One Blood                                                                     

Acts 17

vs. 24 And God made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

vs. 25 Neither is worshiped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

vs. 26 He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.

In Acts 17, Paul is emphasizing that God created everything, including mankind.  Notice the phrase, “He has made of one blood…all…men.”  God began with one man, Adam, and one woman, Eve, and from them, all the people of the earth have been created.  A few hundred years later eight people, Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives survived the flood, and from those eight, all of the nations of the earth have come.

Only one place of equality exists; the equality that is a result of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  It is only when we are in Jesus Christ that there is neither male nor female, black nor white, neither Jew nor Greek.  There are no distinctions:  gender, race, age, social standing.   In the Body of Christ, we are all one.

It seems that the world is continually magnifying our differences.  This scripture tells us that all nations of men have come from one blood.  Whether or not we are born again, blood is the same worldwide.

Jesus did not shed His skin for us; He shed His blood.  Blood is without nationality or race.  When Jesus shed His blood, He did not shed something that was unique to Him; He shed something that united Him with all mankind.  If all mankind is one because of Adam’s blood, the whole Body of Christ is one because of Jesus’ blood.  We do not refer to blood as Irish or Italian or African or Jewish.  If we were dying and needed a transfusion, it would make no difference from which nation the blood originated.  The good news is that we received a supernatural transfusion when we were born again. It is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that has given us life!

Matthew 26

vs. 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

vs. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink you all of it;

 vs. 28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.”

The word “testament” means “covenant”.  Under the Old Covenant, there was the blood of animals: bulls and goats, oxen, turtledoves—all types of animals were sacrificed.  But all of the animal blood shed under the Old Covenant was speaking of the shed blood of Jesus.

The blood of Jesus is for the remission of sins.  Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.  The shed blood of animals only spoke of the blood of Jesus Christ.  There were certain sacrifices done annually, but for the daily needs of the people, the blood of animals was shed daily.  The wonderful news about the blood of Jesus is that it was shed once for all.  His blood was so powerful in redeeming us from sin, bringing us into relationship with God, and bringing us into the family of God, it only needed to be shed one time!

The Purpose of the Blood                                            

Hebrews 9

vs. 22  “And almost all things that are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

“Remission” means, “the washing away, the cleansing of, the taking away”.   If our sins are remitted, they no longer exist and in the absence of sin, we now have cleanness. 

Romans 3

vs. 25 “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past...”

God is satisfied with us.  We have the same righteousness that God has; the same righteousness that Jesus has.  When we put our faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only were our sins removed, that same righteousness has been given to us!

Romans 5

vs. 9 “…being now justified by his blood.”

“Justified” simply means God sees us as if we had never sinned.  It is good to know that God does not bring up our past.  We become totally clean through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The new birth separated us immediately from Satan’s kingdom and made us part of God’s own family.  We have been made righteous and we have been justified through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Redemption Through the Blood                                  

Ephesians 1

vs. 7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

Colossians 1

vs. 14 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”

I Peter 1

vs. 19 “But (we were redeemed) with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

We have redemption through the precious blood of Jesus.  Redemption was the purchase price that paid the debt of sin that was against us.  The blood redeemed us and brought us through the doorway into the Christian life.  Once we were brought into new life, we were given the name of Jesus Christ.  The authority associated with the name of Jesus Christ has been given to us, and God has backed up that authority through His name.

Again, the blood is our redemption and it is what cleanses us.  When we are born again, we do not cleanse ourselves, God cleanses us.  God has possession of the cleansing power that is in the blood.

I John 1

vs. 9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Whenever we sin as Christians, as we confess our sins, the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses us.  It is the Lord Who cleanses us.  The same God Who washes and cleanses us at the new birth also washes and cleanses us by the blood of Jesus when we confess our sins.  God is the One Who has power over the blood, but what has been given to the Church is the name of Jesus Christ.  What we have been given we have the right to use.  God has given us the name of Jesus Christ and His desire is that we use that name.

People often plead the blood, cover with the blood, or claim the blood.  I have heard people say, “When I’m leaving the house, I just cover it with the blood.”  The blood has not been given to us for that purpose.  It is the name of Jesus Christ that has been given to us. 

