mine. Put it aside, and leave it for me. No one is to touch it
because I am coming back to claim it."
The Lord does not seal anything that He does not
plan to redeem. And He would not build mansions unless He was waiting for us to
come home (John 14:2-3).
We will
remain sealed until Christ takes us home "to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1
Pet. 1:4).
The
inheritance is for those "who are kept by the power of God through faith
for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5).
The seal
will not be removed until His final work has been completed. Paul said that we
"who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body"
(Rom. 8:23).
The work
is complete when the final trumpet sounds.
The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this
mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written: "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:52-54).
Seventy Times Seven
As long as you accept what Christ's blood has done
for you, no power on earth can break God's seal (2 Tim. 1:12).
138
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38-39).
You may
ask, Are you telling me that God loves me in spite of myself?
Yes. Regardless of our inconsistencies, He still
loves us. He adopted us even though we were responsible for the death of His
Son. And He welcomes us back even when we falter and fail.
Some
people worry, What if I make the same mistake again and again? Will He still
pardon me?
Peter
asked Jesus the same question.
"Lord, how often shall my brother sin against
me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do
not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven" (Matt.
18:21-22).
The
Lord's answer does not mean Christians can live in sin without repenting and
still make heaven. Far from it. Those who abuse the forgiving nature of God
have never experienced His true salvation. What God offers is more than eternal
security—He gives us eternal grace.
It is God's transforming grace that makes
redemption possible and prepares us to live godly lives.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying
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ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for
Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).
When you come face to face with the saving grace of
God, it will bring a hunger for righteousness and godliness.
Because of the finished work of Calvary, God sent
His Holy Spirit to provide strength to live holy lives. Paul said that we
"do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the
Spirit" (Rom. 8:4, NIV). What God said to the prophet Zechariah is still
true.
"Not
by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,"
Says the
Lord of hosts.
"Who
are you, O great mountain?
Before
Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he
shall bring forth the capstone
With shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'" (Zech.
4:6-7).
You may be facing temptation that seems like a
mountain that will crush you. But because of the Spirit of the Lord and because
of His grace, you can take that mountain apart stone by stone.
The Power of Grace
With
God's grace comes great power.
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With great power the apostles gave witness to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:33).
In the book of Acts we see what the power of God accomplished in the
first Christians.
• They received power and became witnesses. "But you shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to
Me" (Acts 1:8).
• The Holy Spirit changed their speech. They began speaking in unknown
tongues (Acts 2:4) and speaking God's word with boldness (Acts 4:31).
• Their demeanor was changed. Stephen was the most dramatic example of
this. When the Holy Spirit came upon Stephen while he was on trial, "all
who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of
an angel" (Acts 6:15).
I believe
that when God's anointing is on someone, the presence of the Holy Spirit is
evident to those around that person.
There is
a look of divine power and joy on his or her face, a sense of authority in the
person's voice. That's why Peter and John told the lame man, "Look at
us" (Acts 3:4). When that lame man looked at them, they knew he would be
able to see that the power of God was upon them.
One of the things I will never
forget about Kathryn Kuhlman is that every time the anointing came on her, her
141
eyes would change. They would have a sparkle in them.
I've noticed something over the years. Any time the
anointing leaves a servant of God, the sparkle goes; the fire goes. I
recall a man who came to visit my church recently. At one time he was one of
the mightiest men of God in Canada. But when I looked at him, there was no
sparkle, no fire anymore. The anointing was gone, and his face showed it.
• The Holy Spirit gave them boldness. "Now when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men,
they marveled" (Acts 4:13). They had no more fear, but glorious boldness
to proclaim the good news of the gospel.
• The Holy Spirit changed their relationships. Peter said that he was a
witness of what Jesus had done "and so also is the Holy Spirit" (Acts
5:32). Here we see the Holy Spirit as their companion and helper.
• The Holy Spirit changed their position. Stephen started out as an usher
in the church (Acts 6:5), but he ended up being a mighty evangelist (Acts
6:8-10).
