Power In The Blood

Heb 12:
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Gen 4:
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
10 And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

Rev 6:
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
10 They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Psalm 116:
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Lev 17:
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

All life and death are in the hands of a sovereign God; the death of His saints especially so. Only the spilt blood of mankind cries out from the earth. Abel's blood cried out to God for justice. The blood of all who die for Christ and His Gospel will be avenged. Remarkably God requires patience from these that have died in His service, as the “promise” is there are more yet to die before He comes to avenge them all.Jesus' blood "speaks" a better word, as He was the Lamb without blemish; completely sinless, and innocent, i.e. guilt-free. All who are in Him are declared not guilty. Therefore His blood, shed for all who are His, speaks for justice on their behalf.
The blood of Christ speaks of the new covenant, the fulfillment of Lev 17:11. He is the last Adam, last lamb to be sacrificed, and the last high priest to perform the sacrifice.

Luke 22:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Heb 9:
19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you."
21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.
22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,
26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Heb 10:
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"
17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The issue of the shedding of blood is of high importance. So much so that God judges all who shed and profane it.

Luke 22:
21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!"

Jesus was predestined to come and die. (Acts 4:26-28;John 10:17-18). However God’ is a God of justice, and His justice is a pure justice. Judas was predestined to betray Christ, but God still must exact the penalty for the betrayal of innocent blood. (Acts 1:16-20)
The 30 pieces of silver, which Judas received as payment for his part in the “conspiracy”, was called “blood money”. (Matthew 27:3-10)

We also have this:

Matthew 27:
21 The governor again said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas."
22 Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!"
23 And he said, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified!"
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves."
25 And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!"
26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.


Pilate understood the gravity of the shedding of innocent blood. However his hand washing ritual did not exonerate him in this. The jews, on the other hand, were not concerned with such” trivialities”. They asked for it.

Finally we have this warning to the saints:

Heb 10:
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, (see verse 18)
27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

There are no exemptions from judgment, for those who spill, betray and profane the blood of Christ. Incredibly this blood is the very thing that washes us clean from iniquity, even the iniquities of spilling, betraying, and profaning that very blood.

1John 1:
7 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 cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There is nothing beyond the body and blood of Christ in terms of our salvation. All who are His, all whom He died for, appeal for mercy only through His sacrifice, which is the last sacrifice ever to be required.

Only the elect cry out to the Lord for justice on their behalf. Only they cry out for His return. There is power in the blood indeed!



LET THE ELECT CRY OUT

FROM EVERY NATION TRIBE AND TONGUE
OUT OF THE TRIBULATION, THEY WILL COME
ROBES WASHED WHITE IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB
BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD THEY STAND
SERVING NIGHT AND DAY IN THE TEMPLE
IN THE SHELTER OF HIS PRESENCE
THEY WILL HUNGER AND THIRST NO MORE
AND HE WILL WIPE EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES

OUT OF THE DEPTHS
WE CRY OUT TO YOU
HEAR OUR VOICE, HEAR OUR PRAYER
LET YOUR EARS HEAR THE SOUND OF OUR PLEAS
FOR MERCY AND REDEMPTION
MY SOUL WAITS ON THE LORD
IT IS IN HIM I HAVE HOPE
MORE THAN THE WATCHMEN WAIT FOR THE MORN
MY SOUL WAITS ON THE LORD

LET THE ELECT CRY OUT
NIGHT AND DAY FOR JUSTICE
LET THE ELECT CRY OUT
LORD DO NOT DELAY


HOW LONG LORD
WILL YOU WAIT TO AVENGE US
WHEN HE COMES
WE PRAY THAT HE WILL FIND FAITH

AMEN EVEN SO COME LORD JESUS
AND DO NOT DELAY

WORDS AND MUSIC BY CHRIS PAJAK
COPYRIGHT 2004 ROCK WITH WINGS/LATREUO MUSIC

Luke 18: 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
Rev 22: 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!


Solus Christus
Soli Deo Gloria

(To hear the song Let The Elect Cry Out go to: http://www.myspace.com/rockwithwingsworship)