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Our Weapon: The Blood of Christ

 


As Scripture describes it, another great weapon in our arsenal is the blood of Jesus Christ.

“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death’” (Rev. 12:9–11).

“They” are “our brothers” (v. 10). The “him” they triumphed over is “Satan” (v. 9). Their weapon was the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The blood of Christ works in our salvation, our redemption, and for our continual cleansing:

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Rev. 1:5–6).

“God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” (Rom. 3:25).

“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Rom. 5:9).

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pet. 1:18–19).

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7).

“He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12b).

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! . . . In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:14, 22).

So the blood of Christ is clearly a weapon. By the shedding of His blood, Christ saved the believers, and through His blood they overcame Satan. “The blood of the Lamb” is not just a phrase to say. It is not a mantra. It is the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ that overcomes, not the phraseology. Hebrews 2:14 says it this way:

“Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.”

Focus on the second phrase: “so that by His death,” that is, by the blood of the Lamb, “He might destroy him who holds the power of death.” We use this truth by believing it. When we believe this, we pray and preach the death of Christ, and we are not just saying words. When we believe it, we are wielding it.


*Excerpted from Weapons & Tactics. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

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