• The Holy Spirit changed their vision. "But he, being full of the
Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at
the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55).
The Holy
Spirit's great power is available to us today
142
because we have also received
God's "great grace."
The Holy Spirit in our lives is a reminder that
Christ has bled and died, risen again and ascended to the right hand of His
Father. Jesus Himself asked His disciples to remember Him in another special
way. My eyes were opened to a rich, new meaning in this remembrance by a group
of charismatic nuns.
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––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
SEVENTEEN
17
THE COMMUNION IN THE COMMUNION
A
COUPLE OF
years ago I held a crusade where more than twelve thousand people jammed a
coliseum at a fairgrounds to hear the Word of God
preached.
As I ministered on the platform, my eyes were drawn
to a group of Roman Catholic nuns dressed in distinctive floor-length black
habits sitting down front in the massive crowd.
Because I was taught by Catholic nuns when I was a
boy, I have a special place in my heart for them. So I called
144
them—forty-nine
in all—up onto the platform. We talked, and I discovered they were Catholic
charismatics who had driven six hours to attend the service.
I invited
them to join me in leading the people in a rousing version of "How Great
Thou Art." At the end of the song, the nuns pulled their crosses out from
under their habits and lifted them toward the Lord. It was a very powerful
moment, one I'll never forget.
After the
service I had a little more time to talk with them. I learned they belonged to
an order which was founded by their mother general, a tall woman with piercing
blue eyes. (I found out later that a mother general is even higher than a
mother superior.)
"Why
don't you come and visit our convent?" the mother general asked me.
"I
would love to come," I told her.
A few
months later I did. The convent is located on rolling hills in a river valley.
The sisters built all of the buildings including a retreat center and a farm
where they raise their own animals.
The
sisters served me and a few friends who had accompanied me a beautiful turkey
dinner, complete with vegetables they had grown themselves.
After
dinner they asked, "Would you mind if we served you communion?"
"Not
at all. I would love it," I said.
(Apparently,
they felt it would be permissible to serve me because I had been baptized in
the Greek Orthodox church as a child.)
I didn't
realize the Lord had something in store for me that night that would impact my
life greatly.
All forty-nine nuns, along with my friends and me,
went to the newly built prayer chapel. The nuns began worshiping the Lord,
"singing in the Spirit" and blessing
145
the Lord
for about half an hour. The sisters gave several words of prophecy that
encouraged me.
By then I was on my knees crying because I sensed
such a tremendous presence of the Lord there.
It was an
anointing that I had never before experienced in a communion service, not even
in my own church. It was a divine, powerful presence of God that I can't
describe except to say, "Jesus walked into that little room."
Just as they were finishing that time of worship, I
began to feel a numbness in my arms and chest. I didn't know that the mother
general had just gone to the table and picked up the communion wafer. Now she
began to speak the words of the apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 11:23:
For I received from the Lord that which I also
delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was
betrayed took bread....
As I was
kneeling and praising the Lord with my hands extended directly in front of me,
the mother general put the wafer in my mouth.
At that
moment I felt a fire literally go through me, and as that took place something
else amazing happened. I sensed on the tips of my fingers something like a robe—a
soft, silky fabric.
I thought maybe I was touching one of the sister's
robes or that my mind was playing tricks on me. I wasn't sure what it was. So I
opened my eyes to see whether someone had stepped in front of me. There was no
one.
I wanted to make sure it wasn't just my mind, so I
closed my eyes again. By this time, of course, I was weeping and trembling.
Again I felt the robe. I thought, This can't be. I opened my eyes. Nothing was
there.
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I closed
my eyes again, and there it was. I could still feel it. So I moved my hands
closer toward each other. Then I was stopped. I could not move them any closer.
I felt a physical body there.
I believe
I was literally kneeling at the feet of Jesus. After that communion service, I
couldn't quit singing. That whole night I felt as if I were floating. I went
back to my hotel room and asked the Lord, "What happened to me?" The
Lord began to open my understanding about the subject of communion.
Whenever
we have communion, we are having communion with the Lord. When we celebrate the
Lord's supper, He Himself comes.