Matthew 26

vs. 28“ For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Revelation 1

vs. 5 “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”

Acts 20

vs. 28 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

Whoever purchases is the owner.  God is the One Who cleanses us from our sins when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  The blood is the cleansing agent.  In the natural, blood leaves stains.  The good news is that when the blood of Jesus washes us, all the stains of sin are removed.  Sin leaves a stain, but the blood of Jesus completely removes the stain.  In our own strength, we could not remove the stain of sin, but the power that is in the blood of Jesus Christ completely purged our sins and now we walk in the righteousness of God.

The power that is in the blood is for redemption and cleansing us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).  People plead the blood, claim the blood, cover with the blood, but that is what God has given to us through the name of Jesus Christ.  The power given to us is in the name.

Overcoming Satan                                                        

Revelation 12

vs. 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

There are three things mentioned in this verse that overcome Satan:  the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and loving the Lord Jesus Christ over our own physical life (martyrdom) if necessary.

I do not plan to die a martyr’s death, but if I was forced to choose and someone said, “Unless you reject Jesus Christ you are going to die”, I would say, “I’ll die. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

The Blood of the Lamb                                                

“And they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb…”

People often use this scripture as a reason for pleading the blood against Satan, believing that they are overcoming Satan.  However, the phrase “…the blood of the Lamb” is referring to the new birth.  The first way that we overcome Satan is by the “blood of the Lamb”--the new birth.

You may not be living like an overcomer, but the moment you got saved, you became an overcomer.  The blood of Jesus Christ makes us an overcomer, but there is also a way of daily overcoming Satan.

The Word of Our Testimony                                        

 “…and by the Word of our testimony;”

The word “testimony” is actually the word “witness”.  It speaks of our daily life in the world before sinners.  Our witness is not an overcomer.  It is the Word in our witness that is the overcomer.   In other words, it is not just being a Christian, it is daily using the Word of God in our witness before the world.

First, we are overcomers because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Once we accept Jesus, Satan can never totally overcome us.  He may momentarily overcome us, but the good news is when we die, we will forever be with Jesus in heaven!  Even the most miserable Christian on the face of the earth today is an overcomer.  We will spend eternity with God in heaven because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, but there is a way to that we can daily be an overcomer in life.  When we study God’s Word and allow the Word to become our testimony, we overcome.  We overcome demons every day without realizing it, by simply living by the Word and quoting the Word of God daily.

Esteeming Jesus More than Physical Life                 

“And they loved not their lives unto the death.”

Many missionaries around the world have been persecuted for the sake of the Gospel.  Some have even been martyred.

Stephen was the first martyr of the New Testament.  Just prior to his death, Stephen was praising God saying, “ I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.”  Stephen was stoned to death, but even though they killed him, they had no victory in his death.  Stephen had victory in his death.

We have victory in the past through the blood.  We have victory every day through the Word of God.  And we will have victory the moment we die.  In other words, we are proceeding from victory, walking in victory, and headed toward victory!

Overcoming the World                                                 

I John 5

vs. 4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

We could replace “whatsoever” with “whosoever."  Often in our daily lives, it may seem like we are being overcome by the world.  The moment we are born-again we have overcome the world.  Even if you feel defeated, even if you do not mature much in the Lord, even if you do not feel like an overcomer, in the end, you will be with the Lord in heaven forever.  Because we are born of God, we have overcome the world.

We daily overcome the world through our faith.  It is through the Word of God that our faith is built.  I am not only an overcomer because I am born again, I am an overcomer daily through God’s Word.

The Name of Jesus Represents Power                      

Philippians 2

vs. 5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;

vs. 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

vs. 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

vs. 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

vs. 9 Wherefore God has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

vs. 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

vs. 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Verse 9 says that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God gave Him a name that is above every name.  Until that time, the name of Jesus was His name while on earth; it was not seen as a conquering name.  Jesus’ name following the resurrection carried much more power and authority than before the resurrection.  Prior to the resurrection, His name was used in faith for what Jesus would do.  After the resurrection, His name had proof behind it for what had been done.  When Jesus arose from the dead, He had already stripped, spoiled, and conquered principalities and powers, therefore when He arose from the dead God gave Him a name which is above every name.  That same name has been given to the Church, the conquering name of Jesus Christ!

Luke 10

vs. 17 “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.”

God did great things in the Old Testament and in the Gospels.  The disciples were excited that demons were subject to them through the name of Jesus.  That name put fear into demons even before Jesus went to the cross.  Prior to the cross, everything was done in faith looking toward the cross.  But at the cross, principalities, powers, and Satan himself, were disarmed, stripped, and conquered before Jesus arose into heaven.

