How Does The Blood of Christ Work in Our Lives?
Dear Body,
I wish to understand how the blood of Jesus works in our lives
– How it speaks better things than of Abel
– How it purges our consciences
– How it cleanses us from sinBut if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 KJV)
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge yourconscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Your brother willing to learn,
M____
Hi M____,
Thank you for your question. What exactly is “the blood of Christ in our lives”?
The very fact that “the blood of Christ… speaks…” is a powerful hint as to what this “blood of Christ” is.
It always helps to know the Biblical definition of the word or phrase under discussion, and in this instance we have the blood of Christ, which works so powerfully in our lives, defined for us by none other than Christ Himself. Once we come to know what ‘the blood of Christ” is, then we will be able to understand how His blood works in our lives to cleanse, sanctify, atone and reconcile us to God.
Here is what Christ defines as His blood which was shed for all of us:
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
1Co 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
There it is in plain language which anyone can understand. The blood of Christ which works so powerfully in our lives is “the New Testament in my blood”.
Your question gives us the opportunity to come to understand the meaning of the word ‘blood’ in all of these verses, and how the “blood” of Christ is demonstrated by Christ to be in complete contrast to the “blood of Abel”.
To clarify that contrast I will add just a few scriptures which I hope will answer your three questions:
“I wish to understand how the blood of Jesus works in our lives,
– How it speaks better things than of Abel
– How it purges our consciences
– How it cleanes us from sin
Your first question is:
“How it (the blood of Christ) speaks better things than of Abel”
“Abel to Zecharias” are the words which our Lord used to express the things of the Old Testament dispensation. For example:
Luk 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
So the “things… of Abel” are the things of the Old Testament and the law of Moses, which we are plainly told “[are] not for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…”
1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
1Ti 1:11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
So, there it is, “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God… My blood in the New Testament… speaks better things than of Abel, [because] the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…”
We are told that those commandments were “carnal commandments” for a carnal nation:
Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Those verses are just a couple of the “better things than of Abel”. In Matthew chapters 5-7 every “You have heard it said by them of old… but I say unto you…” is Christ’s blood in the New Testament speaking better things than of Abel.
It is the blood of Christ which He Himself tells us “is My blood in the New Testament”, which Christ is contrasting with “the blood of Abel [and the] things… of Abel” in the Old Testament and in the law of Moses which were “carnal commandment[s]” for a carnal nation.
That should answer your first question, “How it is better than of Abel.”
Your second question was:
“How it purges our conscience”
A ‘purged conscience’ is a ‘clear conscience’. We say, “My conscience is clear” only when we know that we are not guilty of the things of which we are accused by our accusers. Our chief accuser is “the adversary”:
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
When we quit glorifying ourselves and the adversary and we start believing “the New Testament in My blood”, the Truth of the scriptures, then our conscience is ‘purged’ because we will then accept the truth of these words of scripture:
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
Your third question was:
How it [the blood of Christ] cleanses us from sin
This, too, is a powerful work of the spirit, which ‘spirit’ is also defined as “the word”:
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
When the words of Christ, “[His] blood in the New Testament”, dwell within us, they burn out and purge from within our hearts and minds all the “wood, hay, and stubble” that is there to burn, and in doing so those words, His blood, wash our robes white and cleanse us of our sins:
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The ‘burning’ and the ‘washing’ are one and the same thing in the scriptures because:
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
There it is. It is the fiery word of God, which is the blood of Christ, which works in us to purge us of our sins “by [His chastening] grace through faith”.
If the blood of Christ is understood by the things that are made, then we need to note that it is the blood which nourishes every cell in the body.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Your brother and fellow servant,
Mike
Hi M____,
I will give my two cents according to the scriptures. It is blood that was decreed by God to make atonement for the soul.
Lev 17:11 for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar, to make atonement for your souls; for it [is] the blood which maketh atonement for the soul.
So the key there is “atonement”, what it is does and how that works, because that is what blood does. The Hebrew there is:
h3722. כָּפַר ḵâp̱ar
primitive root; to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively, to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel
And of course, as revealed in Hebrews, the “blood” of bulls of goats was not possible to actually take away sins. Jesus Christ “shed his blood” for the atonement of our sins, not just for ours but the sins of the whole world, and he takes away our sins via the “atonement” of the blood, and that brings reconciliation, or an easier way to say it – change.
Heb 10:3 But in them (those sacrifices) there is a recollection of sins year by year;
Heb 10:4 for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and of he-goats to be eliminating sins…(CLV) .(Hebrews 10:10 YLT) in the which will, we are having been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once)Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled (G2644), we shall be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (reconciliation – G2643).G2644 καταλλάσσω – katallassō (kat-al-las’-so)
From G2596 and G236; to change mutually, that is, (figuratively) to compound a difference: – reconcile.
I like Thayer’s Definition — to change, exchange, as coins for others of equivalent value
G2643 καταλλαγή – katallagēn (kat-al-lag-ay’)
From G2644; exchange (figuratively adjustment), that is, restoration to (the divine) favor: – atonement, reconciliation (-ing).
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.That word, propitiation, actually means atonement –
ἱλασμός hilasmos (hil-as-mos)
atonement, that is, (concretely) an expiator: – propitiation.
So, to sum it up; the Blood of Jesus is what covers, redeems changes, reconciles, and sanctifies us spiritually.
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood (the atonement, covering, reconciliation), to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.I hope that helps,
Shelton
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