I want to share with you what the Lord showed me
through that experience and as I studied the Word. In 1 Corinthians 10:16, the
Bible says:
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ?
This
verse says, "There is communion in the communion." Often when we take
communion, we don't realize that we are to have communion with the Lord
Himself. It's not just a practice because of tradition or what we were told by
our fathers or our mothers. Yes, it's a remembrance of what He did for us two
thousand years ago at Calvary. But at the same time, it is a communion with Him
in the present! He comes today to fellowship with you as a son or as a
daughter.
Even though I'd been a Christian and a preacher for
many years, it was not until that night at the convent that I began to see
something new in the communion. The fact is,
147
when we
have communion, Jesus wants to come and have fellowship with us as we partake
of "the Lord's supper."
We call it the Lord's supper because it's His
supper, not ours.
I would love to sense the Lord's robe on my
fingertips every time I take communion. But that doesn't happen. I believe the
Lord revealed Himself to me in that special way in order to teach me. Yet since
that time, I sense a special presence of the Lord in my spirit each time I take
communion.
Being Worthy
I was so thrilled by this new understanding about
the Lord's supper that I wanted to do everything I could to keep the
"communion in the communion." Paul's warning in the Scriptures became
so real:
Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this
cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of
the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27).
Why was he saying this to the Corinthian church?
What would cause them to turn communion with the Lord into a vain ceremony? The
apostle Paul gives us five reasons.
1.
There were divisions among them.
"For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there
be divisions among you; and I partly believe it" (1 Cor. 11:18, KJV).
2.
There were heretical teachings in
the church. "For there must be also heresies among you, that they which
are approved may be made
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manifest among you" (1 Cor. 11:19, KJV).
3.
We see selfishness in this
church. "For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and
one is hungry, and another is drunken" (1 Cor. 11:21, KJV).
4.
They despised the house of God.
"What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church
of God..." (1 Cor. 11:22, KJV).
5.
They've become very proud and
look down on others. "...and shame them that have not?" (1 Cor.
11:22, KJV).
When Paul
warned against celebrating the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner, he was
talking about the sins in the Corinthian church. Some of their sins were even
committed at the Lord's table!
Paul said that many of the Corinthians were
"weak and sick," and some had even died because of their lack of
discernment. That's a negative thing. But by the same token, if we partake
worthily, I believe there will be health and strength, rather than weakness and
sickness. Paul goes on to say:
For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be
judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not
be condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11:31-32).
If we would judge ourselves, then God wouldn't have to judge us. But if
He does judge, He is only doing it for the
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sake of
your redemption. In Psalm 32 we see both kinds of judgment—how God judges man
and how man can judge himself.
Listen to the way David describes himself when he
"kept silent"—in other words, when he did not judge himself and
confess his sin.
When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day
long (v. 3).
Here we
see that when he didn't confess his sin, his physical body was affected.
Remember that Paul said, "For this reason [participating in communion
unworthily] many are weak and sick among you" (1 Cor. 11:30).
God often judges us by withdrawing a sense of His
presence from us. Living without the presence of the Lord is like the dryness
of a summer without rain.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my
moisture is turned into the drought of summer (v. 4, KJV).
So how can we come back into the Lord's favor? David demonstrates what
to do.
I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said,
"I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,"
And You
forgave the iniquity of my sin (v. 5).
Speaking of David, the Lord said, "He is a man after My own
heart" (see 1 Sam. 13:14). Why? Because David
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sought after the Lord.
When the
prophet Samuel told Saul that God had rejected him, Saul asked Samuel for
forgiveness (1 Sam. 15:25). When the prophet Nathan confronted David for
stealing another man's wife, you don't find David saying, "Forgive me,
Nathan" (see 2 Sam. 12). Rather he said, "Have mercy upon me, O
God" (Ps. 51:1).
The big
difference between David and Saul was this: Saul sought forgiveness; David
sought the one who forgives.