Philippians 2

vs. 8 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The phrase “death of the cross” can be replaced with the word “blood”.  The blood represents Jesus’ death on the cross.

vs. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:”

Beside the word “exalted”, we could write “resurrection”.  This verse is speaking of the work of Jesus in the resurrection.  The work of Jesus on the cross is what conquered our sins. 

But we do not believe that Jesus is still on the cross; we believe that the cross is empty.  And something even better than the cross being empty is the tomb being empty!  The tomb is empty because Jesus arose from the dead.  For three days, the cross was empty and the tomb was full.  But after three days, not only was the cross empty, the tomb was empty because Jesus had been raised from the dead!

When Jesus died, His blood was shed.  This is the remission of sins.  But when He arose from the dead, He was given the name that is above every name!

The Blood and the Name                                             

When Jesus went to the cross, He humbled Himself.  The blood represented the weakness of Jesus.  This was the time of pouring out of Himself.  This was the time when He went before God and said, “God, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from Me.”  In the garden, Jesus sweat drops of blood; His sweat actually mingled with the blood in His body.  Jesus, even in His weakness, was greater than Satan in his power. In essence, Jesus was saying to the devil, “Even in My weakness, I destroyed you and wiped out sin once and for all.”  Jesus took the curse that was against us; He took the handwriting of ordinance that was against us; He took our sin and nailed it to the cross.  The blood of Jesus Christ took our sin and washed it away. 

The name was given to Him in the resurrection.  And now, every time we use the name of Jesus, we are speaking His resurrection life into the circumstances in our lives.  When we use the name of Jesus against sickness, we are saying to sickness, “You, tendency toward death, you, that is leaning toward death, trying to rob life…I speak life into you, and that life is found in the name of Jesus.  Resurrection life.”  The blood that was shed was shed in weakness, but the name of Jesus was given in power through His resurrection.

Our Sins Are Buried                                                     

The Red Sea is a type of the blood of Jesus Christ.  The Red Sea parted so the children of Israel could go across.  Right behind them came all of Pharaoh’s finest; his finest fighters, his finest chariots, his finest horsemen.  In I Corinthians 10, verses 1 and 2, reference is made to the Red Sea as the baptism of Moses.  Baptism does not represent life; it represents death.  When a person is submerged in water, it represents dying.  In baptism, when a person is raised from the water by another person, it represents being raised from the dead.  The water represents death; it does not represent life. 

Water baptism also represents cleansing.  We take a bath when we are dirty, and when we leave the water the water is dirty.  All of the dirt that was on our body was left in the water and we leave clean.  

When the children of Israel went into the water, the Egyptians followed them; but Israel came out of the water and the Egyptians are still in the water.  The Egyptians drowned but the children of Israel came out on the other side! 

When we became born-again, we were plunged into the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We went down and so did our sins.  We died and so did our sins, but the good news is someone reached in and grabbed us.  It was the Holy Spirit.  He raised us from the dead and our sins are lost in the blood of Jesus Christ!  The blood does not represent life; the blood represents death.  The Holy Spirit represents life and the resurrection body of Jesus has no blood.  He does not need it; He is kept alive by the Holy Spirit.  The blood did not bring us to life.  The blood killed us and the Holy Spirit raised us from the dead.

Jesus spilled His blood on the cross, but that blood was filled with our sins, never to be resurrected again!  When I came out on the other side, I was raised from the dead; kept alive by the Holy Spirit!

Crucified and Buried with Him                                    

People often question, “But isn’t the life in the blood?”  Yes, it is.  But, that life was shed when Jesus poured out His blood on the cross.  When you and I meet with the blood of Jesus Christ, before we come to life, we die. 

Galatians 2

vs. 20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

Colossians 1

vs. 12  “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”

We were buried with Him in baptism.  The baptism spoken of in this verse is His death.  This baptism refers to the cross.  This baptism is three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, submerged in death.  Jesus did not go there alone, even though He was alone physically.  In the Spirit, He went there with a multitude, and we were part of that multitude.  Notice, God raised Him from the dead.

vs. 13  “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”

This verse tells us that He forgave ALL our trespasses.  This verse could literally read, “When He hath quickened us together with Him, having already forgiven us all of our trespasses.”  How were those trespasses forgiven?  It was through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

vs. 14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

vs. 15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

The Greek word for “spoiled” is a word that means, “to disarm”.  Instead of this verse saying “triumphing over them in it”, the Greek says, “triumphing over them through Him”.  God triumphed over Satan through Jesus Christ, therefore Jesus was raised from the dead.

