A Christian View of 2022 - #29
Christian terms are not timeless. Every 50 years or so the language of the Church needs to be taken to a convalescent home to be restored to relevance.
Words can become worn out and phrases of faith can be filled with cultural interpretation and contemporary distortion.
Would you give me the privilege of pointing out such a phrase - packed with theology and powerful in application and used to pronounce victory over Satan and spiritual principalities and powers.
“I Plead the blood.” Have you ever heard of that before? Have you ever, with fervour and faith, made such a proclamation?
It is a term for the courtroom.
You see, when the charged is read; and, the judge asks: “How do you plead, Innocent or guilty?
That is, what is it that you want the court to consider?
So, likewise, when the Devil accuses and the law condemns -
I plead the Blood of Jesus - that it was shed for the forgiveness of all my sins.
This what the court considers. Is the Saviour’s sacrifice enough?
It a term for the conflict.
When, the spiritual battle rages and defeat seems imminent - I plead the blood of Jesus.
Through the cross, the principalities and powers have been disarmed.
Colossians 2:14-15 NLT
“He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”
When the weakest Believer “pleads the Blood”
all of the advocacy and efficacy of Jesus’ atonement comes to his defense.
When the embattled soldier, weary and wounded in the fight “pleads the blood of Jesus”, the God of heaven’s angels rebukes the Evil one and the demonic assault is subdued, Satan is silenced and the soldier comes to rest in the finished redemption!
It all goes back to the Cross…the place of eternal and infinite irony! Here, it seems the place of Satan’s celebration and song - when the Son was scourged and His body lay limp and lifeless, became the very place, where the Devil met his own defeat, demise and destruction.
“I plead the blood of Jesus” is a stinging reminder of the Serpent’s head being crushed under Christ’s wounded feet and the overthrow of his kingdom.
Why not, right now, in the height of your struggle, under the weight of your suffocating worry - plead the blood.
The battle is not too far gone, the burden is not so crushing that Jesus can’t bring it to victory - plead the blood.
This not a mantra for religious rhetoric, it is not a verbal wand to wave; rather, it is the summoning of the redeeming sacrifice, the invoking of the most powerful weapon in Heaven’s arsenal - the precious blood of Jesus!
Well should we sing the reassuring refrain again …
“There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb
There is power, power, wonder-working power
in the precious blood of the Lamb”
Randy B. Leavitt
Pastor