David
sought God and asked Him to forgive him. We also must confess our sins to the
Lord. When we acknowledge our transgressions to Him, then the Bible says,
"You forgave the iniquity of my sin" (Ps. 32:5).
Amazingly, the Bible calls those who confess their
sins godly.
For this
cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time
when You may be found (v. 6).
Look at how David's relationship with God changed
after he confessed his sin. He wrote:
You are
my hiding place;
You shall
preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance (Ps. 32:7).
So we see
the way God responds when we repent.
Paul states that we must judge ourselves before
partaking of the Lord's supper. How do we judge ourselves? By confessing our
sins. And what is the result?
151
Communion with the Lord is
restored.
What Do We Remember?
When
Jesus was celebrating the first communion with His disciples, He told them,
"Do this in remembrance of Me." What should we remember when we come
to the Lord's table?
First,
dear saint, I know you thank God that Jesus died in your place to free you from
the consequences of your sins. But He did so many other things for you on the
cross.
The Bible declares that Jesus suffered rejection
and became acquainted with grief for you and me.
He is
despised and rejected by men,
A Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief (Is.
53:3).
On the cross Jesus bore our sins
and the consequences of our sins.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows (Is. 53:4).
The word grief here is the Hebrew choliy which means "weak, sick or
afflicted." Surely He hath borne our weaknesses, sicknesses and
afflictions. The Hebrew word for sorrows
is makob, which means "pain or
grief."
The Scriptures are clear: Jesus not only died to
take away our sins; He died to take away our sicknesses. The New Testament
confirms that fact in Matthew 8:16-17.
When evening had come, they brought to Him
152
many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the
spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
"He Himself took our
infirmities And bore our sicknesses."
Matthew was referring to Isaiah 53:4, which speaks
of Christ being stricken, smitten and afflicted.
So Jesus died not only to take away your sins, but
to take away your sicknesses.
I believe the psalmist was
speaking prophetically of the benefits of the cross when he wrote Psalm 103.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits (v. 2).
Why shouldn't we forget His
benefits? I believe when you forget what God has done for you, He is grieved.
The psalmist said of the children of Israel:
And again
and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel. They did not
remember His power,
The day when He redeemed them from the adversary
(Ps. 78:41-42, NAS).
It's important to God that you remember what He has
done for you. That's why we celebrate the Lord's supper— to remember all the
good things He has done for us through the cross. And here they are in Psalm
103:
153
• "Who forgives all your iniquities" (v. 3). All your sins are
washed; all your sins are forgiven. All you have to do is repent and receive
Him as your Savior.
• "Who heals all your diseases" (v. 3). I'm so glad the verse
doesn't say, "Who forgave" and "who healed." It says,
"Who forgives"— present tense—and "who heals"—present
tense. He still forgives; He still heals.
• "Who redeems your life from destruction" (v. 4).
• "Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies" (v.
4).
• "Who satisfies your mouth with good things" (v. 5). The Bible
says God satisfies you with good things. He never gives bad things; He always
gives good things. As my friend Oral Roberts says, "God is a good
God."
• "So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (v. 5). When
we know His benefits, He'll renew us.
• "The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are
oppressed" (v. 6). Because of the cross, we are defended from the
oppressor.
I want to share with you one more benefit of the
cross that the Lord showed me many years ago. It has blessed me greatly.
154
Come Into
the Throne Room
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-8 something
wonderful about what Jesus has done for us. He took seven "steps" to
descend from His heavenly throne to the cross.
1.
"Who, being in the form of
God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God" (v. 6),
2. "but
made Himself of no reputation" (v. 7),
3. "taking
the form of a bondservant" (v. 7),
4. "and
coming in the likeness of men" (v. 7).
5.
"And being found in
appearance as a man" (v. 8),
6. "He
humbled Himself' (v. 8)
7.
"And became obedient to the
point of death, even the death of the cross" (v. 8).
And, as we read in Philippians 2:9-11, God took seven "steps"
to restore His throne to Him.
1.
"Therefore God also has
highly exalted Him" (v. 9)
2.