Identification                                                                 

Philippians 2

vs. 5  “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”

This verse expresses the real theme of the epistles.  The theme of the epistles is identification.  We become identified with what Jesus did on the cross.  Jesus’ life on this earth was not merely historical.  Jesus did not come to the end of His life and say, “Well boys, I hope you enjoyed the show.  This is something you will never be able to do, but I hope you enjoyed what I did.  You watched me heal the sick, raise the dead, bring souls into the kingdom of God.  I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen for the past three years!”

No, the whole essence was, “What I have done, you can do too!  In fact, you can do more than I’ve ever done in this earth.”  He was teaching us to think like Him.  His life was an example to us, but in His death, burial, and resurrection, it is identification.  We were with Him on the cross, we were with Him in death, we were with Him in the heart of the earth, and we were with Him as He was raised from the dead!

vs. 8 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

I could put my name in there.  You could put your name in there.  I could say, “Bob became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

vs. 9 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him (Bob) and given him a name which is above every name:

 vs. 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under earth;

vs. 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

What is Behind the Name of Jesus?                           

When God exalted me (verse 9), He gave me the name which is above every name.  I received the name in resurrection.  Therefore, the name of Jesus is resurrection power that has been deposited into the mouths of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even if I could plead the blood, why would I?  The blood is where my sins are buried once and for all.  Just like the chariots buried at the bottom of the Red Sea, I have no desire to go looking for those chariots.  They represent a life that is gone forever.  What has been given to me is the name of Jesus.  With my mouth, I can come against everything in heaven, earth, and under the earth that would ever come against me!

When verse 10 says, “things in heaven” we must realize that Hebrews 1:14 says all angels are now servants of the Church.  At the name of Jesus, things in heaven should bow.  What causes the angels to work for us is when I put my faith in God and they hear that name of “Jesus” coming from my mouth.  That name coming from my mouth is no different than that name coming from the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself!

God first gave that name to Jesus.  He highly exalted Jesus and gave Him that name.  But the good news is that His name has been given to us.  Whether is was before the cross, when Jesus gave that name to the disciples, or after the cross (the Great Commission), Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. IN MY NAME…”  He has given the Church the name of Jesus!

Often, we do not fully realize what is behind that name.  A better word for the word “name” is “reputation”.  When certain names are mentioned, more comes to mind than just a name.  If the name “Billy Graham” is mentioned, we think of a reputation for winning souls that has impacted lives for years and years.  If the name “Al Capone” is mentioned, a totally different reputation comes to mind.

When we speak the name of Jesus to Satan, we are not merely speaking an earthly name.  When Satan hears the name of Jesus, he sees conquest and defeat, he sees being spoiled, disarmed, being paraded through the universe stripped of his power and authority in the earth.  Satan sees the name of Jesus deposited in the mouth of billions of believers on the face of the earth and when that name is spoken, he realizes that he is just as subject to that name as if it came directly from the mouth of the One Who established the reputation for that name—Jesus Christ!

No wonder Jesus instructed us to use that name.  No wonder Jesus, Himself used that name.  No wonder the disciples used that name.  And no wonder, when someone tried to use that name who was not a member of the family of God, someone who had not gone through the blood or through the resurrection, they were powerless in using that name.  The seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19) spoke to evil spirits saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches”.  An evil spirit responded to them, knowing that they had no authority, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”  It is a good idea to know Him before you use the name!

But once we have gone through the blood and our sins are forgiven; once we have been raised from the dead with Jesus and been highly exalted with Him, the next thing He does is give us the name which is above every name; the name that causes angels to go into battle on our behalf, the name that causes nations to bow, that causes demons to bow, causes Satan to bow, things on the earth and things under the earth, and most importantly, causes people to be born again!

Let Everything Be Done in the Name of Jesus           

Colossians 3

vs. 17 “And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…”

All that is done “in word or deed” covers everything.  We cannot name one thing that is not either a word or a deed.  Again, everything we do should be done in the name of Jesus, “giving thanks to God and the Father through him.”

We need to give thanks to God our Father for that name that is just as powerful in our lips as it was in Paul or Peter’s lips, or in John’s.  We need to give thanks to God for that name that is just as powerful in our lips and it was in the lips of Jesus Himself; that name that is above every name that can be named:  Jesus Christ!