"and given Him the name
which is above every name" (v. 9),
3.
"that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow" (v. 10),
4. "of
those in heaven" (v. 10),
5. "and
of those on earth" (v. 10),
155
6. "and
of those under the earth" (v. 10),
7.
"and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
(v. 11).
Now in
the book of Hebrews the Scripture declares that after the Lord Jesus purged our
sins, He "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb.
1:3). Sitting speaks of a finished work; the right hand speaks of power. Jesus
received all authority and all power. "Majesty on high" speaks of His
being the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Because
He is on that throne, the Bible says we have "boldness to enter the
Holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Heb. 10: 19). Jesus went from the throne
to the cross to save us. He went from the cross to the throne to become our
high priest and enable us to enter God's presence.
Whenever
you celebrate the Lord's supper, remember that it is because of the blood of
Jesus Christ that we can have fellowship with God. And as we recall what He has
done for us when His body was broken and His blood was shed, then the presence
of God will descend.
I've seen
in my own experience that through the blood of Jesus, the anointing of God
always comes—not only on my private, personal prayer life, but even during
church services and the great miracle services.
I never
conduct a service without thanking Him for the blood. And every time I do, the
presence of God descends, and miracles take place. In the old covenant, God
responded with fire when blood was offered on the altar. So it is today. When
the blood of Jesus is honored, when the cross is honored, the Holy Spirit comes
and touches people's lives.
I pray
that the presence of the Holy Spirit will become
156
great in your life as a result of reading this book. And I pray your
love for the Lord will increase until that glorious day when you see Him face
to face.
157
NOTES––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Book Opening
1. R. A. Torrey, How
to Obtain Fullness of Power (Tarrytown,
N.Y.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1897;
Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Sword of the Lord Publishers, n.d.), p. 19.
Chapter 1
1. Maxwell Whyte, The
Power of the Blood (Springdale, Pa.: Whitaker House, 1973), pp. 87-88, 90.
2. Ibid., p. 23.
Chapter 3
1. See The
Bethany Parallel Commentary (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers,
1985), comments from Jamieson, Fausset, Brown and Adam Clarke for Gen. 3:21.
2. H. Clay Trumbull, The Blood Covenant (Kirkwood, Mo.: Impact Books, 1975), pp. 18-20.
Chapter 6
1. Torrey, Fullness
of Power, p. 60. 2. Ibid.
3. The Best
of E. M. Bounds on Prayer (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House,
1981), p. 27.
158
Chapter 7
1. David Alsobrook, The Precious Blood (Paducah, Ky.: David Alsobrook Ministries,
1977), pp. 50-58.
2. New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D. Douglas (Wheaton,
Ill.: Tyndale House, 1987), s.v. plants.
Chapter 8
1. Derek Prince, The
Spirit-Filled Believer's Handbook (Orlando, Fla.: Creation House, 1993), p.
251.
2. Andrew Murray, The
Power of the Blood (Fort Washington, Pa.: Christian Literature Crusade,
1984), p. 28.
3. Billy Graham, Revival
in Our Time (Wheaton, Ill.: Van Kampen Press, 1950), p. 119.
Chapter 9
1. Alsobrook, The
Precious Blood, pp. 60-68.
2. The
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982), s.v. shoe; sandal by David M. Howard.
Chapter 10
1. Torrey, Fullness
of Power, p. 23-24.
2. Ibid., p. 24.
3. From the song "There Is Power in the Blood,"
text and music by Lewis Jones.
Chapter 11
1. Murray, The
Power of the Blood, p. 32-33.
Chapter 13
1. From the song "Praise My Soul, the King of
Heaven," words by Henry F. Lyte, music by John Goss. Adapted from Psalm
103.
Chapter 14
1. A. W. Tozer, The
Pursuit of God (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, Inc., 1948), p.
11.
159
Chapter 15
1. From the song "Amazing Grace! How Sweet the
Sound," text by John Newton.
2. Barbara Bowen, Strange
Scriptures That Perplex the Western Mind
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985), p. 36.
160
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